Butler Admits Tomlin Has Been Calling D Signals Since LeBeau’s Time

[Steeler Nation]

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.






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.






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

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[FordFairLane]

But… but… but it’s not Tomlin’s fault.

 

[stuntmanmike]

Ya no **** where you been!?!? guys on here have been going on about it for years! Tomlin is never held accountable! Shity play calling, shity hires, just plain shity!

 

[stillwright]

Why would you want to he a DC in name only? Sad.

 

[Vincent]

Tomlin has utterly destroyed this team - the offense, the defense, the culture, the brand, and if it weren't for TV revenues, the franchise. He himself isn't even of coordinator timber so he surrounds himself with cucks that won't expose him. He doesn't prepare his people to win. They obviously don't practice. He doesn't scheme. He doesn't adjust. He makes baffling 'decisions' that indicate that he either isn't paying attention or doesn't comprehend the instance. He obviously doesn't understand Xs & Os. Which explains the previous. Won't allow his 1st ballot HoF franchise QB to audible. Doesn't develop talent, etc, etc, etc. No news here.

No wonder the heroes of the past have spoken up. Its a disgrace to the logo and those who carried it. RC put it best - 'nobody is afraid of you'. As bad as the way old Steelers teams were, they were feared. Nobody wanted to play them.

YA Tittle visits Pittsburgh. John Baker says 'Hi'.

Today we have Mahomes saying that playing Pittsburgh's D is like '7 on 7s'. Make that statement in the era of Ernie Stautner, Big Daddy, Any of the 70s Ds, LLoyd, Woodson, Potsy, Deebo, RC, Troy, Snack, any of them. G'head. Free ambulance rides for all. Nobody fears Tomlin's teams. There isn't even professional respect. A disgrace to all who once proudly wore that uniform.

I stopped watching the **** show in 15. Have lurked occasionally but I can't sit for much more than a series. It has only gotten worse. It isn't going to get better because Tomlin is a fixture until he decides to depart. And why would he leave? What a scam.

 

[Steelr4evr]

Well it all makes sense now. No accountability for your stupid experiments when they fail. You have a built in fall guy. Pretty cowardly. Why not man up and do the job yourself out in the open. How disappointing.

 

[Djfan]

This guy is a horrible coach. It sucks that we have to sit and wait until he is done, or Rooney cuts him loose. Until then, we will be the laughing stock of the league.

 

[Steelr4evr]

This guy is a horrible coach. It sucks that we have to sit and wait until he is done, or Rooney cuts him loose. Until then, we will be the laughing stock of the league.

Well at least I have hockey. Thank God they don't marry themselves to ****** or stale coaches for long.

 

[Shane Falco]

…but but he’s never had a losing season

 

[madinsomniac]

So this explains how in 2013/14 Lebeaus playcalling changed so dramatically… makes sense… went from a top d to a middling meh D

 

[Zack_of_Steel]

So this explains how in 2013/14 Lebeaus playcalling changed so dramatically… makes sense… went from a top d to a middling meh D

And also why Troy was so animated and furious on the sidelines all year.

 

[slashsteel]

Well it all makes sense now. No accountability for your stupid experiments when they fail. You have a built in fall guy. Pretty cowardly. Why not man up and do the job yourself out in the open. How disappointing.

Yeah I didn't like the secret nature of who was doing the play calling. Funny how quick that came out upon retirement.

 

[SteelerSask2]

I'm surprised Butler is going out like this. About time someone told the truth.

 

[troymania]

At least it's been exposed finally. We might have to suffer a few years but I hope this is the beginning of the end.

 

[slashsteel]

At least it's been exposed finally. We might have to suffer a few years but I hope this is the beginning of the end.

Well... probably not.

 

[madinsomniac]

And also why Troy was so animated and furious on the sidelines all year.

Well yeah because troy went from a guy who could freelance to a guy who had to play a ton of structured safety in cover 2

 

[insaniti]

Look, I'm not happy with the direction of the team anymore than anyone else on the board, but it seems this board likes to conveniently ignore facts to prove a point. The consensus is that Tomlin sucks at calling the D, and we are no longer a dominant defensive team. Well, if you go just by this past year, sure... but if you ignore the amount of injuries we had on the DL, and at ILB, and at OLB, and at CB, then sure it's easy to blame Tomlin and how he calls the D.

But if you do a bit of research, it's not that clear cut.

If you say he took over the playcalling on D in 13-14, then yeah, we had a middling defense for the next four years, but we also had a top ten offense in 5 of the next 6 years. You tend to give up some yards when you are up double digits, and in the prime of the killer B era, that's exactly what we did. Teams played from behind a lot and got a lot of garbage yards.

But then things started to change, the offense was less dominant, but the D started to come around, and from 2017 to 2020 we had a top 10 D in yardage and only finished outside the top 10 in scoring D one of those years. We've allowed 20 pts or less in 5 of the last 9 seasons, and in that 17-20 stretch, the one year we finished outside of the top 10 in scoring D, we allowed 22.5 pts, and averaged 27 pts on offense. It's not like our D has been weak.

The loss of Tuitt and Alualu were HUGE this year, like it can't even be put into words how much they were missed. And then you add in the injuries to Watt, Highsmith, Bush, Haden, and the games missed with Covid... it was a lot to overcome, especially with the inept offense we had that consistently put the D back on the field far too many times.

