There’s a word that I think we can attach to the 111th Grey Cup, in Vancouver.
It’s a word that I think might be mostly if not soundly rejected by the players and coaches on both the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts.
The word is “redemption,” and I think it applies.
It applies to the Blue Bombers, who’ve lost the last two Grey Cups in excruciating fashion. In 2022, Toronto’s Robbie Smith blocked a field goal in the dying seconds to secure a 24-23 win for Toronto. Last year, Tyson Philpot caught a touchdown pass with 15 seconds remaining, powering the Montreal Alouettes to a 28-24 victory.
111th GREY CUP
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It applies to the Argonauts, who let the glow of a 16-2 season in 2023 slip away in a devastating Eastern Final loss. Their best-laid plan, of course, was to cap their 150th anniversary season with another Grey Cup win.
It applies to Nick Arbuckle, the well-travelled quarterback who’s not quite lived up to the potential it was thought he had, now thrust into the centre of the biggest game of the year, after Argos’ starter Chad Kelly was sidelined with an injury during last week’s Eastern Final.
After two straight Grey Cup wins in 2019 and 2021, the Blue Bombers had two more slip away and even if they don’t use the word “redemption,” there is little doubt that they feel some sort of duty to right the wrongs of the last two years.
“We don’t think about it,” Winnipeg receiver Nic Demski told me after the team completed its Saturday walkthrough. I have a hard time believing that, considering what his coach, Mike O’Shea, said at his media conference a half hour later.
“I don’t know that there’s many people in sport, no matter what the sport, that have figured it out,” O’shea said. “(But) yeah, the magnitude of a loss seems to trump the magnitude of (the) joy of wins.”
We may be talking about semantics here, though. You can be sure that the Blue Bombers are determined to avoid the seething frustration of the last two disappointments. Demski puts it another way.
“I mean, I think for us, it’s unfinished business. Not revenge or redemption.”
For Arbuckle, the now 31-year-old journeyman who left Calgary in 2020 to be a starter in Ottawa, the road has been rocky. He didn’t play a down for the REDBLACKS before being traded to Toronto, who then traded him to Edmonton (for the rights to Kelly, incidentally) that same season. Then he ended up back in Ottawa last year before the Argos made him a depth-quarterback contract offer just as this season’s training camp got underway.
After Arbuckle came in late to help the Argos hang on against the Montreal Alouettes last week, Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie immediately announced he’d be the team’s Grey Cup starter, and that he trusted Arbuckle. That he was capable of being ‘the man,’ instead of the ‘journeyman.’
“Now he’s gotta go show it,” said Dinwiddie this week.
If Arbuckle shines in this game, he’ll have altered the trajectory of his career in dramatic fashion. He talked, this week, about being oh so close to seeking out coaching opportunities before the Argos called. If he leads the team to a Grey Cup, coaching will have to wait.
These are the redemptive backdrops to this year’s Grey Cup Game, but there are so many tasty storylines beyond those to dig into.
On the field, the battles are intriguing.
The Toronto defence – susceptible to the big play but also very capable of engineering their own – has seemingly had the Winnipeg offence’s number.
In two regular season wins, by scores of 16-14 and 14-11, that defence was at the fore, especially in the second game, where they rolled into Winnipeg and delivered a two-turnover, seven-sack tour de force. Last week, in Montreal, the Argos’ D came up with four fumble recoveries and two interceptions – both by star defensive back Benjie Franklin – in taking the game away from the Als.
Led by their heart and soul middle linebacker Wynton McManis – “I want to do so well, that I still get nervous in times and moments like these” he told me – and powered in large part by a ferocious rotation of terrifying pass rushers like Jake Ceresna, Folarin Orimolade and Ralph Holley, the Argo defence will look to play a big role in what they hope will be an upset win.
However.
The struggling Winnipeg offence that the Argos manhandled during the regular season seems to be a distant memory. Last week’s 38-22 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in the Western Final, saw quarterback Zach Collaros hit receiver Kenny Lawler for three touchdown strikes. Lawler ended the game with 177 yards in receptions as he continued his torrid pace of the late regular season into the playoffs.
Collaros, for his part, has left a so-so first half of the season far behind, it seems, after ripping the Roughriders for 301 passing yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. But he knows he and his offence need the answers they have not previously had against Toronto.
“They’re very good up front,” said Collaros of the Toronto defence. “They’re not afraid to play man coverage – not a lot of teams in this league play man – and they do a good job of it.”
Maybe a healthy dose of running back Brady Oliveira will be the key for Winnipeg.
Oliveira, named both the league’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian on Thursday night, will aim to carry the Bombers on his shoulders, with the potential to do something that no player in the history of the CFL has ever done before; link those two trophy wins to a double on Grey Cup night, by winning Most Valuable Canadian and Most Valuable Player. In rushing for 1,353 yards during the regular season, and adding 476 more yards in receptions, Oliveira is obviously a key player to watch in this game.
In fact, this game is filled with game-breaking stars, players who each have the pedigree and the desire to be named the brightest of them all when the confetti cannons go off.
Toronto running back Ka’Deem Carey might have to key the Argos’ offence. Good news for Toronto is, he’s quite capable of doing that. Third in CFL regular season rushing, Carey totalled 1,060 yards, which is even more impressive considering he often gave way to two more Toronto running backs, Daniel Adeboboye and Deonta McMahon.
Damonte Coxie and super-rookie Makai Polk are eye-popping artistes in that Toronto receiving corps. Winnipeg’s flight of receivers – led by Lawler – takes no back seat to the Toronto duo. Winnipeg has its own stellar rookie in Ontaria Wilson and they also have the veteran Demski, whom Argos defensive co-coordinator Will Fields said “makes everything go.”
Shutdown defensive backs will be all over the field in this one. Outside of Franklin, who led the CFL in pass knockdowns with 13, the Argos boast the sublime DaShaun Amos, one of the league leaders in forced turnovers in 2024. Winnipeg corner Tyrell Ford was named the team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and his seven interceptions and 12 knockdowns were a big reason why.
Then, there’s Big Willie.
At the age of 33, Bombers’ defensive end Willie Jefferson continues to astound, in this his 10th season in the CFL. Jefferson knocked down 10 passes at the line of scrimmage this past season, tying him for fifth in the category, if you can imagine that. Every other player in the top 20 is a defensive back.
And we can’t forget that there’s the tantalizing match-up of Toronto returner Janarion Grant versus his old team, the team on which he was a star for four seasons prior to leaving in free agency. Named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player on Thursday night, Grant had four returns for touchdowns during the regular season and then added a 71-yard touchdown return in last week’s Eastern Final.
Could he do it again and haunt his former team?
The last word on this very intriguing Grey Cup match-up comes from Bombers’ quarterback Zach Collaros who, during his Saturday afternoon media conference, quoted one of his old college coaches.
“Fearlessly be yourself,” said Collaros. “Because who you are is good enough.”
Who then, will be most fearless on this Grey Cup Sunday?
Who will be redeemed?
Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on TSN, RDS, CFL+ and CBS Sports.