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Robert Marve will make his first pro start for Winnipeg Friday; how will he do?
With Drew Willy out for six to eight weeks and Brian Brohm ineffective thus far, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are turning to Robert Marve at quarterback. The former Purdue star is set to make his first professional start Friday night when the Bombers host the Toronto Argonauts (8 p.m. Eastern, TSN/ESPN3). Just how optimistic can Winnipeg fans be about him, though?
There are certainly some positives with Marve. For one thing, he's been with the Bombers since last year, so he's had time to learn their offence. He hasn't seen much game action yet, only appearing in two games last season and attempting just 22 passes (completing half of them, for 140 yards and a touchdown), and he's only thrown seven passes this year (four completions for 49 yards, plus an interception), but at least he's somewhat familiar with the CFL and with Winnipeg's offensive personnel and scheme. Marve also shone in the preseason this year, throwing for a touchdown and rushing for another one in the Bombers' preseason opener against Toronto and completing 11 of 16 passes (68.6 per cent) for 115 yards in their second preseason game against Hamilton.
Marve has good football bloodlines (his dad, Eugene, had a 10-year NFL career as a linebacker in the 80s and 90s), and he's overcome a lot to get here, including a car accident and three torn knee ligaments. He's shown plenty of skill with both his arms and his legs, too. He's also thrilled to get the chance to start, as he told CFL.ca:
“I’m more excited than anything,” said Marve, slated to make his first career professional start after getting first-team reps on Wednesday. That marked the Bombers’ only full practice this week with only four days between Sunday’s 38-8 loss in Hamilton and a home date with the Argos.
“My dad’s flying in and he’s never been to Winnipeg, he always talks about the stadium so I’m excited about that,” continued Marve, his dad’s birthday falling on the same day as his first CFL start. “I was a little nervous, but I got on the practice field and said ‘we’re still playing football’. I feel good about it, I’ve gone over the plays a million and a half times.”
It's interesting that it's taken Marve this long to get a start, though. Some fans were already lobbying for him rather than Brohm to come in during Winnipeg's season-opening defeat. The Bombers elected to go with Brohm, then, after a July injury to Willy, and initially after Willy's injury last week. That didn't work out so well in any of the cases, so now they're turning to Marve, but you have to wonder what Winnipeg saw in practice before making those decisions. Did Brohm look good enough to continue as the second-stringer? Was his greater experience enough to keep him in that role? Or was that about Marve not shining in practice? If that was about Brohm doing well in practice, fine, but if it was about Marve struggling, that may not bode well for the Bombers.
Marve is also entering a tough situation. Winnipeg's 3-4, and the Bombers' defence has been lacklustre so far, giving up 210 points heading into this week (the second-worst total in the league). The offence hasn't been great either, scoring just 140 points (the fourth-lowest total entering this week), and the ground game in particular has often been missing in action. The upgrades the Bombers made to their offensive line haven't paid off consistently, either, and that, plus Marve's inexperience, may cause them some problems. They may need a lot of offensive production to keep up Thursday, too, as the Argonauts' attack has been pretty good to date. We'll see what Marve and the Bombers can do.
