48 Hour Primer | Neufeld's Long Journey

Oh sure, the figurative playbook suggests he need just put his head down, slap on the blinders, treat this one the same as any other game on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers schedule and blah, de-blah, blah.

But that's not doing his story justice here.

Look, Neufeld is in his 15th Canadian Football League campaign now -- 13 with the Blue Bombers -- and Sunday's Labour Day Classic will be the 198th regular-season game in his career.

He's a Regina lad, played his college ball up the highway in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan and was drafted by the Roughriders. Heck, he grew up on Janzen Crescent in the southeast part of the capital on the same street as NHL star Jordan Eberle and with hall of fame football writer Darrell Davis of The Leader-Post as his next-door neighbour.

He grew up as a friend of current Roughrider offensive coordinator Marc Mueller -- whose grandfather just so happened to be Saskatchewan icon Ron Lancaster -- and he's worn both uniforms in the Classic while playing in Taylor Field and Mosaic Stadium and Canad Inns and Princess Auto Stadium.

So, yeah, he's been around for a bit and has earned the right to step back for a wide-angle view of the meaning of this game at this stage of his life.

"It's not like, 'This is just another game' this time for me," began Neufeld in a long chat with bluebombers.com this week. "I'll be taking this one in a little more.

"I'm trying to be in the moment a lot more this year and being appreciative of all these moments. I understand more the human side of this and feeling the emotions on game day... I'm not trying to suppress that as much now. It's, 'Hey, is this is how I'm feeling I'm going to go out and play with it.' It's OK to have that mindset and tap into that and use it as motivation. And so, I'm probably doing more reminiscing this year than any other.

"It's crazy to think the 200 games mark is coming up and (he pauses a moment to knock on the wooden desk in front of him) hopefully I get the chance to get to that mark. That includes playing in a ton of Labour Day games and I grew up going to Labour Day games. I never take it for granted.

"I've been around the Labour Day Classic for so long," he added. "We went to a ton of games when I was a kid and so I probably have to suppress the emotion a bit more than some guys who just look at it as a rivalry game. It was part of who I am when I was growing up and I probably play this one a little more emotionally and have to calm myself down more, too, because of that."

Neufeld's road travelled from the start of his CFL career to now has hardly been all lollipops and rainbows. Selected by the Riders in the fifth round of the 2010 CFL Canadian Draft, he was traded from his hometown team to the Blue Bombers in October of 2013 for defensive end Alex Hall and a second-round draft pick but then played in just 27 games over the next three seasons as he battled through a series of injuries.

And then there was the injury scare from last November and the Blue Bombers playoff loss to the Montreal Alouettes where the veteran guard took a shot in the kidney while recovering a fumble and, after seeing blood in his urine at halftime, was pulled from the game.

Again, all that stuff -- all the peaks and valleys -- certainly give the man license to look back a bit.

"The offseason was tough for me because I had to go through a lot of health things because of that and some other things I had to do bloodwork and tests for. I was like, 'That could have been my last game,'" Neufeld said. "I really think because I went through that I am so much more appreciative of each day I get to spend in the locker room with this group of guys and a lot of guys who are as close as family to me now. You've got to appreciate that and when you have something like that happen to you -- where you can't play in the second half of a playoff game because of a kidney injury -- it becomes bigger than football.

"It's been tough at times. I tore my Achilles, broke my leg, separated shoulders, concussions, tendonitis all over my body... I've been through some injuries that a lot of people don't come back from, or they put the perception in a lot of teams' heads -- 'This guys is injury prone' or 'He's not playing enough' or 'We're not getting enough out of him.' I've always been extremely grateful for this organization sticking with me.

"There were some tough times and sometimes where I wasn't going to be around here, but I was fortunate enough to stick around. I'm extremely appreciative of Wade (Miller, President & CEO, Kyle (Walters, GM) and Osh (head coach Mike O'Shea) and everybody for just keeping me around."

Ultimately, that's what keeps Neufeld's fire burning and his batteries charged. It's also partly why his perspective has changed now that he's this late into his career and the father of three -- two daughters and a son, including twins born this season.

He's playing for them now and for his wife Paula who has done so much on the homefront while he still plays this late in his career.

There's also this: all those scars picked up along the way harden a man mentally and physically. They also provide motivation on those dark winter mornings at the gym and while lining up across from defensive tackles and ends some 15 years his junior.

There can be a power in that, just as there is in embracing all these moments more now.

This isn't just another Labour Day Classic for Neufeld. Never has been. Never will be.

"Using all that as motivation... I try to keep that to myself. It's not really something I exude," he said. "But it can be a motivator. It's, 'OK, I'm 37-turning-38 and I'm still squatting 580 pounds in the offseason, still benching all this crazy weight and still trying to run with 20-year-olds.' I'm still showing up, still putting the work in.

"I'm old in football years, but I'm still doing it. I'm proud of that. This still means so much to me. But I also look back and I'm proud that I've fought through some things. I've had a never quit mindset. You fight through it because you love being on this team and being in this locker room.

" I just want to win with this team and this group of guys."