The number one scoring D in the league just gave up the same number of points we did against the very same team... As much as I want Tomlin gone, it's not because he's calling the D... it's what he's allowed to happen on the other side of the ball

 

[slashsteel]

Look, I'm not happy with the direction of the team anymore than anyone else on the board, but it seems this board likes to conveniently ignore facts to prove a point. The consensus is that Tomlin sucks at calling the D, and we are no longer a dominant defensive team. Well, if you go just by this past year, sure... but if you ignore the amount of injuries we had on the DL, and at ILB, and at OLB, and at CB, then sure it's easy to blame Tomlin and how he calls the D.

But if you do a bit of research, it's not that clear cut.

If you say he took over the playcalling on D in 13-14, then yeah, we had a middling defense for the next four years, but we also had a top ten offense in 5 of the next 6 years. You tend to give up some yards when you are up double digits, and in the prime of the killer B era, that's exactly what we did. Teams played from behind a lot and got a lot of garbage yards.

But then things started to change, the offense was less dominant, but the D started to come around, and from 2017 to 2020 we had a top 10 D in yardage and only finished outside the top 10 in scoring D one of those years. We've allowed 20 pts or less in 5 of the last 9 seasons, and in that 17-20 stretch, the one year we finished outside of the top 10 in scoring D, we allowed 22.5 pts, and averaged 27 pts on offense. It's not like our D has been weak.

The loss of Tuitt and Alualu were HUGE this year, like it can't even be put into words how much they were missed. And then you add in the injuries to Watt, Highsmith, Bush, Haden, and the games missed with Covid... it was a lot to overcome, especially with the inept offense we had that consistently put the D back on the field far too many times.

The number one scoring D in the league just gave up the same number of points we did against the very same team... As much as I want Tomlin gone, it's not because he's calling the D... it's what he's allowed to happen on the other side of the ball

They have a history of defensive blowouts all the way dating back to Jacksonville. The pattern isn't one season or two or three, and so on. Of course it is multifactorial in nature as their bad decision making and bad scheme contribute as well. Which he is knee deep involved. Then you have a period of playoff futility to mix in for good measure. But to focus on the play calling the long term results have been uninspiring. When the chips are down he is at his worst.

 

[Steeltime]

If as seems to be the case Tomlin is calling the defenses, and is the HC, and makes the final roster decisions, can we finally agree that he has a significant role in deciding whom the team drafts??

 

[wig]

Insaniti, you might want to compare the "solid" defensive output for a year or two with the period the Steelers wer fielding 9 or 10 1st rounders all at once on defense...

 

[Coryea]

Ya no **** where you been!?!? guys on here have been going on about it for years! Tomlin is never held accountable! Shity play calling, shity hires, just plain shity!

I'm one of those guys that's been saying this for a long time. I mean just watch the way the defense is being played, that isn't a LeBeau/Butler defense, it's looked more like a Tampa 2 for a long time, but Tomlin always blamed execution, now everyone knows why. I haven't been on the Tomlin needs to go bandwagon, but I'm jumping on now.
Butler said he stayed out of loyalty to the Steelers. I listened to that interview driving home.

 

[madinsomniac]

Wait until people figure out how much he has to do with the O these days… the Steelers are thoroughly Mike Tomlin’s team these days….

 

[insaniti]

Insaniti, you might want to compare the "solid" defensive output for a year or two with the period the Steelers wer fielding 9 or 10 1st rounders all at once on defense...

This is a dumb argument, Alualu was a first rounder, but wasn't panning out in Jax and we for him for nothing. Joe Haden was cut from Cleveland, and again we got him on a pretty good contract... He still helped put the pieces together. Again, I would like a change all around, but I'm not going to make stawman arguments and make **** up because I want change.

It's like arguing that he's had Ben his whole career and making that a negative thing. Like he was supposed to say "the only way I take the job is if we trade away Ben".

Is not like he hasn't had good years coaching, site the final results haven't always been there, but there have been years we shouldn't have been as good, and he's kept the ship afloat during some really trying times.

My point, I'm not going to take anything away from what he has accomplished. I'm not going to diminish anything, call him a horrible coach, a dumb coach, or the worst coach in the league like a lot on this board. I simply think 15 years is long enough, and it's time for a change. But I also don't see it happening unless we go Jax-style suck for the next two years.

 

[SteelChip]

YA Tittle visits Pittsburgh. John Baker says 'Hi'.

Today we have Mahomes saying that playing Pittsburgh's D is like '7 on 7s'. Make that statement in the era of Ernie Stautner, Big Daddy, Any of the 70s Ds, LLoyd, Woodson, Potsy, Deebo, RC, Troy, Snack, any of them. G'head. Free ambulance rides for all. Nobody fears Tomlin's teams. There isn't even professional respect. A disgrace to all who once proudly wore that uniform.

I stopped watching the **** show in 15. Have lurked occasionally but I can't sit for much more than a series. It has only gotten worse. It isn't going to get better because Tomlin is a fixture until he decides to depart. And why would he leave? What a scam.

You are correct in every point you make Vinny..but

 

[mightyguru]

You'd think this would be all over the nfl shows this morning...and you'd be wrong.