As expected injured Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver Weston Dressler will not be in the lineup on Friday when the club plays host to the Ottawa RedBlacks.
Receiver Ryan Lankford is checking back into the lineup for the first time since the season opener and will line up at slotback after Dressler was placed on the six-game injured list with a lower body injury. But the veteran receiver is not expected to be out that long and could be removed from the injured list early.
“It’s a matter of protocol,” Head Coach Mike O’Shea said. “We’ve done that with I think pretty well most guys this year. I think that’s the way a lot of teams approach it — is you put him on the six game just in case there’s a setback later on, ’cause you can’t do it retroactively.”
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With Dressler out Matt Nichols is losing his second leading receiver. And the quarterback has already been facing criticism this week despite getting the win while making a few errant throws against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
On Thursday Nichols was asked if he could make any sense of his critics.
“I don’t care and it doesn’t make sense,” Nichols said.
WATCH: Raw Matt Nichols – August 16
“That’s just noise man,” running back Andrew Harris said in Nichols defense.
“It’s just noise. I don’t know. We won the game. He made the throws he needed to. He controlled the ball when he needed to. He didn’t turn the ball over. I mean it’s just noise. We know what kind of preparation and how he plays. Not every game is going to be perfect.”
But the Bombers do have a perfect record over their last three games as they look to hit the midway point of the season riding a four-game win streak.
“For us, it’s the past is the past, the future is the future and we need to go out and prove we’re a good football team tomorrow,” Nichols said. “I think that we’re knocking on the door of where we want to be.”
WATCH: Raw Mike O’Shea – August 16
“We’re not where the plan had us, ’cause you want to win every single game,” O’Shea said. “Right now we’re not 8-0, so we haven’t managed to go to our plan, right. If I were to start the season and think by the nine-game mark I want to have this record and it includes losses, I’m doing something wrong.”
The Bombers have been doing something right against the RedBlacks though, after winning their last three straight meetings dating back to 2016.
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Kickoff on Friday is scheduled for 7:30 pm at Investors Group Field.
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