“We’re not taking any days for granted.”

VANCOUVER — They seemed to linger just a tad longer, collectively taking one more moment to soak in all the sights and sounds around them.

And as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers completed their last full practice of the season — Friday is an off day, Saturday the walk-through session, Sunday the 111th Grey Cup against the Toronto Argonauts — Willie Jefferson stood in the centre of his teammates for the daily break down and message.

“My message was to just enjoy it,” began Jefferson in a conversation with bluebombers.com. “(Friday) we have off and that’s when the families come in, so I told the guys, ‘Enjoy your family but don’t forget why you’re here.’

“We’ve still got curfew. Let your family know that you’re happy they’re here and ready to enjoy the festivities and all those good things but then it’s, ‘I’ve got to get back to work.’

“We’ve got one or two more days to prepare for this game and now’s the time to really lock in while getting ready to enjoy the biggest game of the season — the last game of the season.”

The Blue Bombers practice on Thursday was closed to the media as the club continued to fine tune its final gameplan. The team has an 11 p.m. curfew tonight — the CFL Most Outstanding Player Awards will feature Brady Oliveira — with Friday and Saturday’s curfew set at 10 p.m.

Head coach Mike O’Shea offered this when asked kind of read he’s getting from his squad — one that was so focussed during practice leading up to the Western Final and has been laser sharp again this week in Vancouver:

“They probably still want to be out there,” he said. “It’s one of those things — they seem to have fun doing it. They enjoy being out there together working and today was no different, which is nice to see. But I bet if you just let the plays keep going and going and going, they might not have even noticed.”

Told of Jefferson’s comments about family — welcome them, appreciate them and let them know there’s one big task yet to complete — the Blue Bombers boss had his own thoughts, too.

“It’s always been that way. I think that’s always been the message for every team that ends up in this situation,” he said. “It was framed in a nice way — they really want you to be successful, but you really need to tell them what that means to you and what you need to be successful in the next bunch of days.

“You need your rest, you need to study, you need to be around your teammates. You need to be communicating and hanging with them and getting that last bit of time with your guys, too.

“Everybody is going to hug their family and love on their kids and do all that, but it really is a communication piece.”

Kenny Lawler stood in the end zone at B.C. Place after practice on Thursday, surveyed the field and then attempted to describe the vibe swirling about a team that is making its fifth straight Grey Cup appearance and chasing a third title.

“This being the last Day 3 right before the Grey Cup, it’s an honour to have been on this field with all these men here because you can’t take any season for granted because they’re all different,” he said.

“There’s a special feeling in the air. The guys, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve overcame a lot, whether it was injuries at the beginning of the season to the adversity we had then. So, to get to this point is a great feeling because of the sacrifices we’ve all made as teammates, the roles we’ve had as teammates, and we just continued to put one foot forward after another. We put the team first.

“To just get to the playoffs is a special thing because not everyone gets that opportunity in their professional careers,” he added. “Locking up the first seed isn’t easy to do, either. So, we honour that, and we honour our teammates by putting in as much work as possible.

“We’re not taking any days for granted.”

That’s especially so for a team that started 0-4, stumbled to 2-6 and has since won 10 of its last 11 games.

“Nobody expected the season to start the way it did,” Jefferson said. “We knew were we wanted it to end up. We didn’t know how we were going to do it, but we did know how we wanted it to end up.

“All that hard work and determination, all that blood sweat and tears, all that sacrifice, all that resiliency and facing adversity, all the injuries happened. You’ve got to deal with it and rock with it.

“And it’s led us to right here, right where we want to be.”

OUCH REPORT: Today’s injury list:

Injury Report: November 14, 2024#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/NNzh6Io5uH

— y – Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) November 15, 2024

ICYMI: Our Grey Cup episode of The Huddle, featuring Redha Kramdi at Wednesday’s media day, can be found here: