It was obvious in Brandon Alexander’s every rep during Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice and evident in the tone of his voice, too.
The veteran safety desperately wants to make his return to the lineup for this Saturday’s Western Final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Princess Auto Stadium.
It’s win or go home time, after all, and the 31-year-old understands and appreciates as well as anyone how special playoff games are when the temperature dips and the stakes are at their highest.
He also understands that as much work as he has done to get back on the practice field again after missing the last two games due to an injury what happens next is entirely out of his hands.
Alexander was taking snaps at safety on Tuesday but so, too, was his replacement Jake Kelly and veteran Nick Taylor, who was recently added to the practice roster.
Asked what his status will be for Saturday, Alexander grinned then offered this:
“Whatever they need me to do — but you know that. I’ve always been that guy since I got here in ’17 — whatever they need me to do, whatever I’m required to do that’s what I’m going to do. I came in during camp in ’17 and I was playing field corner and in the first game of the season I was playing dime, and I had really taken any reps there.
“So, it’s whatever they need me to do, I don’t care what it is, whether it’s somewhere on defence or special teams, it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever plan they’ve got for me I’m here all the way.
“… I want to win just as bad as the next guy so if that requires me being on the field, being off the field, being a coach, being a player it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just ready to get the job done.”
Nick Taylor
Blue Bombers head coach praised Alexander’s physicality, leadership and communication; tipped his hat to Taylor’s speed and communication skills and commended Kelly for his youthful exuberance and athleticism.
Pressed as to when a decision will be made on who lines up at safety, O’Shea — not surprisingly — did not tip his hand.
“When we have to,” he said. “We’ll probably make it before that, but you’ll know when we have to let you know. That’s the truth.
“And we’ve said for a long time here on any given week the roster should reflect whatever it takes to win. We’ve also said if they’re in our building they can help us win football games, so they’re all quite capable and they could all go out there and succeed and make everybody around them better.”
Still, this much is clear: while everyone wants to be on the field on Saturday, not everyone can be. And vets like Alexander and Taylor understand want to help on the field but know if they aren’t suiting up, they also can’t be a distraction off it.
“Anybody that plays for a while, you have feelings towards it,” Alexander said. “You might feel sad about it or whatever the case may be if it doesn’t go your way. But you have a decision about how long you want that sadness to take over you. You either help out or you let that affect you and I also believe if you let that affect you it affects the room as well and you can’t allow that to happen.
“It’s a level of maturity but I do believe if you had asked me a few years ago I would have done the same thing.”
“We’ve got a whole room full of those guys,” added O’Shea, “but BA is also exceptional. Over the course of a bunch of years we’ve got a bunch of guys who understand their role and thrive in their role and might not like it but just power through it for the betterment of the group… a bunch of guys like that. But, once again, BA is an exceptional guy.”
OUCH UPDATE: Further to the above, here is the first injury report of the Western Final week:
Injury Report: November 5, 2024#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/N6OKyCdmse
— y – Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) November 5, 2024
HONOUR YOUR TEAMMATES: That subject was brought up by Paul Friesen of The Sun on Tuesday when asked if there was a sense at this time of year of wanting to win for the players that can’t suit up like Dalton Schoen or Adam Bighill or if that was ‘too corny.’
“I don’t think that’s corny. I think that’s real,” said O’Shea. “The guys that get it, it’s very real. It’s the same (in college) for the underclassmen with outgoing seniors that may never play again. So, the finality of it as you look around the room to the people you respect you understand everybody is in a different spot in their career.
“It’s very real. It’s not corny… for the guys who take the information in and notice, it’s very important to them.”
ICYMI: CJOB’s Derek Taylor and Hall of Famer Doug Brown joined us for the 24th episode of The Huddle Tuesday afternoon as we chopped up the Blue Bombers season so far and previewed Saturday’s Western Final.
For those who weren’t able to join us live, you can click here and remember to like and subscribe: