http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/snappy-hed-373580051.html#st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/QmAbKLelGf

He’s got a football team counting on him.

And he’s got a city of frustrated football fans counting on him.

But it wasn’t until our discussion this week turned to the wife and three children that are also counting on him that it became clear just how much weight Mike O’Shea feels pressing down upon him right now as he heads into what is a make-or-break season for the beleaguered Winnipeg Football Club.

Make no mistake — one of two things is going to happen in 2016: either the Blue Bombers are going to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011, or the head coach — and probably a few others in the Bombers front office — are going to be looking for a new job.

And it’s that latter prospect, and what it would do to his young family, that this week brought tears to the eyes of one of the most feared linebackers the Canadian game has ever known.

Yes, you read that right: Mike O’Shea cries. And yes, it was uncomfortable to watch — and not just because it was happening in a crowded restaurant.

"I’m getting emotional now and I’ll tell you why," the Bombers head coach said over lunch this week. "I’ve got a great family. They really do a good job in making their dad feel comfortable at work…

"They’re doing more than holding up their end."

The question heading into this season is whether O’Shea can now hold up his end of a family bargain that saw his wife, Richere, and the couple’s three children — Michael, 16,  Ailish, 13 and Aisling, 10 — leave the only home they ever knew in southern Ontario in 2014 to follow O’Shea to Winnipeg so he could fulfill his dream of being a pro football head coach.

It was a bold move for a young family that O’Shea had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect from the itinerant pro football lifestyle. Indeed, O’Shea says he played his entire 16-year CFL career with just two teams in Toronto and Hamilton — turning down, he says, more lucrative offers to play in Western Canada — precisely so he wouldn’t have to uproot his family.

So moving to Winnipeg was a big thing for the entire O’Shea family. And now that they’ve finally settled in — his son is on high school football and hockey teams, his daughters are competitive gymnasts, the family spent the entire winter here, save for a week-long Bombers cruise — the idea that they’d have to move again this year because O’Shea’s head coaching dream turned into a nightmare weighs on the man of the house.

Don’t misunderstand — he says he is at peace with the fact 2016 is the final year of his three-year contract with the Bombers and there is going to be no contract extension on offer until there are first some winning results on display.

Head coaches who go 12-24 in their first two seasons don’t get contract extensions and O’Shea accepts that.

What troubles him  more, however, is that he cannot insulate his family from the uncertainty. "I’ve just realized recently that my kids really do follow all that stuff (on social media)," said O’Shea. "So it’d be naive for me to think they don’t know about the contract or lack thereof. All of that stuff — they understand...

"And that comes as bit of a shock to me — that they know more maybe than I want them to."

Now make no mistake: O’Shea is not unique. Almost every head coach in pro sports also has a team at home that is counting on him.

And O’Shea is not complaining, either. I dragged this stuff about his family out of him because it interests me to know how a guy in the spotlight copes with the vagaries of chronic job insecurity when those lights are turned off and the house is quiet and it’s just you alone in the dark with your thoughts.

The answer, it seems, is you spend a lot more time worrying about how it will affect those around you than you do about how it affect yourself.

The good news for O’Shea is that while there is no room for error in 2016, he will have by far the best team he’s had in Winnipeg with which to work.

Off-season free agent signings in Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith will make the receiving corps spectacularly better. A defensive line rid of underperformers and bolstered by some other free agent acquisitions, including Canadian Keith Shologan, will be better. The signing of all-star kicker Justin Medlock gives some much needed consistency to special teams. The Canadian content overall will be deeper, including a ratio changer at running back in Winnipegger Andrew Harris.

And, most important, with a proven backup QB in Matt Nichols behind a proven starting QB in Drew Willy, the Bombers are deeper at quarterback this year than they’ve been in a decade.

So the team around him has changed. But has O’Shea?

He admits to making mistakes in his first two years as Bombers boss, but they’re mostly detail stuff rather than big-picture. And so, for instance, O’Shea takes full blame for that blocked field goal in 2014 that cost the Bombers a win against Saskatchewan — poor scheme, he says — but he doesn’t see much in his general approach that needs to change.

He rejects a popular criticism that he should hold individual players more accountable — either on the sideline or before the microphone — and he says it’s simply not true he worries too much about players liking him and not enough about them fearing him.

"I can’t deny I still want to be one of the guys," says O’Shea,  "but that doesn’t mean I want them to be my buddies... I’d love to still be playing…

"But for 16 years, I watched what works and doesn’t work with a coach. And what doesn’t work is a lack of authenticity. I’m just not that guy who’s going to publicly display some player getting in (trouble)...I’m not going to put on a show."

And so while the team around him in 2016 will look different, don’t expect O’Shea to look different. And that includes the shorts he wears on the sidelines during games — which have filled both my mailbox and the Bombers mailbox with emails of complaint from fans.

The shorts are comfortable, he says. And they’re practical, he says. But as we’re walking out towards the parking lot, he also admits the shorts are here to stay for another reason. "If I stopped wearing them now," he tells me, "people would think it was because they complained."

You want to see stubborn? Try those shorts on for size. And then text me a picture on your Blackberry, something O’Shea also clings to.

"This phone works fine," he says. "What do I need an iPhone for?"

The man is who he is, in other words. And for all the worry about his family and his team and the upcoming season and what a very uncertain future holds, he says that, yes, he is willing to die on that hill.

"I would just die quicker," he says, "if I pretended to be someone I’m not."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

 

I'm not sure you will have me believe that a coach is going to instruct a player, QB, kicker, to lay down and play dead rather than attempt to tackle an opponent. That being said where do you draw the line as to who should or shouldn't? Do you want Dressler to try and make a tackle on an INT? Perhaps it would be better to have a coach say "take an angle to try and direct the opponent either to the sideline or back unto the field of play. The angle being the operative approach as opposed to a head in tackle.

On 3/30/2016 at 9:40 AM, Mike said:

I guess that really depends on what the coach has asked of you. Some coaches will simply demand their kickers don't go all out on those plays. Try and wrap up or knock the returner out of bounds, maybe trip him up if you can but you're not going to ask your kicker to full blown submarine himself at a returner in most cases.

A well played "fall-down" has it's merit.

 

 

7 hours ago, DR. CFL said:

I'm not sure you will have me believe that a coach is going to instruct a player, QB, kicker, to lay down and play dead rather than attempt to tackle an opponent. That being said where do you draw the line as to who should or shouldn't? Do you want Dressler to try and make a tackle on an INT? Perhaps it would be better to have a coach say "take an angle to try and direct the opponent either to the sideline or back unto the field of play. The angle being the operative approach as opposed to a head in tackle.

I don't know who many times I have seen a coach chew out his quarterback for attempting to make a tackle after turnover.

Maybe he was chewing him out for throwing a pic.......you read lips?

38 minutes ago, DR. CFL said:

Maybe he was chewing him out for throwing a pic.......you read lips?

Or... maybe not every coach/player has the "red meat - this is Sparta- there is no play but this one" type of mentality.  You know, the thinking type?

 

Edited April 1, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

Hey look!  It's Justin Medlock!!!

Ive seen Justin Medlock up close,  he's smooth like the god king Xerxes - just needs the bling

 

Edited April 1, 20169 yr by Taynted_Fayth

56 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

Ive seen Justin Medlock up close,  he's smooth like the god king Xerxes - just needs the bling

 

Just signed our new Defensive end.

On March 31, 2016 at 9:47 AM, SPuDS said:

after his first season in cfl football?

 

smh.

I said a bit of a wash. That leaves room for improvement. I have underestimated players before so I try to leave some room for them to improve. I don't think that he was worth giving up a first round pick though. The only time I would give up a first rounder is if I was sure that what I was getting was a sure starter. 

On 3/29/2016 at 9:05 PM, Atomic said:

Worth noting, the common refrain during Mack's reign was "well look what Kelly left for them!  Our Canadian talent is much better now."  Can't help but feel a little deja vu when reading this stuff now.

However I really do think that our Canadian talent now is the best it's been since 2011, maybe even 2007-08.  Certainly our starters look good on paper.

What I'm really interested in is not the comparisons between Walters and Mack or any of his predecessors, but Walters against the other GMs in the league. That is who he is truly competing against. Is Walters signing better players for the Bombers than other GMs are for their teams?

On 3/29/2016 at 4:13 PM, kelownabomberfan said:

Garrett Waggoner - not a strong ST player (apparently), but nice hair though!  That's the only thing I need to base an opinion on him!

I can't help but wonder what goes through a young man's mind when he is grooming himself in the mirror and sees this long hair and thinks to himself "Oh yeah, that looks good!" 

On 3/31/2016 at 0:33 AM, iso_55 said:

For once, Mike & I agree. I saw Noel Prefontaine get seriously injured once making a tackle. And Prefontaine was athletic for a kicker. Medlock looks like he's not that strong except for his kicking leg.

Then kick the ball carrier!

2 hours ago, J5V said:

Then kick the ball carrier!

Heh.

I would like to point out that no matter what your job is on the field they are playing a sport that may result in an injury. An injury can result regardless of what you are doing. Part of football is being able to properly tackle and I would hope that every player I hire and put on the field to be able to tackle. Most kickers have played very little and as a result are not very good in the open field or knowing the right moves to successfully tackle another player. As such their efforts often do not pay off but I have yet to see, and would not expect to see, a kicker intentionally not attempt to tackle someone. Injury is always a risk to cripple your team by being worried about it to the point where you may handcuff the team in some strikes me as lame duck coaching.

3 hours ago, Dragon37 said:

Heh.

I would like to point out that no matter what your job is on the field they are playing a sport that may result in an injury. An injury can result regardless of what you are doing. Part of football is being able to properly tackle and I would hope that every player I hire and put on the field to be able to tackle. Most kickers have played very little and as a result are not very good in the open field or knowing the right moves to successfully tackle another player. As such their efforts often do not pay off but I have yet to see, and would not expect to see, a kicker intentionally not attempt to tackle someone. Injury is always a risk to cripple your team by being worried about it to the point where you may handcuff the team in some strikes me as lame duck coaching.

Ahhhh. Nope. This isn't bantam football. You don't throw your kicker into a tackling drill just like you don't your quarterbacks at the CFL level. If a kicker can make a tackle it's a bonus. It's foolish to expect it because of injuries.

Is it true that defensive players are instructed to headhunt the QB on a pick or a turnover? 

I seem to recall that Anthony Calvillo got totally creamed by a blindside block when he was cruising around pretending to play defence after he threw a pick.

6 minutes ago, johnzo said:

Is it true that defensive players are instructed to headhunt the QB on a pick or a turnover? 

I seem to recall that Anthony Calvillo got totally creamed by a blindside block when he was cruising around pretending to play defence after he threw a pick.

If a defensive or special teams player can rock a qb or a kicker he's going to take it.

18 hours ago, johnzo said:

Is it true that defensive players are instructed to headhunt the QB on a pick or a turnover? 

I seem to recall that Anthony Calvillo got totally creamed by a blindside block when he was cruising around pretending to play defence after he threw a pick.

3 rules things your taught on a D turnover is block to closet man, get to the sidelines, get the qb

On April 2, 2016 at 8:33 AM, Dragon37 said:

Heh.

I would like to point out that no matter what your job is on the field they are playing a sport that may result in an injury. An injury can result regardless of what you are doing. Part of football is being able to properly tackle and I would hope that every player I hire and put on the field to be able to tackle. Most kickers have played very little and as a result are not very good in the open field or knowing the right moves to successfully tackle another player. As such their efforts often do not pay off but I have yet to see, and would not expect to see, a kicker intentionally not attempt to tackle someone. Injury is always a risk to cripple your team by being worried about it to the point where you may handcuff the team in some strikes me as lame duck coaching.

You haven't seen a kicker intentionally avoid attempting to make a tackle?  Seriously?  Watch almost any long return and you'll see it.  There are a handful of kickers in pro football with any tackling instincts.  Usually the best you can hope for is that they'll force the returner to cut inside.

Westwood would literally run at a 45 degree angle to the returner and just run with him until the guy went past.  That's a common one, run but not with any intent, run to the sideline.

21 hours ago, iso_55 said:

If a defensive or special teams player can rock a qb or a kicker he's going to take it.

And he should take it.  QBs are football players too.

in the NFL you can't block a QB if he is not engaged in the play. Not sure if same is true in CFL.

8 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

 That's a common one, run but not with any intent, run to the sideline.

The typical Brock Ralph receiving pattern.

On 4/2/2016 at 4:37 AM, Dragon37 said:

I said a bit of a wash. That leaves room for improvement. I have underestimated players before so I try to leave some room for them to improve. I don't think that he was worth giving up a first round pick though. The only time I would give up a first rounder is if I was sure that what I was getting was a sure starter. 

fair enough.  I thought he was capable in his first season and while tempered by the last few rookies we have seen come through the wings, believe he will evolve into a solid addition as he gets more into the CFL game and its speed/timing..

On 3/31/2016 at 9:47 AM, SPuDS said:

after his first season in cfl football?

 

smh.

No kidding. A lot of fans over waggoner. Its very very rare for a guy to step in and be dominant the year hes drafted. Especially at a ratio breaking position, even more so coming from the US. Henoc didnt light the world on fire in his first season. Waggoner has shown some really nice flashes and i cant wait to see what he brings in his 2nd year.

1 minute ago, wbbfan said:

No kidding. A lot of fans over waggoner. Its very very rare for a guy to step in and be dominant the year hes drafted. Especially at a ratio breaking position, even more so coming from the US. Henoc didnt light the world on fire in his first season. Waggoner has shown some really nice flashes and i cant wait to see what he brings in his 2nd year.

yup, agree 100%.. so many people are still stuck in this madden mentality where the player should just show up, start right away and be a fixture.  they don't comprehend that it takes awhile to get a grip on the speed of the CFL, the nuances of the game and finding their role on the team...

 

so odd.