Arbuckle: Long journey to Grey Cup 'prepared me to take advantage of the opportunity I'm in now'
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Quarterback Nick Arbuckle will be thrust into the biggest start of his career this Sunday when he leads the Toronto Argonauts into the Grey Cup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The 31-year-old will make the first playoff start of his career after starter Chad Kelly sustained a serious leg injury that will sideline him for six to nine months.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, Arbuckle is excited to step into the starting role and take advantage of the opportunity to help Toronto win its second Grey Cup in three years.
“I'm just excited to have a bigger role on the team. My goal throughout the season is to do whatever I can to help the team win, to help us be better,” Arbuckle said on TSN Radio. “Now I get to be on the field and it gives me a better opportunity to affect the outcome of the game. That's what I'm here for, to help everyone do well and help us win the football game.
It was a long journey to this point for Arbuckle, who says he was “maybe 30ish days away” from moving his family back to the United States before signing a contract with the Argonauts in May. The Oxnard, Calf. native made stops with the Calgary Stampeders, Argos, Edmonton Elks and Ottawa Redblacks between 2018 and 2023 before returning for a second stint with Toronto this past offseason.
Arbuckle explained that he is a much different quarterback than he was in his tumultuous first go around with the Argos, where he was benched for McLeod Bethel-Thompson and eventually traded to the Elks for a third-round pick and the rights to his now teammate Kelly.
“I'm a lot different. Different as a player, as a person as a teammate," said Arbuckle. "Tumultuous is right. I came to Toronto in 2021 with some baggage for sure. Mentally and emotionally, COVID was tough in itself but also going from Calgary to Ottawa and signing a contract to be in Ottawa for multiple years to be their franchise quarterback. We had our daughter born in Ottawa during COVID and then after all of that, all the plans I had for my family and our future kind of just got torn to shreds out of nowhere.”
“By the time I got to 2021 there was a lot of resentment and animosity towards the situation, what happened and what brought me there, not towards Toronto but to the situation itself. [Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie] didn't get my best. I had to go around the league and face tough times and adversity. Getting traded over and over again.
"It was a big journey and I learned so much about football, about myself, about everything. I think it all prepared me to take advantage of the opportunity I'm in now.”
Arbuckle completed 65 of 100 passes for 799 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions this season. In his lone start, he completed 18 of 26 passes for 181 yards, a touchdown and an interception in a 39-25 win over the Stampeders. He came in in relief of Cameron Dukes late in the season against the Elks and completed 23-of-32 passes for 378 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-30 loss.
Arbuckle also saw action against the Blue Bombers early in the season, when he completed 12-of-22 passes for 87 yards in a 16-14 overtime win over Winnipeg in July. He believes his previous look at the Winnipeg defence will provide an advantage once Sunday rolls around.
“It was great. I feel as a quarterback it really helps and it's needed to have confidence, not only in yourself but from the coaching staff and the players around you,” said Arbuckle. “The confidence is at an all-time high. We feel like we have a great football team, we play complementary football and any of our three phrases, offence, defence, special teams, can win the game for us.”
It will be a tough test for Arbuckle and the Argonauts offence at BC Place on Sunday, as they will go against Winnipeg’s defence that allowed the fewest points in the CFL this season.
“It's an incredible defence. Explosive offences come in against them and don't look anything like that on the field,” said Arbuckle. “You have to be sharp and take advantage of plays that do come. You have to make sure you don't force things and don't make mistakes. That's going to be the key for us. Letting the game come to us and making sure we're taking care of the football.”
The Argonauts defeated the Blue Bombers 24-23 to win the Grey Cup in 2022. Winnipeg is making its fifth-consecutive appearance in the Grey Cup, looking to avoid a third straight loss after falling to the Argos in 2022 and the Montreal Alouettes in 2023