Coaches talk about Steelers’ defense
Associated Press
Linebacker Jon Bostic (51) goes through a drill as other linebackers watch during the teamâs OTA on in Pittsburgh. A free agent signee, Bostic looks take over at inside linebacker while Ryan Shazier recovers from spinal surgery.
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Tyler Matakevich goes through drills during Wednesday's minicamp practice in Pittsburgh. Matakevich enters his third season as a leading candidate to replace injured teammate Ryan Shazier. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
PITTSBURGH â Keith Butler wanted so badly to curse.
It was written all over the face of the Steelersâ defensive coordinator when he was asked if the playoff loss to Jacksonville has any bearing on how heâs viewing his unit this spring.
Butler, though, showed restraint.
âYeah,â he answered. âWeâve got to stop the freakinâ run. Thatâs as simple as you can get.â
The Jaguars ended the Steelersâ worst statistical season against the run in 63 years with a 45-42 playoff win in which they rushed 35 times for 164 yards.
âYou look at the whole last year, we missed a ton of tackles,â Butler said. âNumber one, weâve got to tackle. Weâre going to work on tackling in training camp, try to improve it as much we can, and if we are able to tackle better, all that stuff is going to be cut down.â
Butler and his lieutenants then spent the rest of a rare interview period of Steelers assistant coaches Thursday discussing how they not only have been working on tackling â even in this pad-less spring â but how theyâll work on tackling when the team reports back to training camp on July 25.
But, as offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner told reporters during Tuesdayâs interview session with Steelers offensive coaches, itâs all about talent and matchups in the NFL. So, with the defensive coaches guaranteeing a return to the fundamentals, letâs take a deeper dive into the key personnel issue facing each of the following assistants:
KEITH BUTLER
âAll right. What is it now?â Butler asked as a group of reporters gathered around him.
Those reporters had watched returning starter Vince Williams team with returning backup Tyler Matakevich to start at the all-important inside linebacker positions all spring. Butler was asked about that position first.
âEverybody looks good in shorts,â Butler started. âKind of hard to say âwe want this guy, we want that guy.â I want to see somebody hit before I make a decision, and thatâs not going to happen until we get to preseason. Maybe it will happen in training camp.â
Butler mentioned only one name.
âBosticâs been doing a good job for us,â he said of free-agent acquisition Jon Bostic. âThere are some details heâs got to get a handle on a little bit and I think heâll be pretty good for us.â
Bostic, 27, is coming off his best season as a pro. The former second-round draft pick was asked about those details.
âFootballâs football,â said Bostic. âPicking things up has never been a problem for me. I pick things up really fast. At the end of the day, I ran it at some point in my life. We just have to figure out the terminology. We call it red here and green elsewhere. Itâs just picking up terminology. But I feel like Iâve got all that stuff down. Now itâs just learning the guys around me.â
Bostic went on to discuss the winning atmosphere heâs found in his new locker room and among his new teammates, and wouldâve gone on discussing TEAM had he not been interrupted with a question about earning a starting job at one of the inside linebacker spots.
âOh, I know what I bring to the table. I really do,â Bostic said. âAnd, I think at the end of the day, when it turns out, I think Iâm going to surprise a lot of people.â
JOEY PORTER
The two No. 1 draft picks under Porterâs charge have flipped sides this season, with second-year man T.J. Watt flopping to left outside linebacker and fourth-year man Bud Dupree moving to the quarterbackâs blind side.
âWith Bud,â Porter explained, âwe just thought it was a good opportunity for him to get a chance to rush from the other side. I feel like he had a lot of good rushes from the left side but the quarterback would see him and he would miss more opportunities. So putting him on the blind side and giving him an opportunity to have a good rush without the quarterback seeing him, and see how that works out. So far, so good.â
Porter said of Watt that âT.J. was a left-side rusher from the beginning, so he actually loves the left side, so hopefully that works out for him also.â
Behind the starters are Anthony Chickillo and Keion Adams, along with an undrafted rookie â Ola Adeniyi â who was blowing as much up Wednesday as is possible without pads. More on the pass-rusher out of Toledo to come.
