The Pittsburgh Steelers defense has been a large talking point for several seasons. Even leading back to the days of legendary coordinator Dick LeBeau's final few seasons.
While it was mostly positive reaction to LeBeau's defenses, towards the end of his tenure the viewpoint turned sour from many Steelers fans. Many believed his schemes had become predictable, and opposing offenses were finally figuring out how to beat his vaunted zone blitz.
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Maybe there was some truth to that, but LeBeau's former linebacker coach and successor Keith Butler dropped a nugget of knowledge today on 93.7 the Fan.
“The last couple of years with Dick LeBeau, Mike [Tomlin] was calling the plays too,” said Butler.
Mike Tomlin stripped LeBeau of his play calling duties. Not because he thought LeBeau was doing a bad job surely, but because he wanted to do it his way apparently.
That's surprising information that came on the heels of this tidbit.
Last Saturday in an interview with Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Butler confirmed the much rumored detail of who called the defensive signals:
Keith Butler on Tomlin calling the defensive signals since he became DC: “I would have liked to do them myself, sure I would. I think everybody would. But Mike’s the head coach. He can do what he wants to do.”
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) January 22, 2022
It was easy to believe that Tomlin was calling the defensive signals with Butler. Butler had served on the Steelers coaching staff for many years before being promoted, but he'd never been a defensive coordinator. But the fact that he took over from LeBeau is truly surprising.
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Now these quotes are from LeBeau's announcement that he was resigning. You can sense the divide in his tone, which was surprising considering his always nice demeanor:
“I’m resigning, I’m not retiring,” LeBeau said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in 2015 after the story was first reported by the Urbana Daily Citizen. “It was a lot of great days, a lot of great years. It’s time to go in a different direction.”
Obviously that different direction was to go somewhere else and not just be a figure head. Lebeau eventually went to Tennessee and had some success before leaving the Titans for retirement (unofficially).
Keith Butler on @937theFan says he made it clear to Mike Tomlin that he wanted to call the defensive plays.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) January 24, 2022
It's unclear if Tomlin calls ALL the plays, or certain situations, but it does seem like the former. This situation further drives home the point that they will likely promote Teryl Austin to defensive coordinator. Butler said he believes that will happen and that Tomlin will continue to call the plays.
#SteelerNation
