Bomber notebook

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This article was published 24/06/2016 (3390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Coach improvement a continual process

Mike O’Shea was asked Thursday what he’s done to become a better coach this season, his third at the helm of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The former Toronto Argonauts middle linebacker said it’s a continual process of improving, achieved, among other things, by making notes after games and practices. If he deems something noteworthy, he’ll jot it down and ponder it later. 

When asked if he needed to improve in one area specifically, O’Shea said the way he does that is by hiring new coaches.

“When you recognize that you’re not as strong in one area as another, you go out and find guys who are better than you in that and you hire them,” he said.

O’Shea’s in-game decision-making has made headlines in this town over the past two years. One might think that sort of thing is only practised during the live fire of a game, but O’Shea said the team goes over situational drills as a coaching staff.

“Invariably in practice some play happens and it makes you have a conversation post-practice on how it all went down but you’re continually doing situational stuff,” he said.

When asked to give a percentage of how much better he feels at the helm in his third year as opposed to his first, O’Shea said, jokingly, mind you, “93.2 per cent.”

On starting well:

Week 1 of the regular season is by no means a must-win, but getting off on the right foot? Nothing’s better, according to veteran receiver Weston Dressler.

“Every season, it’s important to win that first game, get that confidence growing,” Dressler said. “But I think we enough veterans in the locker room that understand it’s a long season. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t win the first game, but obviously we’re going out to win Game 1 and every week after that.”

The Bombers have won their previous two match-ups in Week 1, dumping the Toronto Argos 45-21 at Investors Group Field in 2014, a season they started 5-1; and a tightly contested 30-26 victory over their archrival Saskatchwan Roughriders last season at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

On the other side

Drew Willy and his stable of receivers must be salivating at the prospect of playing the Montreal Alouettes’ young, inexperienced secondary.

Much has been made around the league about the Als’ rearguard, but Willy isn’t writing off what he feels is a team with consistently one of the best defences during his time in the league.

“We’ll have to see how the game goes. Obviously, they’re good enough to be on a good defence,” Willy said.

Montreal general manager and head coach Jim Popp doesn’t see what the big deal is about having some young guns, including starting defensive backs Jonathon Mincey and Ethan Davis, in the backfield.

“I know they’re young, they don’t have experience in our league… but we kept five young DBs we feel can play in the CFL,” Popp said. “I’m sure they’re going to have their ups and downs… even our vet players have their ups and downs in games. We expect that and in each week they play they’ll get better.”

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Housekeeping notes

The Bombers signed import defensive back Travis Hawkins to their practice roster Thursday morning.

The Delaware alum appeared in 15 games with the Toronto Argonauts last season, recording 37 defensive tackles and two interceptions.

Meanwhile, former Bombers defensive back Matt Bucknor, who was a surprise release last Saturday after starting all 36 games for the club over the past two seasons, has signed with the Calgary Stampeders, the Bombers’ Week 2 opponents.

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.