{"id":29534,"date":"2025-07-28T14:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/29534\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:06:07","slug":"mmqb-nick-arbuckles-cinderella-story-not-over-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/29534\/","title":{"rendered":"MMQB: Nick Arbuckle\u2019s Cinderella story not over yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember the dream finish to last season for Nick Arbuckle<\/a>?<\/p>\n

After starting quarterback Chad Kelly<\/a> sustained a broken leg\u00a0in the 2024 Eastern Final, Arbuckle took the reins for the 111th Grey Cup as the definition of an underdog. But by the time things went final on that Sunday afternoon at BC Place, the Argos had beaten Winnipeg 41-24 and Arbuckle was Grey Cup MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anybody knew everything that we went through as a family and I went through in my life to get to this moment,\u201d Arbuckle reflected post-game last November. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t believe it and I don\u2019t think anybody else would either.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interestingly, though, Arbuckle\u2019s comeback story isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>\n

With Kelly yet to suit up this season (and most recently placed on the six-game injured list<\/a>), this offence has been Arbuckle\u2019s in 2025. And while Toronto\u2019s start has been generally frustrating, Arbuckle\u2019s play has been a bright spot.<\/p>\n

Saturday saw Arbuckle throw for 316 yards and two touchdowns as the Argos picked up their second win of the season, 31-17 over Winnipeg. As a result, Arbuckle has moved into second overall with 2,007 passing yards and 11 touchdowns to go along with a 71.4 per cent completion rate in seven straight starts.<\/p>\n

Knowing how close he was to retirement just over a year ago, there\u2019s no way Arbuckle could have seen the script playing out like this. Since signing with Toronto late in 2024 training camp, he\u2019s led his team to a championship, been named Grey Cup MVP, and earned another contract.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now he\u2019s trailing only former teammate Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a> for the league lead in passing yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always kind of been overlooked,\u201d Arbuckle admitted last November. \u201c(I\u2019ve) worked through many situations all through my CFL career that have helped prepare me mentally and emotionally to take on any challenge and just be ready for whatever opportunity and whatever moment comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know when it\u2019s going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being patient and biding your time is only part of the equation in Arbuckle\u2019s case. He also had to be ready to make good when an opportunity presented itself. That moment came in November of last year and has surprisingly extended into the following season.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s now no question Arbuckle was ready to take advantage of an opportunity. He\u2019s been doing just that for the last eight months.<\/p>\n

QUICK HITS<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been plenty discussed about Saskatchewan\u2019s defence this season, and rightfully so; it\u2019s been their calling card since head coach Corey Mace took over last season. But maybe we\u2019re not giving enough credit to what the 6-1 Roughriders are doing on the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n

For instance, quarterback Trevor Harris<\/a> is having a ridiculous run. By completing 25 of 33 passes in Friday\u2019s 21-18 win over Edmonton, Harris extended his CFL record to ten straight games with a completion percentage over 70 per cent. Harris leads the league with an absurd 118.3 quarterback rating and was also the league\u2019s top quarterback entering Week 7, per Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n

It goes beyond Harris, too. Tailback AJ Ouellette is up to 490 rushing yards and averaging 5.3 per carry; he also had top marks from PFF entering this past weekend. And PFF\u2019s No. 1 receiver ahead of Week 7? Well, that would be none other than Samuel Emilus<\/a>, who has 361 receiving yards and a pair of touchdown catches in four appearances.<\/p>\n

It feels like a couple new defensive stars are emerging in Montreal. Already blessed with names like Tyrice Beverette, Darnell Sankey<\/a>, Kabion Ento<\/a>, and Shawn Oakman, how about what we\u2019re seeing from Lorenzo Burns and Geoffrey Cantin-Arku?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signed late last season, Burns is up to 25 defensive tackles in five appearances; he added six to that total as the Als shocked Calgary 23-21 Thursday night. Highly rated by PFF, Burns has also recorded an interception and forced fumble while settling in as Montreal\u2019s regular boundary corner.<\/p>\n

Cantin-Arku, born a couple hundred kilometres up the St. Lawrence in L\u00e9vis, is starting to find a home in this group of linebackers, too. Scoring just below top ranked Beverette at PFF, Cantin-Arku has contributed across the board in seven games: nine defensive tackles, two sacks, one interception, and one forced fumble.<\/p>\n

Finally, all you can say is wow to 60 minutes of football Sunday in Vancouver. From Hamilton\u2019s late, late comeback heroics to Robert Carter Jr.\u2019s highlight of the year interception for the Lions, this one had a little bit of everything. But goodness did it seal one thing more than anything else: Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a> remains an absolute gamer.<\/p>\n

One of the early Most Outstanding Player frontrunners, Mitchell engineered two touchdowns in the final three minutes to bring the Ticats all the way back in a 37-33 win over BC. Mitchell added 389 yards and three more touchdowns to his season totals. He\u2019s now up to a league-leading 2,201 yards and 15 touchdowns (against just three picks) as Hamilton has won five straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember the dream finish to last season for Nick Arbuckle? After starting quarterback Chad Kelly sustained a broken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-29534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}