Calgary Stampeders put veteran quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell on six-game injured list

Aug 17, 2021 | 1:28 PM

CALGARY — The Calgary Stampeders’ season has gone from bad to worse.

Head coach Dave Dickenson said Tuesday the club is placing veteran quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell on the six-game injured list with a broken fibula.

Mitchell, twice the CFL’s outstanding player, was hurt in Calgary’s season-opening 23-20 home loss to the Toronto Argonauts on Aug. 7.

The 31-year-old Texan played in Calgary’s 15-9 loss to the B.C. Lions on Thursday, throwing four interceptions.

This season, Mitchell has completed 44-of-73 passes for 542 yards with a TD and five interceptions.

The expectation is Ottawa’s Michael O’Connor will start for Calgary (0-2) when it hosts the Montreal Alouettes (1-0) on Friday night.

O’Connor, 25, is in his second CFL season, first with Calgary, after spending the 2019 campaign with Toronto,.

A 2019 third-round pick, O’Connor dressed for nine games with Toronto, seeing action in two.

The six-foot-five, 223-pound O’Connor has completed 15-of-25 passes for 173 yards and a TD in the CFL.

Should O’Connor get the start against Montreal, he’d be the second Canadian to open a CFL contest this season. 

Nathan Rourke, a Victoria native who grew up in Oakville, Ont., started the B.C. Lions’ season opening 33-29 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Aug. 6.

Mitchell has been Calgary’s starter since 2014 and guided the club to two Grey Cup victories (2014, 2018) while being named the league’s outstanding player in 2016 and ’18.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2021.

The Canadian Press