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hawaiiansteeler
06-12-2015, 01:59 PM
FROM THE COACH'S MOUTH: STEELERS DEFENSE

Jun 12, 2015
Jim Wexell
Publisher SteelCityInsider.net

http://imgix.scout.com/154/1542011.jpg?w=600&h=360&fit=max

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coaches were in the interview spotlight following the final OTA of the spring. Finding the coaches with small groups of reporters, and with as few web cams as possible, was my goal and eventually I did garner a one-on-one with ILB coach Jerry Olsavsky. That interview will run tomorrow, but in the meantime here are some of the top comments made by the other defensive coaches:

Keith Butler, coordinator -

(On being promoted to coordinator:) "I’ve known Coach Tomlin for a long time. We coached together for a while. We coached together when he was a G.A. at Memphis, and he was my secondary coach at Arkansas State. I’ve been wanting to coach for him for a while, and I appreciate the opportunity."

(On waiting patiently behind Dick LeBeau:) "I've always thought this place gave me the best chance to win a Super Bowl as a coordinator. That’s one of the reasons I always stayed. The other reason is that Coach Tomlin is a great guy to work for."

(On potential changes:) "There will be some things that are different, yes. There are some things we did well last year. We have to try to marry two things, the things that we did well last year and maybe some things we haven’t done before here. We are going to try to do those."

(What are those things?) "I'll let the Patriots figure that out."

(On measuring progress:) "The best thing for us right now is we are practicing against one of the premiere offenses in the league, so going against them every day is only going to make us better. If I can see us getting better against those guys, then I feel pretty good about where we could be as a defense."

(On his location during games:) "I’ve seen the game from the field all my life. I am not about to go upstairs. I did that one time, and I hated it. I really did as a coach. We were playing Cincinnati one time when I coached for Cleveland and Dwayne Rudd was my linebacker, and he took off his helmet after he made a big play on fourth down. It was a fourth-down stop. He took off his helmet. They called a penalty, and they went down and kicked a field goal to beat us. And I couldn’t dive after him [laughs]. That’s why I was saying I don’t want to sit upstairs."

Joey Porter, outside linebackers

(On any changes with Butler:) "You’re going to add wrinkles here and there, which is going to make our defense that much better, but it’s the same defense we’ve been running. If it ain't broke, why fix it? It's been a good defense for a long time and it will continue to be a good defense. We've got a good coordinator who understands the game. He’s been in this defense a long time, too, so he knows how to run it."

(On whether this scheme still produces pressure after all these years:) "It's not the defense. The defense has been proven over years that it works. We've just got to get the guys to go out there and execute the defense and play at a high level."

Carnell Lake, defensive backs

(On Cortez Allen's progress:) "He’s diligent at it. He's very conscious and is really trying hard out here to take another step forward in his career. I think for Tez, the proof will be in the pudding when the live bullets start to get fired in preseason games. I'm looking for him to step up. We need Tez to not only improve upon last year, but -- this is a fifth-year corner and we've got some younger corners behind him -- to take a leadership role as well."

to read rest of article:

http://www.scout.com/nfl/steelers/story/1554549-from-the-coach-s-mouth-defense

TeeTee
06-15-2015, 08:12 PM
The only slightly new info. is that they are counting on Tez to make a turnaround from last season.

Well, after a new contract, that would be your obvious take. They would surely prefer he work it out instead of them eating that $ and having one more hole on the team.