Will this be Butler's last season?

I know it is only 1 game into the preseason but the defense is looking bad already. I know, vanilla offense and defense but don't we say that every season? How many of you had heartburn after watching the first team defense looking as bad as they did in the Jags playoff game last year?

I seriously think we have no shot at winning against the Saints, Falcons, Pats, Chargers and the Chiefs. Once again I'm gloom and doom but I saw zero pass rush, multiple running lanes for the RB, and a zone defense I'm pretty sure I could throw on and I walk with a cane.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will get better but if it looks like this for the regular season do you think Butler goes? I also want to know what you think, do you blame Butler or the front office treating the LBers like the secondary by using trash heap players for too long before moving on?

 

This will be Butlers last year IMHO. People are on to the fact that he's not that good. Unless the Steelers win the Super Bowl he will not survive the offseason.

 

First of all, I think we win at least 2 of those 5 games...probably KC and LA and/or ATL.

Secondly, if you've been following this team for any length of time, you'd know that they make decisions as about as quickly as a sloth moves. They had Butler hang around forever, waiting for Dick to be gone; they will wait forever more to replace KB. Look how long they took to get rid of Jarvis Jones. Did you notice he was so bad he never made another team's roster?

I don't see any chemistry with Butler and the players. They always look like they want to get away from him. And is he using 80-90's technology in 2018? It seems like it.

 

His defense better make big improvements. But why does Mike Tomlin get a pass?
Wasn't he suppose to be a defensive guru?

 

I was hoping last season was his last.

 

No, let's wait until the regular season starts before we come to a conclusion about the defense this season. Watching the first preseason game and wanting to fire the DC , a lot of backups are playing and they're running a vanilla defense.

 

I don't think the FO is at fault too much. They can't help the Shazier injury and by most accounts wanted to get Rashaan Evans in rnd 1. The FO knows there is a deficit there. Coaches have to maximize talent and I don't know if Butler is capable. I've been a hard critic on him so I don't think he is the right guy. We'll see after this year I guess

 

The thing that strikes me is how often receivers are wide open against this defense. Sometimes they catch the ball and there isn't a defender within 10 yards. Not just last night, all of last season. That seems like a scheme issue more than the fault of individual players.

 

Goes beyond last season as well. It's scheme and communication... Sure, not having the horses to run things matters a lot but I think the scheme has gotten old and obviously figured out in spite of all the new wrinkle talk year in and out. I don't base anything off of non scripted preseason games other than trying to see if vanilla moments are too big for the new boots. Have to wait for the body of work to see if Kevs turned a corner

 

How much influence did tomlin have? IMO if butler regresses from last season he will be on the warm seat. Then if he regresses in 2019 again he will be on hot seat. Another regression then boiling seat. If he continues the trend and is on lava seat by 2028, then and only then Steelers will give him a warning lol

 

no one outside the org knows that. I'm sure Tomlin gives a framework of the defense for Butler to build off of, but they need to set a clear path between themselves before it can go to the players. Not having a clear plan installed (ie both coaches calling defenses on the same play) is only going to lead to future failures. That bad management, whoever is at fault, only trickles down to the players and their play on the field. Tomlin and Butler need to get their sheet straight.

 

Yup. I’ll give butler a chance. He’s improved the defense some but there’s a lot to desire with the communication breakdowns and lack of adjustments.


Jags game= get a couple stops jesus

 

I agree however when the tide was turning the D got a couple but the O couldn't do anything hence the shootout resumed and they came up short

 

It was an all around disaster lol never had the lead once

 

You know what Butler doesn’t get a pass lol. 42 seconds and you let the Cowboys score.

F U lol

 

But could've... Couldn't capitalize on the couple of stops after getting some points hahahahahha

 

Firing Keith Butler over essentially an evaluation test is comical.



Now, the issues that plauged this team last season in addition to new ones? That could see him out the door by the next offseason.



Quite a bit will depend on how well the defense performs. Sans the lack of takeaways, immense level of missed tackles, unthinkably high levels of miscommunication and a run defense that was very misleading in key categories (namely in rush yards per attempt), Butler's third season was a success in terms of improving upon the issues of the pass defense since the likes of Troy and Ike retired.



This is not to say he gets a free pass but the pass defense has done the Steelers in since 2014. There were rays of hope in 2015 to 2016. It was coming together in 2017. Now is the time to put this defense into full swing. No excuses.



For 2018, as I see it as a whole, this could be it for Butler. Another season of defensive ineptitude will have his days numbered.

 

Seems like I remember a story about the defense looking confused because they were getting calls from both Butler and Tomlin during games. They were out there running different plays. No wonder they look so bad at times. Tomlin needs to either but out and let Butler run his defense or take over completely and run it. Sending guys out there on different pages is a recipe for disaster just as we’ve seen.

 

yea, like 6 posts above

nah, just razin ya man...

 

Dang I missed that if it was posted. This was an article from the end of last season. I searched for it but couldn’t find it again.

 

The only thing I remember was what Harrison said on the show Undisputed, and he didn't name names.
"We had a situation where we had double-called defenses because, you know, one thing was said and then someone said something else. You’ve got half the defense playing one defense, the other half playing something else. So, you get situations out there where it looks bad, like this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing. Well, he’s just playing a different defense possibly on that play than what the other half of the defense was playing.”

 

Defense looked like ****. I will stand by what I have been saying for a few years now. Mike Tomlin is a below average coach and has no freakin clue what he is doing. Butler's ability to not scheme well, NFL rules and ****ty overall talent is a triple threat of ineptitude.

Steelers will need their talented players on offense and a few playmakers on defense to make up for the bad coaching and need a lot of luck. They had a lot of luck last year by missing half the good QBs against the teams they played. Usually the luck doesn't happen two years in a row.

 

I am usually quick to want to fire coaches and I'm leaning toward Butler needing to go. I thought it last year and then they went and fired Haley which just blows my mind. I know most fans hate him, and there were some crazy calls along the way, but the bottom line for me is that players just flat out repeatedly didn't show up on game day ready to play. I put that on everybody including Tomlin. One reason I am borderline on Butler is that our front office can't draft defensive players anymore. After the next draft it will be five first round LBs in seven years. Jones stunk and Dupree is non-existent. Watt is still a question mark although he might be good. Shazier and Heyward were the only good defensive players we took in the first round since 2011. Now we seem to be able to pluck WRs like gold so why is defense, especially LBs, so hard? We miss on defense like most teams miss on QBs. So maybe Butler is not all to blame.

 

No one said to fire him now.

Edit: Maybe Jares did.

 

Will this be Butler's last season? I don't know.

I think the better question is: Will Tomlin let Butler be the Defensive coordinator this season?