{"id":954740,"date":"2026-11-01T20:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954740\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T20:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:46:12","slug":"chad-kelly-blames-himself-for-injury-toronto-argonauts-cfl-playoff-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954740\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad Kelly blames himself for injury, Toronto Argonauts’ CFL playoff loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Chad Kelly believes he\u2019s to blame for the Toronto Argonauts\u2019 early playoff exit after leaving the East Semi-Final with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long, taxing season, but you gotta be available. And not just being out there, but you gotta make sure that you play every game,\u201d Kelly told the media on Sunday while cleaning out his locker. \u201cI feel like I let the team down; I let my boys down. Sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Argos suffered a 25-22 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field<\/a>, ending their 2026 season. Kelly left the game with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, clutching his right shoulder after a short completion to David Ungerer III. He later told TSN that he felt the shoulder \u201cseparating\u201d when he attempted to throw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The injury to Kelly occurred two drives prior<\/a>, when defensive lineman Michael Fletcher wrenched his throwing arm backwards while stripping the ball loose on a sack. Fellow Winnipeg pass rusher David Reese scooped up the fumble and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown, flipping momentum in favour of the Bombers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I could have gotten rid of it sooner. Maybe I could have stepped up even more. We kind of had a special play drawn up on their defensive side of how they adjusted to that personnel and formation, and it is what it is. We\u2019ve got to be better,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cObviously, that play was the changing force of the game; 19 to 10, we\u2019re on their side of the field and trying to hit a shot play right before the start of the fourth quarter. I feel like that was kind of the game right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepping up was easier said than done for the 32-year-old pivot against the Bombers. The typically mobile passer revealed that his ability to move throughout the contest was hindered by a knee injury suffered against the Ottawa Redblacks in Week 20<\/a>, which forced him out of that game and caused him to miss the regular-season finale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t really run at all. I know there were two times that I definitely would have ran, but I couldn\u2019t,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t 100, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Mike Miller knew that Kelly was limited by his knee throughout the game, and it influenced his own play-calling strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was cleared to play, but I think, at this point in the year, everybody\u2019s banged up a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had some plays that I felt if we needed to, if the game was on the line or such, that maybe I would dial up, but I wasn\u2019t looking to take advantage of those plays until that kind of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller revealed that he did not immediately recognize that his franchise quarterback had been injured on the strip-sack. Initially, he was given no indication that Kelly would be unable to continue, though he later chose to remove himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really tough guy, and he\u2019s a really tough competitor. It wasn\u2019t anything initially that I thought about, but seeing him move his arm around a little bit when he was coming off, I thought, \u2018We\u2019ll just have to see,’\u201d he recalled. \u201cI wasn\u2019t alarmed. He never said anything to me initially, but throughout the evaluating process and going back out there, he just determined that it wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly played parts of two offensive series after suffering the injury. He began the next drive with an incomplete pass to Ungerer, which drew a pass interference penalty, then connected with Kevin Mital for a first down and missed Tyler Kahmann deep in Winnipeg territory, bringing about a Lirim Hajrullahu field goal attempt.<\/p>\n

After the Bombers went two-and-out, he returned to the field and hit Isaiah Smith and Ungerer for short gains. The native of Buffalo, N.Y., then quickly called for a substitution after his final throw, believing he \u201ccouldn\u2019t control the football anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it at that time (when the strip-sack occurred); I just wanted to keep pushing through it. It\u2019s playoffs,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI tried pushing through it, and I knew that at some point it was going to catch up to me because the ball was kind of just spraying. Instead of being able to flick it off my wrist and really be accurate with the football, I didn\u2019t feel comfortable being out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly finished the game 18-of-30 passing for 193 yards and a touchdown. Backup Nick Arbuckle finished the contest, completing two-of-six passes for 25 yards, but was unable to stem a Winnipeg comeback.<\/p>\n

Miller dismissed his quarterback\u2019s suggestion that he was responsible for the defeat due to his injury, taking his comments as an indication of his character.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a leader. He\u2019s everything you want in your quarterback. He\u2019s a guy that the buck stops with him, whether it\u2019s on him or not,\u201d Miller said. \u201cFrankly, we say quarterbacks often get more credit than you deserve and more blame in the same fashion. He\u2019s just a pro\u2019s pro quarterback. I\u2019m very proud of him, and he\u2019s a generous teammate. He\u2019s a leader to the end, and he\u2019s going to place everything on him as the quarterback. I can\u2019t say enough about him. Very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller provided no indication as to the extent of the injuries to Kelly\u2019s shoulder and knee. The quarterback said he felt \u201ca little sore\u201d following the loss and told TSN that the injury to his knee could take four-to-six weeks to recover from.<\/p>\n

After signing the richest contract extension in the CFL\u2019s salary cap era<\/a>, he\u2019ll spend the offseason in Toronto<\/a> with his health as the priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cRehab, get right, and make sure I\u2019m ready for the full season,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cJust take some time off, get with the right people, and get healthy. It\u2019s a long season. It\u2019s a tough season. It\u2019s tough football.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Guang Quan\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. Chad Kelly believes he\u2019s to blame for the Toronto Argonauts\u2019 early playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,100127,22069,49,48,7028,521,522,520,14975,317300,527,5718,2002,75446,82,3302],"class_list":["post-954740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-argonauts","tag-argos","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-chad-kelly","tag-east-semi-final","tag-football","tag-injury","tag-league","tag-mike-miller","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954740","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=954740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}