Ricky Ray out for season with punctured lung, according to Herb Zurkowsky

Update: After not commenting on Ricky Ray's status Thursday, the Argonauts stated Friday that he has a fractured rib and had a deflated lung, not a punctured lung as initially reported by Herb Zurkowsky. According to the team, he will now only be out 4-6 weeks, not for the season. Thursday's post on the original report follows.

Things may have just gone from bad to worse for the Toronto Argonauts. Allowing their hated rival Hamilton to pull off a 20-point comeback against them in Monday's Labour Day Classic was troubling enough, but now it seems that the punishment Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray took in that game might end his season and potentially his career. Veteran CFL reporter Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette tweeted Thursday that he's hearing Ray is gone for the year:

There's been no confirmation from the Argonauts yet, but Ray didn't practice Thursday, with head coach Scott Milanovich citing an unspecified "upper-body injury":

Ray took several big hits late against Hamilton, but Jon Hudson noted that this third-quarter one from Adrian Tracy may have been what did the damage, given that Ray got up holding his ribs afterwards:

If it was that hit that hurt Ray, it says a lot about his tenacity and perseverance that he kept playing for a full quarter afterwards. However, he wasn't as effective down the stretch, and that may have had something to do with this injury.

If this report is accurate and Ray is gone for the year, that's a massive loss for the Argos, who were particularly hoping for a good season given their hosting of the Grey Cup. Their 4-6 record so far is far from great, but some of that came without Ray, who suffered a knee injury (a MCL sprain) in late July after a hit from Montreal's Vaughn Martin and didn't return until August 31. Ray's return didn't instantly fix everything for the Argos, but they have been much better with him than without him, so losing him for the season is a substantial blow. They do have a very interesting backup in Dan LeFevour, who's worked his way up since returning from the NFL and being signed to their practice squad in early August, but he's nowhere near as experienced as Ray, he's still just learning the Argonauts' offence, and he's had plenty of injury concerns of his own. A Toronto team without Ray is almost certainly worse, and that's problematic when you consider that they haven't been dominant even with him.

This also could potentially spell the end of Ray's legendary career. It adds to the numerous injuries he's faced over the last few years, including a bad leg injury at the start of 2013, a shoulder injury in August 2013 that made him miss six games, and offseason shoulder surgery after the 2014 season that caused him to miss the first 16 games of the CFL season. Ray was excited to finally be healthy heading into this year, but that didn't last, with first the knee injury and now this. He's still playing at a pretty high level when healthy, but he'll be 37 in October, and he's been healthy so rarely that it can be tough to really count on him. The Argos locked him up before Trevor Harris this offseason, which led to Harris heading to Ottawa, and that now looks like a mistake given how well the younger quarterback has played. Ray still has another year on his contract, and he's still playing at a high level, so he may want to try and hang on for a few more years, but he also may decide that enough is enough, or Toronto may decide to move on and try and develop younger quarterbacks. We'll have to wait and see. If this is the end for Ray, though, it's been an incredible career, but one without a happy ending.