Quarterback nobody wanted steps into the spotlight ahead of West final
Zach Collaros looked at the media huddle gathered in a semicircle outside the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ locker-room Wednesday and made a relatively easy read.
“I guess I’m up,” the quarterback said before taking his position at the centre of it.
Collaros probably anticipated some of what came next, too: a blitz of questions about a scenario he couldn’t have dreamed possible when this CFL season began.
Teammate Willie Jefferson may have said it best a few minutes earlier.
“Only in the CFL can you start for a team at the beginning of the season, get traded and then get traded to a team that played against you in the semifinal last year,” Jefferson said.
That’s the Collaros Notes version of the story of Sunday’s West Division final between the Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders.
There’s a lot more to it, though. Collaros was unceremoniously shipped from the Riders to Toronto at the end of July while he was still recovering from his latest concussion, suffered in the first game of the season.
The Riders may as well have slapped a sticker on him that read “damaged goods.”
Nine days into October and just minutes before the CFL trade deadline, the Argonauts and Bombers completed the deal that will put Collaros on the field over the weekend.
He’s the starter, a job he was shoved into after the Bombers lost two of their own in Matt Nichols and Chris Streveler.
You couldn’t draw it up any better if you were pitching screenplays in Hollywood.
Collaros, who chooses his words as carefully as he chooses a receiver, acknowledged he’ll have a little extra fuel in Regina.
“I don’t think I’d be human if I didn’t say there was more motivation, for sure,” he said.
That’s about as far as Collaros would allow that ball to go.
For the most part, he downplays the sequence of events that will have him start a playoff game in Regina as a Bomber, one year after he was held out of one against the Bombers as a Rider.
“He can downplay it all he wants, but I know he’s excited about this,” running back Andrew Harris said. “We all are, though. So we’re going to rally around him, support him, and understand that fans will probably be talking not only at him, but myself and everyone else. It’s a great environment to be part of and we’re all excited to go in there together.”
Ah, yes, catcalls from the crowd. There’s no telling what lines they’ll cross Sunday with Harris and his positive drug test and Collaros and his injury history.
If anyone’s equipped to handle that, it seems like it might be Collaros. He graduated from the School of Even-keel. With honours.
They must have taught classes on knowing one’s place, too, because the 31-year-old has been careful not to step on any toes since the day he walked into a Winnipeg room with no shortage of leaders.
“But he’s had a smile on his face since he’s been here,” defensive back Brandon Alexander said, “before he even knew anybody, when he walked in the meeting room and shook everybody’s hand. We’re happy to have him.”
No kidding. They’re 2-0 since he took the starting job and suddenly have a downfield passing threat to go with that punishing ground game.
And they’re a win from going to the Grey Cup for the first time as a group, the franchise’s first trip in eight years, Collaros’ first in five, when he took Hamilton there.
“I don’t think it would mean any more or less than any of my teammates,” Collaros said. “That’s the ultimate goal when you start every single season: to get to the Grey Cup and win it.” What a crazy route, though. “It’s a big game for him,” Jefferson said. “But knowing Zach, he’s not worried about it. It’s not a me thing for him. It’s a we thing for us.”
As is often the case, there might be more in what Collaros didn’t say than in what he did say.
Asked how he reflects on his time with the Riders, Collaros threw the ball away.
“I don’t think it’s a conversation to have right now,” he said.
Another good read by the quarterback, even if it wasn’t quite what the media throng was hoping for.
(Collaros) can downplay it all he wants, but I know he’s excited. ... We all are, though. So we’re going to rally around him.