The Argonauts have a quarterback problem after all, leaving the door open for controversial Chad Kelly

For the first three games of the season, it looked like Cameron Dukes might be that player: a signal caller who could, at least in theory, take over and even permit the team to wave farewell to Kelly after he was suspended for nine games for inappropriate behaviour toward a female member of the Toronto training staff.

But Dukes came crashing to earth Thursday night in Regina — before a surprising non-sellout audience in what is supposed to be the cradle of Canadian football. Dukes, making his sixth CFL start, threw four interceptions as the Argos lost a very winnable game to the Roughriders by a 30-23 score.

On the other side of the ball, former Michigan Wolverines quarterback Shea Patterson was a winner in his CFL debut, despite a relatively pedestrian 15-for-23 passing night that resulted in only 192 yards. It was the Regina defence that made the difference by getting the Argos to turn the ball over five times, and pressuring Dukes into completing too many of his passes to players wearing home green, including one for a Saskatchewan touchdown.

The Argos fell to 2-2 with their second straight defeat. That doesn’t exactly mean a crisis for Ryan Dinwiddie’s team. In the CFL East, there’s no such thing as a crisis before Labour Day.

That said, Dukes looked so rattled in the fourth quarter against the Riders that he was removed in favour of veteran Nick Arbuckle, and now Dinwiddie might have a decision to make with the Argos heading into Montreal to play the first-place Alouettes next week.

It wasn’t just the interceptions. It was the types of throws and decisions that Dukes made that had to really leave the Argos coaching staff wondering if he’s going to be able to bounce back from that performance.

On one interception, he made the costly decision to roll right and then try to find a receiver by throwing against the grain. On the next, he overthrew an open receiver and Marcus Sayles returned that one 54 yards for what proved to be the winning score. On Dukes’ final error before being lifted, he misread the coverage and threw into a crowd of Roughriders defensive backs, with Rolan Milligan grabbing his second pick of the game.

Going into the night, Dukes had been more than serviceable as Kelly’s replacement, completing 76 per cent of his passes. But the ravenous Saskatchewan defence exposed the 25-year-old Dukes, who seemed to be trying too hard to make spectacular plays and make up for his errors.

“It’s disappointing,” he said afterward. “I gotta be better. Felt like I let the team down today. I’ve gotta do a better job taking care of the ball. I’ve just got to learn from it.”

Saskatchewan appeared to confuse the rookie quarterback at times, with head coach Corey Mace, an Argos defensive assistant last year, moving to 4-0 in his first year guiding the Roughriders as head coach.

“They showed us some different looks,” said Dukes. “It just comes down to taking care of the ball. But we’re still 2-2 and we’ve just got to bounce back.”

The result and Dukes’ performance mean the potential return of Kelly is front and centre again. Kelly could be eligible to dress Aug. 22 against Saskatchewan, although nothing is official and Dinwiddie has only said “there’s no playbook for dealing with something like this.” So far, the Argos have been standing behind last year’s CFL outstanding player after he was found to have violated the league’s gender-based violence policy and suspended by commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

His presence at Argos practices earlier this year created a storm of controversy, and he hasn’t appeared since. Some time relatively soon, however, the team will have to address the issue of whether Kelly will be coming back, and it’s assumed he will return to practice some time in the next month.

For the opening weeks of the season, Dukes had at least created a sense of optimism that if the Argos decide to let Kelly go, they’d have an viable alternative behind centre. The Argos started  with high-scoring victories over B.C. and Edmonton, and Dukes showed surprising accuracy and poise.

But then the Argos fell to Montreal at home, in a rematch of last year’s East final, before losing on the road to the Riders. At this point in the season, they are nowhere close to the quality of last year’s 16-2 squad.

Dinwiddie will presumably give Dukes the start next week against the Als, but perhaps with a short leash. We’ll see whether the young understudy can benefit from his first ugly performance.