WINNIPEG -- Despite best efforts to ensure a healthy starting lineup for the CFL season opener Thursday, Winnipeg Blue Bombers coach Tim Burke says Chris Matthews remains a question mark. "We will know the morning of the game whether he can play or not," Burke said Tuesday after the teams No. 1 receiver last season did not attend practice. The CFLs outstanding rookie in 2012, Matthews is nursing a minor ankle injury sustained during Sundays practice. But Burke was a little more optimistic Tuesday than he had been earlier about Matthews prognosis. "Right now, I would say its closer to him playing than not playing," he said. "It depends on how fast he can heal up in the next 48 hours." If he can play, missing a few days of practice wont hurt Matthews performance, Burke said. Receiver Terrence Edwards, who had off-season foot surgery, will be on the field. "Im really surprised at how well hes moving," Burke said of the veteran, who also topped the 1,000-yard mark last season for the fifth time as a Bomber. "Last week I was going I dont know if hes going to be ready, and this week he looks great." Burke says he feels the offence is ready but he has had questions this season about his defence. "I feel better about our defence," he said after practice Tuesday. "I still think . . . because we have a couple of young guys there that havent played a CFL game, Im a little concerned for them." On defence, the Bombers have rookies Desia Dunn, a linebacker who could be a starter with Johnny Sears still out, defensive back Marty Markett and defensive end Freddie Harris. Burke says rookies can make their first game a bigger event that it should be and hes going to remind them they dont have to win it all by themselves. Despite a new look offence and new protection schemes to try and keep quarterback Buck Pierce out of harms way as much as possible, Burke says the opposition Thursday is much more of a blank slate. The Montreal Alouettes have a new head coach and a new defence this season. "They didnt show much in pre season. What we did see was different than what Montreal did under Marc Trestman and certainly different than what (Jeff) Reinebold did last year on defence," said Burke. "We have no idea what theyre doing and they know what were doing." Shoes Australia Outlet . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Wholesale Shoes Australia . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/ . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Buy Shoes Australia . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. Cheap Shoes Australia Free Shipping . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Add a staph infection to the long list of ailments that Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt suffered -- and played through -- during the 2015 season.Watt, in a post for The Players Tribune, credits a Texans trainer for looking at some weird bumps on my knee and recognizing the infection. He said he was later told by a team doctor that, if it had gone undiagnosed, he could have lost his leg.During that 2015 season, Watt said he also suffered a broken hand, two torn abs, three torn adductor muscles and a herniated disc on two occasions. He didnt miss a game.That was my 2015 season. Believe it or not, the scariest was probably the staph infection, Watt wrote.Watt said he approached the trainer to get some cream to take care of what he thought was a rash, and the trainer told him that they had to get him to a hospital immediately.I thought he was joking at first. But then I could see in his face that he was serious and actually a bit panicked, Watt wrote. As it turrned out, he saved me in a big way.ddddddddddddAt the hospital, they immediately put me on three hours of the strongest antibiotic IVs. I went straight from the hospital to the team plane and we flew to Jacksonville.Once we landed, there were two more hours of antibiotics that night and two more the next morning before the game. The medicine had completely drained me, but I played -- and we won.Watt, who was cleared Monday to take the next step in his rehab from back surgery in September, was at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, coach?Bill OBrien said.Hell be back in 2017, OBrien said of Watt, who was put on injured reserve prior to Week 4 and is eligible to return to the team this week. Hes back in the building today. Hes in good spirits, and working hard to be better than ever in 2017.ESPN Staff Writer Sarah Barshop contributed to this report. ' ' '