Keith Butler: ‘We Gotta Be Better Defensively In The Last Two Minutes Of The Game’

[polamalubeast]

One of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest weaknesses last season was closing out games, and that primarily fell to their defense. They gave up 14 touchdowns in the fourth quarter during the 2018 season, which was tied for the sixth-most in the NFL, and they also allowed six field goals for a total of 20 scores.

This proved to be costly, as in five of their seven losses or ties last season, they either held or shared the lead entering the fourth quarter. While a sputtering offense sometimes also contributed in those instances, the defense was handed leads five times that it could not hold on to. Defensive coordinator Keith Butler was all too aware of this.

“We gotta stop people the end of the game, in two minutes and stuff like that”, he told Missi Matthews earlier this spring. “We gotta be better defensively in the last two minutes of the game because the games, the way the NFL is now, the games are closer and closer, four points or less people are winning or losing by. There’s a great number of games that [end that way]. That’s the way the league is going, so we’ve got to be good in that aspect of our defense”.

With respect to the two-minute defense that he refers to, the Steelers’ four touchdowns allowed were tied for the most in the NFL. They were scored upon a total of six times in the final two minutes of games. Only the New York Giants gave up more points or allowed more scores in the two-minute defense.

read more

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/06/keith-butler-we-gotta-be-better-defensively-in-the-last-two-minutes-of-the-game/

This has been a major problem for steelers for a very long time ... I often prefer to be behind in the scoreboard but have the ball in the last two minutes in the game in a one score game that be ahead and our defense is on the field.

But not a lot of defense are clutch in the nfl of today!

[Edman]

The Steelers have failed to close out games on Both sides of the ball for years now. This is nothing new. Too many times have we seen the Steelers have a slight lead in the 4th, on Offense and fail to do anything meaningful like destroy the clock, put up a touchdown/FG to shift momentum. The enemy gets the ball back, the D crashes down the stretch. Offense goes back on the field to save the day or falls short.

It’s not just being better on Defense, it’s being a better 4th Quarter team in general.

I place the loss of focus on the run game in favor of the passing game. It’s why the famous run and shoot Oilers choked away so many winnable games back then.

[polamalubeast]

The Steelers have failed to close out games on Both sides of the ball for years now. This is nothing new. Too many times have we seen the Steelers have a slight lead in the 4th, on Offense and fail to do anything meaningful or put up a touchdown/FG to stop the opponent’s momentum. The enemy gets the ball back, the D crashes and Burns and blows it down the stretch. Offense goes back on the field to save the day or falls short.

It’s not just being better on Defense, it’s being a better 4th Quarter team in general.

I place the loss of focus on the run game in favor of passing. It’s why the famous run and shoot Oilers choked away so many winnable games back then.

The steelers were solid for the most part in the close game in the last 2 years

8-2 in 2017,6-5-1 in 2018 in one score game ... The problem is that we have so few blowout (win or lose) that it is normal to lose several close games.

Our offense has been much better in the 4th quarter for a very long time that our defense, especially since we are behind ..... In 2017, the steelers won several games late in the 4th quarter because of our offense ... Roethlisberger led the NFL for the fourth quarter comeback or game winning drive in 2017 .... It's also true that our offense in the 4th quarter is much better when they are behind than when we are ahead.

[Born2Steel]

20 4th quarter scores in 2018 is what DC Butler is talking about needs to get better there.(14TDs and 6FGs) The article claims these 4th quarter scores led to 5 of the 7 losses. Same with the article on dropped INTs, he is correct with this statement. Luckily these 2 statements and 'goals' tie into one another. When teams are in score now mode they tend to throw the ball more. This leads to INT chances which leads to 4th quarter defensive stops. Guys, there is a plan. it's not the 'Keystone Kops' coaching staff some of you seem to think we have. Dunbar on DL, Butler on edge, Austin and Bradley in the secondary, and Olsavsky(sp) in the middle. We have better players in the middle and secondary now. Those that cannot get optimistic about this upcoming season are choosing to be pessimistic.

[teegre]

I remember that the 2011 season ended, due to two fourth-quarter snafus.

Week 9: Ravens
We were the #1 seed. We are playing the Ravens in Week 9. Flacco throws a last-second game-winning TD. Everyone blames William Gay, but really, Ryan Clark was out of position (something that occurred once every blue moon). What sucks “double” about this Ravens comeback was that we could have run out the clock on offense, if we convert one more first down.

This loss was early, but it was huge. Despite ending up 12-4, this loss would give the Ravens the division. Furthermore, Ben gets injured a few weeks later, and because the Ravens held the tie-breaker, we HAD to play a hobbled Ben for the remainder of the season. Ben never fully healed.

Playoffs: Broncos
In regulation, we are in game-winning FG range. All we need to do is not take a sack... and... we not only take a sack, we take TWO sacks. Ben normally escapes those sacks; or, at worst, he takes the first and then makes up for it on the next down (by converting for a first down). Alas...

[polamalubeast]

The loss against the ravens in 2011 was one of the most frustrating ... Not only because of Flacco's 92 yard drive, but because the ravens were 14-21 in the 3rd down and many were 3rd down and long.

Also with a 20-16, the steelers were in the FG range (47 yards) with 3 minutes left in the game but Tomlin decided to Punt the football instead of trying this FG!:frusty:

[GBMelBlount]

"This proved to be costly, as in five of their seven losses or ties last season, they either held or shared the lead entering the fourth quarter."

I think this season, like last, will come down to how well our defense plays, especially in the 4th quarter of close games.

Fingers crossed that with our 3 quality additions on defense we are much better on defense this year.

[86WARD]

No shit...dope.

[Craic]

The Steelers have failed to close out games on Both sides of the ball for years now. This is nothing new. Too many times have we seen the Steelers have a slight lead in the 4th, on Offense and fail to do anything meaningful like destroy the clock, put up a touchdown/FG to shift momentum. The enemy gets the ball back, the D crashes down the stretch. Offense goes back on the field to save the day or falls short.

It’s not just being better on Defense, it’s being a better 4th Quarter team in general.

I place the loss of focus on the run game in favor of the passing game. It’s why the famous run and shoot Oilers choked away so many winnable games back then.

There are posts buried deep in this forum where I've shown this has been an issue going on 11 years or more . . . That stellar 2008 defense had the exact same issue.

[tube517]

Has he started letting Matakevich cover Juju in practice yet?

[hawaiiansteeler]

Has he started letting Matakevich cover Juju in practice yet?

only in the last two minutes of the game :wink02:

[HollywoodSteel]

There are posts buried deep in this forum where I've shown this has been an issue going on 11 years or more . . . That stellar 2008 defense had the exact same issue.

I think the difference with the 2008 defense was that after some late 4th break down, they always had the ability to make some awesome splash play to bail us out. I remember a few games where I actually had confidence that our D would make some game saving play... and then they would.

I don’t think we’ll quite get back to 2008 form this year, but I really do think we’ll generate more late game turnovers than in recent years. Last year was just pitiful in that department.

Maybe I’m drinking too much of the B & G coolaide but I really feel good about the potential for improvement with our offseason acquisitions and Edmunds’s potential for improvement in year 2.

Am I alone on this or do others feel there’s legit reasons for optimism?

[Six Rings]

Kevin,

You gotta have db's that can cover and make plays.