{"id":57651,"date":"2015-07-30T08:46:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=57651"},"modified":"2015-07-30T08:46:33","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:46:33","slug":"resilient-blue-bombers-quarterback-willy-ready-to-go-against-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/30\/resilient-blue-bombers-quarterback-willy-ready-to-go-against-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilient Blue Bombers quarterback Willy ready to go against Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Drew<\/a>
Drew Willy (Photo from his official Facebook account<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WINNIPEG \u2013 Drew Willy may not consider himself exceptionally tough, but his ability to bounce back from scary injuries has made an impression on his coach and teammates.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback will be starting Thursday in a home game against the B.C. Lions after hobbling off the field with a knee injury in his team’s loss to Edmonton last Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always healed quickly, no matter what injury it was,\u201d Willy said after Wednesday\u2019s walk-through practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone\u2019s a little different in that aspect. You always try to be tough. I\u2019m not trying to say I\u2019m tougher than anyone else, I just think if I can do anything I can to push myself to get healthy, I\u2019m going to spend that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy injured his right knee in the third quarter of the 32-3 loss to the Eskimos, and it was the second time this season he appeared to be seriously hurt.<\/p>\n

On July 2, Willy took a helmet-to-helmet hit in a loss to Hamilton and appeared to be knocked out. However, he said he didn’t lose consciousness and doctors cleared him to play July 10 in a win over Montreal.<\/p>\n

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said he\u2019s confident Willy is ready to play, especially because of the type of undisclosed injury he suffered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was going to be limited, we wouldn\u2019t really want him playing,\u201d O\u2019Shea said.<\/p>\n

O’Shea described the quarterback as \u201ctough,\u201d but not someone who takes unnecessary risks with his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen these situations arise, he has a good read on what he can and can\u2019t do and he\u2019s honest about it,\u201d O\u2019Shea said.<\/p>\n

Both teams will try to rebound from embarrassing losses last week.<\/p>\n

The Bombers (2-3) are also on a two-game losing skid. The Lions (2-2) lost 30-27 to Toronto after squandering a 21-0 lead \u2013 matching the largest lead the team has ever given up in a game and lost.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s offensive line will have two changes this week. Patrick Neufeld is making his season debut at left guard instead of healthy Chris Greaves and Jace Daniels replaces injured Devin Tyler at right tackle.<\/p>\n

Neufeld, who was injured in training camp, echoed his coach and teammates about Willy\u2019s resiliency.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a tough player and he\u2019s an ultimate competitor,\u201d Neufeld said. \u201cHe\u2019s the leader of our team and it\u2019s situations like this that really make him our leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s key to keep Willy upright, which could be challenge against B.C.\u2019s defenders, especially their tenacious linebackers, Neufeld said.<\/p>\n

Willy noted the Lions\u2019 defense starts with linebackers Adam Bighill and Solomon Elimimian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to know where they are at all times,\u201d Willy said.<\/p>\n

The Lions have a CFL-low five sacks this season. Winnipeg has seven, with defensive end Jamaal Westerman recording three of those.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, B.C. has only allowed a league-low three sacks and Winnipeg five.<\/p>\n

Their quarterbacks are matching up well at this point of the season.<\/p>\n

Travis Lulay has completed 82 of 129 pass attempts for 950 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Willy is 74-of-104 for 994 yards with five TDs and two picks.<\/p>\n

Bombers receiver Nick Moore won\u2019t be playing his former team as O\u2019Shea said he\u2019s out with an undisclosed injury that\u2019s day to day. Rookie Justin Veltung will take his spot.<\/p>\n

The Lions will have 11-year veteran defensive back Ryan Phillips back in the lineup after he missed three games with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG \u2013 Drew Willy may not consider himself exceptionally tough, but his ability to bounce back from scary injuries has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":57653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-57651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-original","mauthors-judy-owen","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}