Arbuckle thrust into unlikely spotlight in 111th Grey Cup
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A veteran of six CFL seasons, Nick Arbuckle had never thrown a pass in the playoffs before being taking over under centre in Saturday's East Division Final against the Montreal Alouettes.
Replacing the injured Chad Kelly, Arbuckle completed five of eight attempts for 73 yards as the Argonauts closed out the Alouettes with a 30-28 win to secure a trip to the 111th Grey Cup.
The 31-year-old quarterback will be asked to do a whole lot more as the Argonauts look to upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday in Vancouver.
Arbuckle joined the Argonauts in May as the team required depth with Kelly suspended by the CFL. He spent the early portion of the season backing up Cameron Dukes but saw increased playing time just before Kelly's return, moving into the backup role.
With Toronto's spot as host of the East Semi-Final locked up, Arbuckle started the team's final game of the season last month against the Edmonton Elks. He put his skills on display, completing 23 of 32 passes for 378 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as the Argonauts suffered a narrow 31-30 defeat in overtime. Those reps could prove invaluable with limited practice left ahead of the Grey Cup.
Starting Sunday's game is an unlikely turn in the career of Arbuckle, who was traded in-season by the Argonauts in 2021 to the Elks and flipped again by Edmonton a year later to the Ottawa Redblacks. He saw limited playing time in 2023 with Ottawa, completing 47 of 78 passes for 461 yards with four interceptions.
He admits the door to continuing his playing career appeared to be closing after that.
"Back in May and April, I didn't know if I was ever going to play football again,” Arbuckle said after Saturday's win over the Alouettes. “I was just on the couch, training some quarterbacks in Ottawa, trying to make some kids better and keep myself ready."
For his career, Arbuckle has thrown for 7,957 yards with a 67.8 per cent completion percentage with 27 touchdowns and 32 interceptions.
Argonauts heavy underdogs in Grey Cup
Toronto has been buoyed by defence and special teams over their two playoff wins and will need more of that to help slow down Zach Collaros and the Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup. The Argonauts have posted four touchdowns off turnovers and punt returns this season and non-offensive scores will go a long way in helping Arbuckle pull off an upset.
The Argonauts enter Sunday's game as heavy underdogs in the Grey Cup, currently facing a 10.5-point spread at FanDuel while being listed as +390 to win.
Defeating the Alouettes, who went a CFL-best 12-5-1 during the regular season, has helped build the confidence for the Argonauts, with Arbuckle stating the game was simply seen as a stepping stone.
“We couldn't wait to get out there and be able to shut everybody up,” Arbuckle said. “This team was just in our way. We didn't care about trying to win the East Final or nothing like that. Our goal is ahead of us.”