Chad Kelly leads Argonauts to another victory and first place in East Division: ‘I’m thankful for where I’m at’
After another strong game Sunday, former Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly has his Toronto Argonauts entering their final bye week of the season sitting atop the East Division.
On Sunday, Kelly finished 21-of-28 for 417 yards and threw four TD passes as the Argonauts earned a 44-31 win over the Ottawa Redblacks Sunday night.
Chad Kelly just airmailed a BOMB auto DaVaris Daniels 🔥 60-yard Touchdown on the FIRST play of the possession #PullTogether #CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/Zn6cGTb06r
— Damien Lisi (@DamienLisi) August 13, 2023
videogame stuff from @Chadkelly_6 🎮 pic.twitter.com/sij0WIwohJ
— CFL (@CFL) August 14, 2023
The Argos (7-1) moved four points ahead of the second-place Montreal Alouettes (5-3).
Here’s what Kelly had to say after the game:
“Obviously we want to add to our lead as much as we can and as soon as we can. I thought guys were focused this week, there was a sense of urgency each and every day. That (focus) is what it comes down to, you saw that.”
Former Ole Miss QB/current Toronto QB Chad Kelly
The Argos were coming off a 20-7 loss last week in Calgary when Kelly was knocked out in the first half with an ankle injury.
“We could’ve played him (Kelly) last week and had him battle through it but I didn’t think it was smart for the organization,” Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said.
“I knew he’d be good. He got rolled up on a few times but he’ll be fine. We’ll use the bye week to get healthy and keep moving forward and getting better.”
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie on Chad Kelly
DaVaris Daniels had six receptions for 180 yards and three touchdowns while Cam Phillips added five catches for 115 yards. Not since 2014 have two Toronto receivers cracked the 100-yard plateau in a game.
Chad Kelly torching #Redblacks secondary pic.twitter.com/N9LRS3rRhO
— Beaver Surfer (@beaversurfer) August 14, 2023
“I haven’t done that (three TDs in a game) since high school,” Daniels said. “Chad was spot on, the offensive line was amazing and the run game was great. That’s a game we’ve been waiting for.”
The Kelly File
At Ole Miss: Chad Kelly set 25 school records (game, season, career) over his 22-game career in Oxford. He owns the school record with 22 consecutive games with a passing touchdown. His 12 career 300-yard passing games are the most in school history. He started all 22 games as a Rebel and finished his career ranked top 10 in school history in career passing yards (3rd), pass attempts (7th), completions (4th), passing TDs (3rd), total offense (3rd) and TDs responsible for (3rd).
66 days until SEC Football!
Ole Miss pulled off the unthinkable back in 2015, beating Alabama for the second consecutive season thanks in part to one of the more improbable 66-yard touchdowns we've seen.
Chad Kelly threw up a prayer that was caught by Quincy Adeboyejo: pic.twitter.com/UFrQ0cKT3x— that SEC podcast (@thatSECpodcast) June 21, 2023
He also won MVP honors in the 2016 All-State Sugar Bowl, as he led Ole Miss to a 48-20 victory over Oklahoma State and a No. 10 final national ranking. He threw for 6,800 yards and 65 total touchdowns in a two-year career at Ole Miss. Kelly then went on to become 2017’s “Mr. Irrelevant” when he was selected by the Denver Broncos in the 2017 NFL Draft with the last pick.
As a Pro: After being out of professional football for more than a year, Kelly signed a CFL contract with the Toronto Argonauts in the 2022 offseason and spent the 2022 season as the Argos’ backup quarterback. He played very sparingly.
He made one start in the final week of the 2022 season before going back to his backup role for the playoffs. But as fate would have it, in the fourth quarter of the Grey Cup with the Argos trailing 23-17, Kelly got his opportunity to remind folks just how good he is.
An injury to starting quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson opened the door and Kelly literally ran — and passed — through it. He led Toronto on a game-winning drive, to a Grey Cup championship.
“It was life-changing, honestly,” Kelly said later.
“A lot of people kind of wrote me off, and thought I wasn’t even playing. The biggest moment of my career, obviously, is that moment. Every kid dreams about being able to bring the team back in the fourth quarter and being able to lead them to a victory in the championship game. It was surreal.”
Chad Kelly
Bethel-Thompson left in the offseason to return to the United States, and the Argos had their quarterback in Kelly.
The former Ole Miss QB is in the thick of conversation surrounding the Most Outstanding Player award. But even so, he still believes he has much work to do.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely got to improve on a lot of things,” Kelly said. “It’s about seeing the field better. It’s about slowing the game down. [Former Indianapolis Colts head coach] Frank Reich always talked about having accelerated vision. That’s one thing I always try to take into account, how fast I can see things.”
An NFL future?
Of course many will wonder if the former Rebel ponders a return to the NFL. He answered that recently.
“At some point, maybe the NFL will call. But being up here is helping me get better and I’m thankful for where I’m at and I’m learning so [many] new things, nuances of defenses and offensive plays. There’s a lot of similarities in the concepts and combinations that they bring, north and south. So I think it’s just all going to keep on becoming more natural and maybe one day it happens, maybe it doesn’t.”
Chad Kelly on the NFL
Kelly is thankful for the opportunities he has in front of him right here and right now.
“If you eat, sleep, breathe your job and truly care to want to help others be great as well, that’s when you’re going to take your game and your mentality to a whole other level. That’s where I’m at right now in my life. I’m thankful for the things I went through,” Kelly said. “It might have been easier on the field for me, but it might’ve taken a little longer off the field. And I think I finally have figured it out.”
Best of luck to Chad!
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