TOM BRADLEY
The long-time Penn State defensive assistant discussed at length how he was going to improve the tackling in the secondary, as well as the communication required for all of the man defense theyâve been playing.
But, again, the talent is what matters, and Bradleyâs been handed a group thatâs as deep as any the Steelers have had since their last championship. The cherry on top, the Steelers hope, is their most recent first-round pick, Terrell Edmunds.
âWe were sitting and talking,â Bradley said of Edmunds, âI said, âHowâs it going?â And he said itâs starting to slow down a little bit. Because his head spins. We put a lot of stuff in during the camp. It isnât like college where itâs a couple today, a couple tomorrow. Thereâs a lot being thrown at them early. Now, the older guys have a basis so itâs not a big deal for them. But he has no basis. Every callâs new. Every defense, the wording of itâs new. In his mind heâs got to correlate it with things he knows. But now itâs starting to fall into place.â
Edmunds is doing it with the help of savvy veterans Morgan Burnett and Joe Haden. The 29-year-olds were drafted by other teams in 2010, but have joined the Steelers within the last 10 months and already are team leaders.
âJoe and Morgan have been great with keeping everybody on the same page,â Bradley said. âThey say âCoach when you say that, what do you mean?â I tell them and they say, âOK this is what we got.â And everybody works it through. Thatâs great to have those guys.
âItâs interesting, since theyâre true pros, to watch them every day. I donât think a day goes by Morganâs not taking notes. Heâs a very conscientious guy. Theyâre both proâs pros. Theyâre in there early, theyâre working hard. Fundamentally they donât have all the answers, so theyâre trying to get better, too.â
One disappointment for Bradley has been a nagging hamstring injury thatâs kept fifth-round safety Marcus Allen out of team drills all spring.
âWe havenât had him since the second day of rookie (camp), so heâs missed a lot of work here,â Bradley said. âHeâs in the meetings, but there isnât anything quite like the experience of actually being able to do it, so itâs a setback to him right now.â
JERRY OLSAVSKY
The inside linebackers coach is enjoying the spring turned in by Matakevich, who, of the two starters, has shown the most range in coverage. Olsavsky said the third-year man has turned it up this week in particular.
âMaybe it was the first day of minicamp,â said Olsavsky. âMaybe because he was playing against Ben (Roethlisberger). I donât know what it was, but Iâm glad he had it.â
The top three ILBs are known, and last yearâs No. 4, L.J. Fort, enjoyed a spectacular Wednesday alongside Bostic on the second team. Undrafted rookie Matthew Thomas continues to receive attention from the coaching staff, which began almost immediately after he was given jersey No. 46.
âMatthew Thomas is a very good player,â Olsavsky said. âComes with a lot of athletic ability. We were happy to sign him and weâll see where he goes. You canât have enough good football players on your team. From what I see now, heâs really athletic and he doesnât mind running into other people. Thatâs right up my alley.â
Thomas is a 6-3, 232-pounder who ran a 4.44 40 at his pro day with a vertical jump of 41.5 inches. He was a five-star recruit who struggled with suspensions and injuries at Florida State, but led the team in tackles the last two seasons.
Olsavsky was asked why the staff chose to give Thomas so much attention this spring.
âGuys show up. It doesnât take you long to see a guy,â Olsavsky said. âPeople in Pittsburgh always come up to me, even when I wasnât coaching, and theyâre like âMan that didnât look good, but YOU know what youâre talking about.â And I would say, âNo, you know what youâre talking about. Youâve watched football your whole life. You may not know what itâs called or why theyâre doing that bad thing, but you know it ainât good.â Thatâs why they boo. Why? Because they know what good football looks like, and if you know what the good stuff looks like you know what the bad stuff looks like. So, we see a lot of good stuff and you just keep putting him out there.â