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News June 24, 2025

48-Hour Primer | Game #3 vs. EDM

Deatrick Nichols and Willie Jefferson at B.C. Place last Saturday; photos by Cameron Bartlett

@EdTaitWFC

Willie Jefferson has made his apologies and mea culpas and vows not to get tossed from another Canadian Football League game.

As a leader on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, he’s got too many people holding him accountable as a respected veteran, from his teammates and his coaches.

He’s also got the women in his family holding him to a high standard, too.

First the background…

ICYMI, the dominant defensive end was ejected from Saturday’s win over the B.C. Lions in Vancouver after receiving two objectionable conduct penalties. The second, coming with 1:36 left in the game and after an altercation with Lions O-lineman Kory Woodruff, with Woodruff himself then getting tossed after he made contact with an official.

Woodruff then told J.C. Abbott of 3Down Nation in this piece that Jefferson “did something dirty to one of my teammates, and I’m not just gonna let that slide, so we got into a little bit of an altercation.”

Jefferson told his side of the story on Tuesday after speaking with the media for the first time since the incident.

“You can look back at the play,” Jefferson began. “We went blitz and an offensive lineman tried to go low on me, so I’m coming down trying to get my feet and the guy’s literally trying to take my legs under me, so I pushed him down to the ground. (Woodruff) came from the other side of the field, pushed me, and I had head-butted him — busted him with my helmet — and that’s where the flag came from. I didn’t see the flag, so I continued to talk, and he continued to talk and then words were exchanged and he hit the ref.

“… From my side of things — we were talking. (Woodruff) was making his way closer to me and I wasn’t moving. I was just standing where I was standing, and he was making his way toward me and the ref got in between us. He tried to do something with his hand and the ref was right there and he got in the way.”

Jefferson and Kyrie Wilson from Saturday’s win in Vancouver

Jefferson said it was the first time in career he had been ejected from a game and while he wasn’t exactly contrite, did insist that it was a one-off.

“It won’t happen again. I got in trouble by my little girls, and I heard it from Coach O’Shea,” he said with a grin. “We had a conversation. That’s not my character and has never been in me to be ejected from a game. I’ve always been a guy to try and keep my guys levelheaded.

“But… B.C. Place, things can happen, so it is what it is. We won. Game over. On to the next week.”

The Blue Bombers returned to Winnipeg late Saturday night and were on the practice field for a closed-to-the-media session today. In between he had his one-on-one with his boss. Asked to compare the two sets of discussions — the one with O’Shea and that with his girls — Jefferson offered this:

“Coach O’Shea was a little bit more direct with his approach, just telling me that wasn’t me, that’s not what we do here, don’t let it happen again — those types of things. I agreed with him: ‘Yessir. It won’t happen again. I promise.’

“Then it was a little bit of, ‘Daddy, you were wrong’ when I got home from my girls, but it was all fun. I let them know it won’t happen again. I let my wife know it won’t happen again. I heard it from my wife, my mom and my grand mom. So… the ladies got on me. I’m sorry.”

Jefferson said the first objectionable conduct penalty, which happened early in the fourth quarter, came after he was trash-talking with some Lions players on the sidelines — including Patrice Rene and Garry Peters. Both benches are on the same sideline at B.C. Place and as he walked by the Lions bench, he did some hand gestures — he said it was mimicking a guitar riff — and the officials flagged him as they tried to steer him to the Blue Bombers bench.

O’Shea chose Tuesday not to publicly dress-down Jefferson, instead acknowledging that the two had a conversation but, big picture, also praising his veteran for his leadership.

“It’s not like Willie. That’s very uncharacteristic,” said O’Shea. ” Willie is — and I’ve said it over and over and over again — you like the knockdowns, you like the amazing plays, the interceptions at the line (of scrimmage) … all of the unbelievable plays. I like his leadership. All that stuff is great, but from the day he stepped in here he chose to lead and that leadership has evolved over time, from running special teams drills — which he still does — to running the jugs for all the receivers and making them catch football, which he still does, too, to the way he gets on point with the messaging.

“Everything he does has been awesome so we will afford Willie some grace for a couple of decisions he’d like to have back. That’s completely unlike Willie. What am I going to do, give him hell? No. I don’t know that there’s a point to that.”

OLIVEIRA OUT/DEMSKI QUESTIONABLE: Short week for the Blue Bombers with Saturday’s win followed by Thursday’s home date with the Edmonton Elks at Princess Auto Stadium.

Tuesday’s injury report confirms running back Brady Oliveira will miss a second straight game while all-star slotback Nic Demski is listed as questionable after suffering an ankle injury in Saturday’s game.

Meanwhile, in Edmonton the Elks will be without starting centre David Beard.

ICYMI: A bust-out game for Jamal Parker, Jr. in Saturday’s win with six tackles, an interception, a pass knockdown and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

“That’s up there with my favourite games in my career, I’ll say that,” said Parker, Jr. on Tuesday.

Parker, Jr. said his last touchdown came in his senior year in college in their final regular season game before their bowl game and on a kick return.

“It was kind of tough because I wasn’t sure (the fumble recovery TD on Saturday) was going to count or not,” he said. “So, I didn’t want to really celebrate and get all antsy and hyped if it wasn’t going to count. I got to the end zone with Vaught (James Vaughters) and we were shaking hands and he was like, ‘You think that’s going to count?’

“It was second nature to pick the ball up and then I didn’t hear a whistle, and the ref just started running so I just started running. Back of my head I’m like, ‘Is this going to count? You know what, I’m just going to run all the way to the end zone.’ And that’s why I did.”

Parker, Jr. was also this week’s guest on The Huddle, which went live today after practice. Here it is for those who want to listen about his journey to Winnipeg, overcoming last year’s knee injury, and his love of movies/TV.

ICYMI, PART DEUX: Great chat on our latest Handled Internally podcast with Zach Collaros now a co-host along with myself and Darren Cameron and special guest Dalton Schoen. Check it out here: