BOMBERS THROWING WILLY TO THE LIONS
Winnipeg QB has already been injured twice.
WINNIPEG — Already this season, injuries have forced Canadian Football League teams to dig deep into the reserves and play third-string quarterbacks — and we’re still in the month of July.
Such weighty matters normally considered by backup QBs — how should I wear my ball cap on the sidelines, peak to the front or to the back? — have been replaced by the serious need to buckle up and be ready.
Brian Brohm, the No. 2 quarterback of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, got the emergency call last Saturday against the Edmonton Eskimos when starter Drew Willy was knocked out of the game on a low hit to his right knee, an injury that figured to place the Bombers in some peril for tonight’s game against the visiting B.C. Lions.
Willy was in sweat pants when the Bombers went through their only practice of the week on Tuesday, an indication he might be hiding something, such as a telltale knee brace. (The Blue Bombers acknowledge injuries only in generalities, “upper” or “lower” body).
Indeed, it is shaping up as another painful season in Winnipeg, especially for Willy, who was sacked 66 times last year and has been injured previously this season. He lay prone on the turf for several minutes, in varying stages of consciousness, after being whacked in the helmet in the Blue Bombers’ home opener, a humiliating 52-26 defeat to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
But he reported for duty soon after, possessed of something extra that doesn’t show up on the stats sheet: a passion for playing.
That appears to be the case again this week. Willy took firstteam snaps in Wednesday’s walk-through, only a day after his participation against the Lions was called into question.
“I’m very confident he’s going to be able to execute what he needs to execute,” said Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea. “He got some treatment, put himself through a little bit of a workout, and he’s ready. It makes the decision (to play him) easy and quick.”
The something extra that Willy has does not include nimble feet, which would make him an adept scrambler. In response, the Blue Bombers made it a priority to beef up their offensive line. They drafted Sukh Chung, an all-Canadian lineman from the University of Calgary, and signed free agents Stanley Bryant, the starting left tackle from the Calgary Stampeders, and centre Dominic Picard from the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Still, if the Blue Bombers are going to take the next step following a 7-11 finish in O’Shea’s first season (the team went 2-10 down the stretch), protecting Willy will figure prominently. So far, it hasn’t. Winnipeg has given up 12 sacks in five games, in a season in which sack totals are down leaguewide.
“They see progression on every single play, every single game,” O’Shea said. “As long as we’re striving for that, we’ll be OK.”
Bryant looks at the situation with a slightly more critical eye.
“I think we have to do a better job than we have,” he admits. “There were some games where Drew got hit the wrong way. He’s a tough guy. He’s competitive. It’s just sad that he’s gotten injured. But, as I said, he’s a competitive guy. He’s ready to roll again.”
Hazard pay should be written into every CFL quarterback’s contract, not just Willy’s, considering the butcher’s bill that has been exacted early in the 2015 season.
The men who give the most thought to quarterback protection are troubled by it, too.
“It’s kind of weird,” Bryant says. “You always need a backup ready these days.”
Still, despite a dreaded injury roster studded with some the league’s most widely known and highly paid players, two rookie defensive linemen with the Lions, Michael Brooks and Craig Roh, claim rules better protect quarterbacks in Canada than in the NFL.
“In the NFL, you get a one- to two-step leeway to hit the quarterback,” says Brooks, who has a Super Bowl ring from his time with the Seattle Seahawks. “Up here, as soon as the ball’s gone, you don’t touch him (without incurring a penalty flag). You literally cannot touch him.”
Willy inferred Wednesday that if the CFL wanted to get really serious about the mayhem they should hit offenders more heavily in the wallet. The league announced Wednesday that Eddie Steele of the Eskimos had been fined for his low-bridge hit on Willy. “As per league policy,” the amount of the fine was not announced.
“I have great respect for the refs in our league,” Willy said. “Sometimes, they’re human, like everyone else. (But) you can’t fine a guy, like you can in the NFL (Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers was docked $22,050 for a blind side hit on the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson in the NFC championship game). It’s the No. 1 thing right there. You fine a guy $250 (in the CFL).”
In other words, it’s a cue to all backup signal-callers in the CFL: Better buckle up.