Throughout the week, we’ve heard – and written – a lot about the radical change from the way the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense played from the first half to the second. Most of it has surrounded the intangibles: playing with more energy, fire, and crisper communication. Mike Tomlin and several players have noted the Steelers didn’t make sweeping changes schematically.
But there were some tweaks. At least, that’s how Keith Butler tells it to Steelers.com reporter Missi Matthews in this week’s Coordinator’s Corner.
“Coverages and the way we wanted to do things in terms of how we’re going to run different defenses against what they were trying to do. We tweaked it a little bit. We had a coverage we hadn’t used in a while a little bit. It helped us. It stabilized those guys. Made them feel better.”
Butler obviously did not tip his hand as to what that coverage was but after going over the tape, the Steelers seemed to play some more Cover 2 and late in the game, some trap coverage. Look for a film room study on the latter on Saturday.
Clearly, the adjustments – both tangible and not – worked as the Steelers shut down the Broncos coming out of the break, holding them to zero points and allowing Brock Osweiler to complete less than one-third of his passes.
Still, there are a couple areas Butler would like to keep improving upon.
“There were a couple tackles we could’ve made. They dropped some balls. We dropped some balls. We had the opportunity to get two or three picks. We didn’t get them. We had the opportunity to get two or three sacks. We didn’t get them.”
Robert Golden and Will Allen dropped easy interceptions Sunday. Allen’s would’ve sealed the victory but luckily, the defense held firm and ended the game two plays later.
