Winnipeg Blue Bombers guard Patrick Neufeld questionable for season opener
Liam Dobson is now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Eric Lofton hasn't practiced in weeks because of a knee injury and won't dress on Thursday, and now Patrick Neufeld is questionable to play in the season opener against the BC Lions.
Neufeld collided with quarterback Chris Streveler in Monday's practice and limped to the sidelines favouring his right knee. The Bombers held a closed practice on Tuesday for their final full session of the week, but according to the official injury report, Neufeld did not practice due to a knee injury.
Barring a miraculous recovery by Neufeld, the blue and gold appear set to start three Americans on the offensive line for the first time in ages. Micah Vanterpool and Kendall Randolph are expected to be two of their new starters on the O-line, and Canadian Gabe Wallace will join returning veterans Stanley Bryant and Chris Kolankowski up front. But head coach Mike O'Shea still has the utmost confidence in his hoggies.
Story continues below advertisement
'Our O-line has always been good,' O'Shea told reporters after Tuesday's practice. 'And that's not going to change. Marty Costello is the best O-line coach in the league.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
'He will always have those guys ready and once again, different room, same situation. We got a great corps of veterans that bring young guys along too.'
The new-look offensive line should have their hands full with a formidable Lions defence on Thursday. BC had two sacks and forced a pair of turnovers, while holding the Edmonton Elks to just 14 points in the Leos week one victory.
O'Shea believes Lions defensive coordinator Mike Benevides will have his front four ready to go.
'It seemed like they had good get-off,' O'Shea said. 'It seemed like they were very active. With Benny as the DC and his knowledge of front play, they seemed pretty active. And once again, they looked fired up to play that first game for sure in the way they were getting off the football.'
Running back Peyton Logan, and defensive backs Jake Kelly, Enock Makonzo, and Josh Hagerty have all been ruled out for the week two matchup and will all start the season on the injured list.
Kickoff on Thursday is at 7:30 p.m. at Princess Auto Stadium.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Onus on athletes to let drug testers know where they are under 'whereabouts' rules
Canadian swim star Penelope Oleksiak has been notified that she committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period between October 2024 and June 2025. Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Why the start of a bye week is the only reason for Ottawa Redblacks to celebrate an anniversary
Expectations are that Dru Brown will start at quarterback and the coaching staff will be intact when the free-falling Ottawa Redblacks return from their bye week to host the surprise team of the CFL, the Calgary Stampeders, on the last night of July. But while it's believed Brown will bounce back from the controversial head shot he received in Sunday's loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the overall health of the Redblacks is not good. Monday marked the one-month anniversary of the team's first, last and only win of the season, a 20-12 victory in stormy conditions on June 21 at Calgary's McMahon Stadium Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Redlbacks have since lost four in a row and sit in the CFL basement with a 1-6 record. Since last season's promising 8-3-1 start, they are 2-11, or 2-12 counting the 20-point beating they took from the Toronto Argos in the East Division semifinal. And despite an organizational belief in Bob Dyce, the Redblacks are 15-31-1 since he took over as head coach from the fired Paul LaPolice late in the 2022 season. Likely needing to go 7-4 or 8-3 when they return from their bye, Ottawa's chances of making the playoffs are in grave condition after what Dyce termed 'critical errors' that stacked up in their 30-15 loss to the Tiger-Cats. He cited three examples: 'We talk about maximizing opportunities … it's the critical situations,' said Dyce. 'I believe we have a talented team, and that's why I'm optimistic about the future. But at the same time, you've got to be able to perform at critical times.' Dyce thinks so. 'It's almost good for them to get out of here and enjoy their family,' he said of the players. 'No different than we will as coaches. It's time for introspection, right? We've got to identify what our challenges are, and they've got to identify what their challenges are. All of us together have put us in this situation, and the only way we're going to get out is with all of us as well.' Peter Godber, the veteran Canadian centre the Redblacks signed as a free agent in the offseason, is expected to be among many players returning from the lengthy injury list when the team tries to get it right in its return to action against the 5-1 Stamps on July 31. Godber has been out with a broken finger suffered in training camp. There was no definitive update after the game — and there likely won't be until the Redblacks return to practice July 27 — but Dyce indicated the Brown injury, which came on a controversial hit by DaShaun Amos that knocked the quarterback's helmet off and ended his night in the second quarter, might not be as serious as it could have been. 'I just talked to Dru in the locker room, and he feels a little bit better,' said Dyce, who thought the hit was worthy of an ejection rather than just the 25-yard penalty it received when seeing it live but after the game wanted to make sure by watching the film. 'Any time it's a head injury or anything like that, you're going to be as cautious as possible. We're going on to the bye week, so we're getting him into protocol, and then we'll go forward from there.' He completed six of eight passes for 66 yards but didn't look particularly sharp. He threw his third interception in three quarters (which was also one of three the Redblacks tossed up on the night, with backup Dustin Crum and receiver Justin Hardy, on a gadget play in the fourth quarter, guilty of the other two), and it wasn't until Crum entered the game in the second quarter that the Redblacks started to move the ball with efficiency. Part of it was the refusal, presumably of offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell, to employ a ground game. In the first quarter, they were credited with four running plays — a lateral pass to Andre Miller that almost resulted in a turnover, two QB sneaks by Brown and one lone handoff to William Stanback on the last play before the teams switched ends. The Crum-led attack advanced the chains because of quick decisions by the QB and because he started handing the ball to his backs, with Daniel Adeboboye proving to be the most effective. 'It's huge,' Crum said when asked how much mixing in some runs can help. 