OTTAWA

It’s just three weeks into the current CFL campaign, but already Victor Butler has made himself an integral part of every success the Argos have enjoyed to date.

Despite the eye-popping statistical start to his CFL football career though, Butler wants it known far and wide he is only as good as the men beside him, a group that has come out of the gate very well and own a CFL East-best 2-1 record.

Butler doesn’t just own the CFL lead in sacks, he has more than doubled his nearest challenger with seven to the three Calgary’s Michah Johnson has. He had two more in Friday’s win over Ottawa and was a constant presence in the face of Redblacks quarterback Trevor Harris all night.

He has forced two fumbles and leads the league in that category as well.

His 13 defensive tackles are 10th in the league overall in a category normally dominated by linebackers.

In short, he has been tremendous, but as Butler correctly points out, getting sacks or just getting to the quarterback to force those fumbles is not a one-man job.

Invariably, he has to beat at minimum the man in front of him, but it takes interior linemen Ken Bishop and Cleyon Laing taking on offensive linemen to make that possible.

Then there’s bookend tackle Shawn Lemon, no stranger to the sack game, himself with a team-high 14 a year ago, to put enough concern in the minds of opposing offences that they have to pay special attention his way as well.

It all combines to open up lanes for Butler to get his big mitts on opposing quarterbacks.

As a unit, the Argos front four have already in a very short time developed a very tight relationship and, according to Butler, that closeness has been at the root of all of his own personal success, not to mention the success of the team as a whole.

“It’s a good group of guys,” Butler said following Friday’s game. “Sometimes when you come into a situation like this, egos take hold and guys go their own way, but that wasn’t the case. These guys were humble, they were welcoming and now we are a band of brothers. It’s kind of like Navy Seals, no man left behind. We care about each other, we eat together, we got a group chat and these are guys that care about each other off the field. You can tell with the chemistry on the field that these guys are brothers now.”

More often than not, whether it’s the scheme they are playing or just Butler’s combination of speed and strength, when the Argos are putting a quarterback down, No. 94 is likely the one doing the job, but the unit as a whole has done a great job of getting to the quarterback.

Lemon has two sacks and probably — almost definitely — should have been awarded another in Friday’s game. Laing also has a pair of sacks, as does Jeff Finley, who doesn’t start on the D-Line but subs in throughout the game at various points on the line.

Butler says that kind of team success stems from a coaching staff that has very particular demands of each and every player on that unit.

“I think you got to give credit to the coaching staff,” Butler said deflecting praise, or at least sharing praise initially meant for him. “It’s literally a learned mentality. Coach Cham (Corey Chamblin) comes in there and we treat practice like a game. You know we’re all fired up. To the minute detail those coaches want it right because when it comes down to the game time, it slows down for us as a team and we are able to play fast, smart and physical football. The end result is always good if you can do those things.”

Argos head coach Marc Trestman avoids at every turn giving credit to individuals, preferring instead to emphasize team success, but even he can’t deny the success Butler has helped bring to the Argos already.

“It’s certainly apparent that Victor has impacted our football team in a positive way,” Trestman begins before turning this back to a conversation about team success. “But It’s not just him. It’s Laing and Bishop inside taking on some blocks too and obviously Shawn Lemon on the other side. No doubt he has made an impact. He works hard during the week, doesn’t say much and then comes out and plays hard and that is all we can ask.”

In Trestman-ese, that is high praise indeed.

The question becomes how did such a talent become available to the Argos.

Butler was a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys after a very successful collegiate career at Oregon State. In Dallas he played four seasons at outside linebacker, all of them either behind DeMarcus Ware or Anthony Spencer, limiting his minutes.

After four seasons the Cowboys, opted not to re-sign him, which began a tour of the NFL for Butler with stops in New Orleans, Arizona, Indy and finally the New York Giants. He was out of football a year before the Argos lured him north.

Back playing defensive end where he had so much success in college, Butler looks right at home again on a football field. The wins are starting to pile up and the stats are accumulating, but Butler really only has eyes for the former.

“All we care about is the W,” Butler said speaking for the Argos front four.

GREEN A RAY OF LIGHT

It may be the best part of any Argos game now or for the rest of the year, assuming your tastes lie more towards the offence than the defence.

It normally happens with the opposing team’s defence collapsing Toronto’s pocket and Ricky Ray is convinced the boom is about to be lowered.

But before the defence can do that Ray, and he did it on at least two occasions Friday, spies S.J. Green out of the corner of his eye in space and in one-on-one coverage.

Ray immediately unloads the ball almost blind. While Ray is absorbing a hellacious hit, Green, with the advantage of size and experience on just about anyone the league can put on him, rotates to the football and makes the catch.

At that point, Ray doesn’t even mind the beating he just took.

“It makes it worth it,” Ray said after taking some huge hits on those very throws Friday. “There were a few times where the pressure was coming and I just saw S.J. one-on-one and I just threw it out there to give him a chance and he’s going to come down with it most of the time.

“He has such a big catch radius and gives you a lot of confidence to know he will come down with the catch,” Ray said.

Success in those situations has played a huge role in Toronto’s quick start to the 2017 season.