Kelly nervous about his injury as Argos look for second opinion

The Toronto Argonauts will be relying on quarterback Nick Arbuckle to help them get back into the playoff race in the CFL's East Division.

Arbuckle took over the starting reins at the 2024 Grey Cup last postseason after starter Chad Kelly suffered a serious leg injury during the East Final.

Kelly has been out of the lineup the entire season, but returned to practice prior to Week 8's matchup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

However, the team ruled that Kelly was not ready to return to the lineup and placed him on the six-game injured reserve, which means he likely won't return until mid-September.

"[Kelly] wanted to go, you could tell he wanted to go when he was out there on the practice field, but he wasn't quite there yet," Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie told TSN1050's OverDrive on Monday. "The strength is there and he was moving around in practice, but we want to get some second opinions and he's kind of nervous about certain things.

"He wanted to play, and he had two days on the field, but he wasn't healthy enough at this stage where we could put him out there where he could protect himself."

Kelly has been a huge factor in the Argonauts' winning ways over the last two seasons. The 6-foot-1 pivot threw for 4,123 yards with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during the 2023 campaign, leading him to winning the CFL's Most Outstanding Player and lifting the Argonauts to a tie for the all-time CFL record with a 16-2 season.

Last year, the 31-year-old missed the first nine-games of the season due to a suspension for violating the league's gender-based violence policy, but returned to throw for 2,451 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions, taking the team to the East Final and they would eventually win the Grey Cup with Kelly sidelined.

Once again, Arbuckle stepped up on Saturday with Kelly remaining out, throwing for 316 yards and two touchdowns to beat the Blue Bombers 31-17 for the team's first home win of the season.

Arbuckle has now thrown for 2,007 passing yards with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions through seven games as the Argonauts sit third in the East with a 2-5 record.

"Kelly practiced last week so Arbuckle was under the impression that he wasn't going to be playing," said Dinwiddie. "We put a plan together for Kelly and then tweaked it to go more towards Arbuckle's strengths later in the week.

"Arbuckle has been there and done that with a few organizations. So, he just takes it one day at a time like he always has and trusts the process. He rose to the occasion with the ball in his hands. He played a simple football game where sometimes it's the easy throw and not always the tough throws [that brings success]."

Due to a dreadful start to the 2025 CFL season, the Argonauts find themselves three games back of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes for the top spot in the East.

The defending Grey Cup champions are trying to scratch and claw their way back to the top of the standings with Dinwiddie suggesting that they bring a little bit of chaos into their games, beginning with their win against the Blue Bombers on Saturday.

Toronto was down 10-9 after the first quarter and exploded the rest of the way, recording 22 points in the remaining three quarters while holding the Blue Bombers to seven points.

"Defensively, I think we rose to the occasion in [creating chaos]. We knew we had to be disruptive and do some things differently," said Dinwiddie. "Our secondary was getting the ball and [Cameron] Judge getting a pick last week was huge. [Jalen] Chatfield is leading the league in sacks and when he's doing that, we play a lot better on defence."

The Argonauts now try to repeat their success on Friday when they travel to Winnipeg for the second half of a back-to-back with the Blue Bombers.

Winnipeg has lost their last two games and sits in third place in the West Division with a 3-3 record. Like the Argonauts, the Blue Bombers have been known as a winning organization in recent years, winning their division each of their last four seasons while representing the West in the Grey Cup in their last five campaigns.

Dinwiddie says the team wants to repeat some of the things they did well against the Blue Bombers on Saturday, but also have a few new tricks up their sleeve in order to keep things fresh and remain unpredictable.

"The nice part in playing a short week is that when you're playing an opponent back-to-back, it's not near as stressful a time in trying to get your plan together," said Dinwidde. "We addressed some things we felt we did well last week and added a few extra things that weren't in the game plan and kept in our hip pocket.

"You have to handle the crowd there or that defensive line is going to get after you. "We got to make sure we control the clock and take the crowd out of it as best we can.