'Whenever you can rely on a good run game and mix it up, it takes a ton of pressure off you. When you have to drop back over and over and over again, it makes you truly earn your paycheque as a quarterback. So being able to have different things, whether it's the run game, screen game, different things, where you can get the ball out quick and let your playmakers make plays, makes life easy for a quarterback in this league.' So far, not great. The team's best running back has been Adeboboye, and, at this point, it looks like the team would be better off going with the Canadian as its full-time starter. On Sunday, he had four carries for 54 yards (13.5 average) while Stanback had seven carries for 17 (2.4 yard average). Adeboboye is also the Redblacks' leading rusher on the season with 35 carries for 253 yards (7.2 average), as Stanback is next at 49 carries for 248 yards (5.1 average). Lewis remains the CFL's fourth-leading receiver with 435 yards, but on Sunday, in his 'competition' with Hamilton star pass catcher Kenny Lawler, he had one catch on three targets for 13 yards and once again failed to hang on to a ball on what would have been an important first-down gain. Lawler had a modest three catches for 66 yards, but did score the game's first touchdown when he burned corner Alijay McGhee on a 41-yard score. That one touchdown was one more than the Redblacks managed all game. On Sunday, a season-low 15,054 showed up to watch the Redblacks drop their home record to 0-3. That's 7,582 less than the league average. While the numbers would surely be better if the team started winning, Sunday night games are less than ideal, as many folks have likely had a busy weekend and want to lay low the night before going back to work. TV rules, right? But the CFL should also try to keep the Redblacks on the road (or on a bye) for two weeks in particular each summer, as the Bluesfest crowds have to impact attendance at TD Place. 'I don't think there's any external pressure greater than their internal pressure to be great,' said Dyce. 'They have a great drive to be great. So external pressure isn't something that these guys worry about. I would say they're frustrated, but I believe they're going to go back and they're going to identify some of those challenges, and come back here with a clean slate and go forward.' 'I don't think it's doubt,' said Crum. 'I think, at some point, as a competitor, you just kind of have to self-reflect a little bit and just say enough is enough. I mean, obviously we've had stints where we're successful, whether it was the game we won or in parts of games, but we have to be able to put it all together. I mean, football is a game of adversity. Teams are going to make mistakes. Even the teams right now that are at the top of the league, they're still making some mistakes in games. It's a matter of being able to overcome that, develop that kind of killer instinct mindset that no matter what happens, we're going to come out and win. And I think, as competitors, we have to self-reflect a little bit and take that approach and mindset every single week.' 'I think it's just a lot of things that come down to small details, stuff that we need to focus on and do better,' said veteran defensive tackle Mike Wakefield. 'Every game it's a different situation. I can't tell you overall why, but it's just the small things, small details. I think once we get these things fixed, we're going to be pretty good. We've got a heck of a team, very talented on every part of the team. It's just the small things that we need to correct, and I think we'll get where we need to go. '(Being 1-6) is a tough feeling, but I still believe in every single one of them guys in the room,' he added. 'I've been playing in the CFL for a long time, and I've seen some crazy stuff happen. I think we're going to come out of this bye week and we're going to do what we need to do, and go on winning runs that we need to change the season around. Nobody has given up. Everybody still has the same belief from Day 1 in camp. The CFL is a crazy football league. Anything could happen. So I've still got big belief.' 'We can go undefeated right now and be in a position that we want to be in,' said Justin Hardy. 'So it's all about how you look at it.' 'We can,' said Hardy. 'It's possible. Anything's possible.'
Ottawa Citizen
an hour ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Why the start of a bye week is the only reason for Ottawa Redblacks to celebrate an anniversary
Article content Expectations are that Dru Brown will start at quarterback and the coaching staff will be intact when the free-falling Ottawa Redblacks return from their bye week to host the surprise team of the CFL, the Calgary Stampeders, on the last night of July. Article content But while it's believed Brown will bounce back from the controversial head shot he received in Sunday's loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the overall health of the Redblacks is not good. Article content Article content Monday marked the one-month anniversary of the team's first, last and only win of the season, a 20-12 victory in stormy conditions on June 21 at Calgary's McMahon Stadium Article content Article content Since last season's promising 8-3-1 start, they are 2-11, or 2-12 counting the 20-point beating they took from the Toronto Argos in the East Division semifinal. Article content And despite an organizational belief in Bob Dyce, the Redblacks are 15-31-1 since he took over as head coach from the fired Paul LaPolice late in the 2022 season. Article content Likely needing to go 7-4 or 8-3 when they return from their bye, Ottawa's chances of making the playoffs are in grave condition after what Dyce termed 'critical errors' that stacked up in their 30-15 loss to the Tiger-Cats. Article content He cited three examples: Article content Having to settle for a field goal after Adarius Pickett intercepted a Bo Levi Mitchell pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and gave Ottawa the ball on the visitors' 24-yard line while trailing 20-12; The decision by American return specialist Easop Winston Jr. to run a punted ball out of the end zone, and making it only as far as the Ottawa one, rather than concede a single point; Allowing Mitchell to find Kiondre Smith for a 63-yard bomb to the Redblacks' three after 'our deep players don't play deep enough' on a second-and-18 situation. Article content 'We talk about maximizing opportunities … it's the critical situations,' said Dyce. 'I believe we have a talented team, and that's why I'm optimistic about the future. But at the same time, you've got to be able to perform at critical times.' Article content Article content Article content Dyce thinks so. Article content 'It's almost good for them to get out of here and enjoy their family,' he said of the players. 'No different than we will as coaches. It's time for introspection, right? We've got to identify what our challenges are, and they've got to identify what their challenges are. All of us together have put us in this situation, and the only way we're going to get out is with all of us as well.' Article content Peter Godber, the veteran Canadian centre the Redblacks signed as a free agent in the offseason, is expected to be among many players returning from the lengthy injury list when the team tries to get it right in its return to action against the 5-1 Stamps on July 31.
