VANCOUVER — Ryan Dinwiddie and the Toronto Argonauts have been down this road before.
Toronto will be minus starting quarterback Chad Kelly on Sunday when it faces the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup. Kelly, the CFL’s outstanding player last season, suffered a season-ending leg injury in last weekend’s 30-28 East Division final win over the Montreal Alouettes.
But Toronto went 5-4 the first half of the regular season without Kelly, who had been suspended by the CFL for violating its gender-based violence policy. Included was a 16-14 overtime win over Winnipeg on July 27.
Cameron Dukes went 4-4 as Toronto’s starter, with veteran Nick Arbuckle earning the other victory. Arbuckle will make his first Grey Cup start Sunday after completing five-of-eight passes for 73 yards against Montreal in relief of Kelly.
“I think (winning without Kelly) builds confidence in the locker room,” Dinwiddie said Tuesday during the Grey Cup coaches news conference. “I think those guys understand they can trust Nick, they can trust Cam and we brought Bryan (third quarterback Bryan Scott) back . . . they trust those guys.
“Obviously Chad is a special type of leader, a special type of player . . . but those guys understand we can win without him. It’s not about one guy.”
It seems oddsmakers disagree as Winnipeg has been listed as an overwhelming 10.5-point favourite to earn its third win in its fifth straight Grey Cup appearance. But Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said Kelly’s injury hasn’t changed his team’s approach.
“I think as competitors you always want everybody healthy, you really do,” said O’Shea. “After that, you just rely on the veteran presence to lead the group and understand you’re playing a full team and can’t take anybody for granted and take anything lightly.
“Obviously Ryan’s going to have Nick coached up and ready to go and they have two other phases that are on fire right now. We’re going to stick to our process and that’s never really been about the opposition during the week, it’s about ourselves.”
Winnipeg’s Zach Collaros will make his sixth Grey Cup start and chase his fourth ring. The 36-year-old quarterback earned his first with Toronto in 2012 then led Hamilton into the big game in 2014 versus Calgary, losing 20-16 at B.C. Place.
Winnipeg won in ’19 and ’21, defeating Hamilton both times, before losing 24-23 to Toronto in the ’22 Grey Cup. Last year, Montreal rallied to down the Bombers 28-24.
Kelly was a key figure for Toronto in the ’22 Grey Cup. He replaced injured starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson (dislocated right thumb) in the fourth quarter and completed four-of-six passes for 43 yards.
But it was Kelly’s crucial 20-yard run on second-and-15 that set up A.J. Ouellette’s game-winning five-yard rushing touchdown.
Toronto’s plight is reminiscent to the ’07 Grey Cup game when Dinwiddie made his first CFL start for Winnipeg. Kevin Glenn suffered a broken arm in the East Division final, thrusting Dinwiddie into the spotlight versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Rogers Centre.
Saskatchewan won 23-19 as Dinwiddie threw three interceptions, all to James Johnston, who returned one for a 30-yard TD to earn Grey Cup MVP honours.
Arbuckle is older (31) and completing his sixth CFL campaign. He also was coached by Dinwiddie in Calgary.
“Nick is more experienced than I was, been in those big games,” Dinwiddie said. “We’ve also been together for a long time, me calling plays for him, him executing those.
“We’re more fluid than the situation I was in.”
Toronto won the season series with Winnipeg 2-0. The Argos also snapped the Bombers’ eight-game win streak with a 14-11 road decision Oct. 11.
Winnipeg advanced to the Grey Cup with a solid 38-22 West Division final win over Saskatchewan. Collaros threw four TD passes while CFL rushing leader Brady Oliveira — a finalist for the league’s outstanding player and top Canadian honours — ran for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Winnipeg opened the season 0-4 and went 2-6 before its winning streak. It then captured their final regular-season game to finish atop the West Division.
Through it all, panic never set in.
“I’ve said this for eight years now, maybe more, there’s no need for knee jerk if you know the answer as to why things are happening the way they’re happening,” O’Shea said. “We’re just wired that way to just look for answers and present them in a matter-of-fact way.
“That period of time wasn’t easy but trying to work through the problems was because you knew where the answers lied.”
O’Shea and Dinwiddie are both Grey Cup veterans. O’Shea won three titles with Toronto as a player (1996-97, ’04) and another as its special-teams co-ordinator (2012) before being hired by Winnipeg on Dec. 4, 2013.
Dinwiddie was Calgary’s quarterback coach — with Arbuckle on that team — for its ’18 championship win.
Not surprisingly, the Grey Cup still has special meaning for both.
“It means everything,” said O’Shea, a native of North Bay, Ont. “Before being a coach or player, I was also a fan of the league.
“I like what it does for our country, I like the opportunity it gives our young football players. It’s always exciting and always brings out a ton of emotion.”
Dinwiddie agreed.
“We have a small league as far as number of teams (so) everyone thinks it’s easy to get here but it’s tough,” he said. “You have injuries, the process of building your team, building your locker room and then you have adversity, it’s not easy and a lot of work goes into this thing.
“I have been (in Canada) since ’05. I have two beautiful children that are Canadian, my wife is Canadian, I’m working on my Canadian stuff as well. Very proud to represent the country.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
