Argonauts win Grey Cup with journeyman QB Nick Arbuckle, not troublesome Chad Kelly

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VANCOUVER — Evidently the Toronto Argonauts don’t really need Chad Kelly.

Playing without their controversial quarterback, whose broken leg sidelined him for Sunday’s 41-24 crushing of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Argonauts surprisingly won the 111th Grey Cup and Kelly’s much-travelled replacement Nick Arbuckle earned player-of-the-game laurels.

Arbuckle is in his second Argonauts stint plus he played with the Calgary Stampeders, Ottawa Redblacks (twice) and Edmonton Elks, who actually acquired him in a trade that sent Kelly’s CFL rights to Toronto. Arbuckle never fulfilled his promise as a starter and during the offseason was pondering retirement. No wonder the Argonauts were nine-point underdogs!

“If I was in the media and I saw there was a backup quarterback playing, I’d think it would be tough to win, too,” said Arbuckle, who completed 26-of-37 passes for 252 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“It’s hard to tell you exactly why it happened. It was just a special energy that I felt all week in practice.”

That isn’t enough to convince Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie to move past Kelly, whose recovery is expected to take 6-9 months.

“We absolutely, literally need Chad Kelly,” said Dinwiddie.

Dinwiddie’s team has won two Grey Cup in the past three years; in the first one Kelly secured the victory as a backup to McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Both championships came against the Blue Bombers, who were appearing in their fifth straight Grey Cup and lost for the third consecutive time.

“I FaceTimed Chad afterwards,” Dinwiddie said during his postgame media scrum as 52,349 spectators left BC Place Stadium. “You know, he’s the best quarterback in the league and I don’t think it’s even close. He makes us a different offence, very explosive.

“Not to take anything away from Nick, he played great, but Chad is our franchise guy and we really appreciate him and everything he had to deal with this year, how he battled through.”

Kelly “battled through” a nine-game suspension for harassing a female assistant coach, who settled a lawsuit against the Argonauts after they terminated her contract. Nobody else in the Argos organization was publicly disciplined for mishandling the coach’s complaints, several of which were found to be factual by an independent investigator.

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After social-media threatening to avenge himself against everyone who wronged him, Kelly rejoined the Argonauts and turned them into one of the CFL’s hottest teams until breaking a leg while eliminating the reigning Grey Cup-champion Montreal Alouettes last weekend in the East final. Losing Kelly again may have actually fortified the Argos.

“We never know how it’s gonna go,” said Argos receiver Dejon Brissett, who was chosen the game’s outstanding Canadian after catching three passes for a team-high 45 yards and one touchdown. “You can only focus on the next game and the next play and we kind of adapted that mentality.”

Toronto trailed 10-9 at halftime before turning the field over to the Jonas Brothers for a fiery set that ended with their hit song “Sucker.” The halftime entertainment provided more explosions than the entire first half. An all-exciting punt single tied the score 10-10 before the CFL’s infamous Command Centre inevitably stepped into the fray by overturning an Argonauts offside penalty.

Shortly after, Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson — who would have been the game’s star if Winnipeg won — strip-sacked Arbuckle. Although the Argonauts recovered, they punted on the next play and it felt like the Bombers were gaining momentum.

Except Bombers returner Lucky Whitehead fumbled away the punt. One play later Arbuckle tossed a 17-yard touchdown to Kevin Mital to take a 17-10 lead. It remained close until the fourth quarter, when the Argonauts repeatedly intercepted Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, with Robert Priester returning one of the picks 61 yards for a touchdown.

Collaros, who had shredded the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a 38-22 West final victory, needed stitches on throwing hand and wore a glove during the second half.

“It’s not an excuse for our performance,” said Collaros, who was 15-of-30 for 202 yards and four interceptions, has lost his last three Grey Cup starts and may now be the epitome of a hard-luck quarterback. “It feels pretty bad every time.”

One of the few people Collaros didn’t throw to in the fourth quarter was the female streaker who stumbled on the turf before being escorted away by security. She wasn’t wearing Argos white. Or Bombers blue.