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Any optimism Calgary Stampeders fans may have had about the status of starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was quelled Tuesday when head coach Dave Dickenson announced the star pivot is headed to the six-game injured list. 

That move comes after Mitchell broke his fibula on a hit from former teammate Charleston Hughes in Calgary’s season opener versus the Toronto Argonauts. Mitchell tried to play through the pain the following week but ended up throwing four interceptions versus the BC Lions as the Stampeders fell to 0-2, the team’s worst start in more than a decade.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t good,” Dickenson said Tuesday on the Texan’s status for the immediate future. “He actually has a break in his leg, in his fibula – a bone break. He played the whole game [versus the BC Lions] with it. At the time we knew he was sore…so we’ll be putting him on six-game and hopefully he’s a fast healer.”

Mitchell joked that Hughes could have injured him even more.

“When I watched the play, I was like, ‘Man, you really actually pulled up,’” he said. “‘You could have killed me on that play.’”

Now, 25-year-old Canadian quarterback Michael O’Connor is tasked with righting the Stampeders ship and at least keeping the team in playoff contention until Mitchell returns. O’Connor won the 2015 Vanier Cup with the UBC Thunderbirds. In his rookie season with the Toronto Argonauts in 2019, he threw for 173 yards and a touchdown.

The Stampeders offence has looked out of sync so far this season, plagued by penalties and mental errors. After that Week 1 loss to Toronto, Dickenson said he felt Mitchell had lost faith in his receivers as the game went on.

Calgary is scoring fewer than 14 points per game and has just one passing touchdown this season. While Kamar Jorden has come back strong and leads the team with eight catches and 153 yards, Hergy Mayala and Josh Huff - who were both expected to take big steps with the departures of star receivers Eric Rogers and Reggie Begelton after 2019 - have just 14 catches 152 receiving yards combined.

O’Connor is now tasked with building that chemistry –and in a hurry.

“Just talking with them through the plays and different looks we’re expecting and how they’re going to run their routes,” O’Connor said of his work taking first-team reps this week. “That just helps to build trust, knowing where they’ll be and how they’ll run their routes is big. Just meeting with them and going through that gives you more confidence as a quarterback.”

Jorden, who has 160 catches since joining the Stampeders in 2014, downplayed the adjustments in catching the ball from one quarterback versus another.

“It should all flow regardless of who’s at quarterback, and really it should all flow regardless of who’s at receiver,” he said. “Obviously, it’s little things, right? Every quarterback’s got their things and that’s our jobs as receivers and quarterbacks to communicate and if anybody else is in, to tell us what they like, what they don’t like, where they want us, where they expect us. Those are things you’ve got to learn.”

If there’s any room for optimism it could be in Mitchell’s assessment of his protégé, which included a reference to a quarterback who won four Grey Cups during his distinguished CFL career. 

“Mike reminds me of a young Ricky Ray,” Mitchell said. “He’s tall in the pocket, he’s calm. He’s not gonna be a hoo-rah guy when he throws a big pass and he’s not gonna keep his head down when he throws a bad pass. I think he’s calm and has that demeanour about himself. He throws a beautiful ball and has a strong arm. He’s a little more mobile than you’d expect from a bigger guy.

“To me, he understands the playbook really well…Mike’s gonna stand tall in that pocket and take hits when he needs to and do what a big quarterback should do. He’s got the vision over the line and ability to see a lot of things, move the ball around, spread it out to receivers, and help the offence.”

As for the team’s overall offensive philosophy, Dickenson doesn’t want O’Connor to be tentative – despite the big stage Friday night against the visiting Montreal Alouettes.

“I’m not in the business of playing safe,” he said. “Be aggressive. Go for the throws you think are there. The main thing is to take care of discipline and the little, small things and then whatever you see, trust your eyes and let it rip.”