You can scream all you want about Chad Kelly, and many do, but you cannot deny what he has become once again.
The best quarterback in the Canadian Football League.
Maybe he’s the most disliked or mistrusted, as well. Maybe there are arguments to be made and conclusions to be drawn about the half-season suspension he received from the CFL for apparently violating the league’s gender-based violence policy.
You don’t have to care much for Kelly. But in a CFL crying for quarterbacks, his talent is elite. It was on display on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at BMO FIeld where he danced and juked, faked and passed his way to absolute dominance over the Ottawa Redblacks.
The final score — Argos 38, Ottawa 31 — doesn’t tell the story at all.
Kelly completed his first 12 passes on Saturday, most of them with ease. He threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, led the Argos to TDs on their first four possessions against Ottawa and 10 quick points in their first two possessions of the second half.
Those scores made it 38-6 for the Argos. The rest of the game is a blur of prevent defence and botched onside kick coverage by the Argos.
But it was Kelly who stood alone on this day, throwing for three touchdowns and 331 yards while completing 81% of his passes.
The Argos, after missing Kelly for the first nine games, have now clinched second place in the East. They will play Ottawa again in two weeks here in a playoff game. They look more Grey Cup-ready now after 17 games than they did a year ago during their 16-2 season.
Doug Flutie, probably the greatest Argos quarterback ever, was 20-4 in his first 24 starts in Toronto. Kelly is now 20-5.
That’s terrific company to keep, whether he happens to be popular of not.
THIS AND THAT
There is no rush for Brad Treliving to sign Mitch Marner or John Tavares as they march towards free agency. That’s potentially $22 million in cap space and that’s a rare opportunity for the Leafs GM. It makes sense to wait on Marner to see what kind of contribution he makes come playoff time, and to wait on Tavares to see how much he has left and how large a paycut he is willing to accept next summer … The notion that these are done deals just waiting on signatures is nonsense … Among those, prior to Saturday night, without a goal in the early NHL season: Alexander Ovechkin, Brad Marchand, Patrick Kane, Zach Hyman and Carter Verhaeghe … Why do so many teams look off in this early NHL season? “There’s no depth in the league,” said a GM. “A lot of rosters are thin. If the stars aren’t carrying teams, they’re not winning.” Over to you, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl … Team USA will have an immensely skilled defence when it puts its national best together for the 4 Nations Face-off tournament and the following year’s Olympics — with Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Zach Werenski — which leads a highly placed hockey man to wonder: “Do they have too many of the same type of player? And how will that group fit together?” The U.S. will also have Jaccob Slavin on defence, which will help … Points are overrated for defencemen: Chris Tanev has none as of Saturday, but he’s been just about the most important Leafs player in the early season … It’s October. The Winnipeg Jets look great and real. I hope we can say that in April … Joseph Woll’s health aside, the Leafs have rarely been this deep in goal. They have Anthony Stolarz, eventually Woll, Dennis Hildeby in relief and Matt Murray, if needed on the Marlies. And after them, prospect Artur Akhtyamov on the Marlies also. Hildeby, by the way, one inch taller than the giant Stolarz, was the only Marlies player last year who drew any real attention from other NHL teams. And to think, Colorado can’t find anyone to stop pucks.
HEAR AND THERE
I have covered sports in and around Toronto for the past 38 years. In that time, I’ve gotten to know 51 different head coaches or managers of the Leafs, Blue Jays, Raptors and Argos and 37 different general managers. Some of them great. Some not so great. And no one, not John Ferguson Jr., not the late Rob Babcock or Bart Andrus were as despised as the current pair of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins are. Everybody seems to know this except for Edward Rogers, soon to be major domo of all professional sports in the city … Maybe Rogers is taking the old Marv Levy approach: If you start listening to the fans, soon you will be sitting with them … If the Yankees get to the World Series, which seems likely, it will be their ninth trip since the Blue Jays most recently appeared in 1993. The Red Sox and Astros have been there four times apiece in those 31 years … Best coaches I’ve been around: Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, Jon Cooper and Bob Johnson in hockey; Dwane Casey, Nick Nurse and Steve Kerr in basketball; Don Matthews, Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs for football; Joe Torre, Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy in baseball … Best GM I’ve covered up close: Pat Gillick, in a landslide … Among the teams that have won the Series in the Jays drought years: the White Sox, Angels, Diamondbacks, Marlins and Nationals … Love the Gregg Popovich line to his hoops hopefuls at training camp in San Antonio: “It’s your job as a player to make me play you. Don’t be a victim.” … That was somewhat similar to Treliving’s line at the beginning of Leafs camp. When asked how a young player makes the team, he offered just two words: “Play better.” … Why Harry Neale hated the Canadian anthem when he coached the Vancouver Canucks: “Every time I hear that song, we play a bad game.” … An American poll has listed the Raptors as the 26th most watchable team in the NBA … Next year, the WNBA switches from a best-of-five final to a best-of-seven final series. Too bad it didn’t happen one year earlier … Argos attendance Saturday was 20,487, which is up 33% from normal regular-season numbers.
SCENE AND HEARD
“Power is the low hanging fruit to add,” and that’s the quote Atkins will end up regretting from his years as Blue Jays GM. And here we are, in a post-season full of home runs and excitement and the team with the most homers in any game has a 19-7 record in the playoffs … Low hanging fruit may best describe the Jays approach to offence and management … The more you watch the Yankees, the more impressive it is to see how they work the count on almost every pitcher and how often they draw walks. The Yankees walked 672 times this season, 101 more times more than anyone else in the American League and 162 more times than the Jays. The Yanks also out-homered the Blue Jays 237 to 156. Power becomes overrated only when you don’t have any … If you haven’t watched the Yanks-Guardians series, especially the late innings, you’ve missed some of the great dramatic moments in recent baseball playoff history. All of this coming before the much ballyhooed Aaron Judge-Shohei Ohtani World Series begins and, truthfully, it will have a hard time matching this ALCS for moments … The kind of start the New Jersey Devils have had under Sheldon Keefe leads to me to believe there will be a lot of teams fighting for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Florida, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers, Carolina and Jersey should all be in the playoffs. That leaves Ottawa, the Islanders, Pittsburgh, Washington, Detroit, Buffalo and Montreal battling for one spot and the chance to lose first round in the playoffs … This is the Raptors’ 30th season. Was Isiah Thomas, John Bitove, Damon Stoudamire and Brendan Malone really that long ago? I still remember the party at Wayne Gretzky’s — the restaurant not the person — the night the franchise became official … This is a part of baseball l’ll never understand: You get to a huge moment in a playoff series and you announce that your starting pitcher tomorrow will pitch only one inning. The state of starting pitching is really that confusing in baseball right now. I asked Kevin Gausman about this not that long ago and the Jays veteran said: “This is all baseball’s fault. This is how they’ve brought pitchers along. They’ve babied them. They have that 100 pitch limit (in games) and it’s much lower than that in the minor leagues. The thing is, there are games when I can’t get to 90 pitches and there are games when I feel good enough that I could throw 140. But they won’t let you throw 140. They haven’t properly developed pitchers and it’s showing.” … Giancarlo Stanton looks like a bit of an old man now, but anyone who saw him play high-school sports saw someone who could have played in the NFL, the NBA or baseball. He was that gifted … Alvin Robertson made the first basket in Raptors history. He was in jail the night before the opener at the SkyDome. You can’t invent stories like that …. Under the Department of What Took So Long: the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will retire Garney Henley’s jersey at their first home game next season. Shouldn’t that have happened years ago? Was there a better Ticat than Henley, who played offence and defence back when people did that kind of thing?
AND ANOTHER THING
There’s been a lot of talk about Nathan Rourke and his rather dreadful return to the B.C. Lions and the Canadian Football League. Not nearly enough talk about Kurtis Rourke, his younger brother, who is having a fabulous season playing quarterback at Indiana and is getting some NFL looks. He hurt his hand Saturday in a win over Nebraska … Dak Prescott signed for $60 million. CeeDee Lamb signed for $34 million a year long-term. But the Dallas Cowboys didn’t bother buying themselves a running back of any quality. In the meantime, Derrick Henry is making just more than $7 million a year in Baltimore, Joe Mixon is getting $9 million in Houston and Saquon Barkley is taking home $12 million in Philadelphia … Edmonton’s Chuba Hubbard, by the way, is third in rushing in the NFL behind only Henry and San Francisco’s Jordan Mason. Saskatchewan native Rueben Mayes finished fourth in NFL rushing as a rookie in 1986. In fifth place behind him was Walter Payton. In his second season, Mayes finished fifth in rushing, just ahead of Herschel Walker … Mayes, foolishly, is not in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, because, as a Canadian, he played all of his football in the NCAA and NFL. That rule of who is eligible for the Hall needs to be changed … On Monday, legendary junior hockey coach Brian Kilrea turns 90. On Sunday, he will be honoured in Ottawa … If Cher were a pro wrestler, she’d be Charlotte Flair … Travis Kelce has the marquee girlfriend but I think I’d rather hang with his brother, Jason Kelce, who seems like more fun … Next Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals play the Philadelphia Eagles. Why does this matter? Because the twin brothers of London, Ont. — running back Chase Brown and defensive back Sydney Brown — will play against each other for the very first time … Now playing for the Tillsonburg Thunder of the Western Ontario Super Hockey League: Andrew Harris, the retired CFL running back. Harris ran for 10,380 yards in his career, fifth most all-time … This is Halloween party time for NHL teams and word around is that if you didn’t see Oliver Ekman-Larsson as a 20-year-old dressed up as Harry Potter, you missed something. He was, they say, an identical match to the movie character played by Daniel Radcliffe … Happy birthday to Jose Bautista (44), Dale Tallon (74), Juan Marichal (87), Snoop Dogg (53), J.A. Happ (42), Anthony Santander (30), Evan Bouchard (25), Garry Monahan (78), Guy Chouinard (68) and Rajai Davis (44) … And hey, whatever became of Andre Durie?