Friday Insider: Steelers loud, proud of Butler

It's gone from a whisper to a roar.

Not so long ago, it was completely uncool inside the Steelers' locker room to diminish in any way anything related to Dick LeBeau. He was the living legend, the architect of two Super Bowl defenses and the zone blitz, and he was so beloved that the mere mention of his name once caused James Harrison to break up on national TV.

Well, here's what's up these days: The Steelers' defense now ranks seventh in the NFL in points allowed per game at 19.0, way up from 18th and 23.0 last season. It now ranks fourth with 16 sacks, way up from 26th and a total of 33 last season. It's hitting harder. It's hurrying the quarterback more. It's getting hands on the football.

It's getting actual interceptions and actual returns, for crying out loud ...



And it's funny how no one really seems inclined to keep quiet about it anymore.

"It's night and day," Mike Mitchell was telling me Thursday at the team's South Side HQ. "There's so much more cohesiveness, so much more awareness of what's happening around us and why ... I can't even put that into words."



He pretty much did, actually. And he isn't alone. I began picking up on this late Monday night in San Diego, when several defensive players were almost aggressive in giving credit to Keith Butler and his staff for this terrific turnaround.

Jarvis Jones went so far as to politely cut off one of my questions because I wasn't asking the question he felt should have been asked.

"This is about great coaching," he said after maybe the best game of his career against the Chargers. "They're making things simple and clear. They're working with us, each of us as individuals, to make sure the instruction is getting through. They're doing the job, man. They're making us better each and every week."

Bud Dupree, another first-round outside edge rusher, sounded much the same.

"It's not like they're not challenging us or pushing us," he said. "But they're making it easier to go out there on Sunday and do what we do best."

And in Bud's case, as I reminded, that means basically pinning back the ears.

"Basically."

Cam Heyward described for me one play where the entire front seven had gotten locked up on the San Diego line.

"We got a push," he said, "but we weren't really able to get disengaged."

No problem, because Butler had Antwon Blake bursting off the left edge on a delayed blitz. He forced Philip Rivers into a third-down incompletion.

"That," Cam said, "was great coaching."

Butler himself is piping up more, too, which has been wonderful to hear since it's his default personality. Having him suddenly go silent and humble since becoming coordinator seemed outright weird at times.

Listen to his answer when I asked him Thursday about some of the above:



If you're a passionate follower of this football team, I can't recommend strongly enough watching that full clip. It'll offer more of a glimpse of what's really behind this defense than anything I could describe.

• Don't read much, if anything, into Ben Roethlisberger participating in drills this week. The Steelers would be nuts to not use every advantage to throw off the Cardinals' preparation and, as we've all seen, there's a huge difference in how a defense prepares for Roethlisberger and how it prepares for Michael Vick.

• Football film can lie. But football players also can lie about football film.

I mentioned to Vick that, the week before the Steelers beat the Rams and their phenomenal defensive front four, the Seahawks were explaining that they allowed the Rams' front four to penetrate their offensive line to over-pursue Russell Wilson.

"Allowed? Ha!" Vick said. "That's fantastic."

"Hey, that's what I'm going to say to you next time, Mike," Ramon Foster piped in from the next stall. "I just 'allowed' that guy to over-pursue you. That cool?"

• The Steelers' previous walkoff touchdown was in 2010, this 50-yard overtime sprint by Rashard Mendenhall that nearly wasn't because he'd briefly lost his footing. There aren't many of these, so those that occur tend to be embraced.

Thursday, I asked David DeCastro how many times he's watched his exceptional pulling block on Le'Veon Bell's walkoff touchdown.

"Couple times," he came back.

Come on.

"All right, three. Or more. Maybe five."

And what of the contortionist who completed it?



• And the latest word on the looming sale of the Penguins is ... ugh, no word at all.

Sorry, but I'd set out to try to get you something on that this week, but every turn saw a stop sign. Either no one is talking, or no one knows anything or -- and this is possible -- there just really isn't much happening on that front.

One richly knowledgeable source with whom I spoke in Dallas before the season opener said he hadn't heard anything about it in weeks.

• Mike Johnston's job was never on the line through the 0-3 start, but there were plenty of frowns on the faces of very important people along the way.

• If you think Sidney Crosby is demanding or even requesting to play with Chris Kunitz, you are mistaken. If you think Crosby would not welcome having Daniel Sprong on his line, you are mistaken.

• Few things in this realm are more precious than a classic Evgeni Malkin quote such as this gem after beating the Senators: "We lost three games. It's not funny. We understand we can't lose anymore."

Malkin hates losing and hates not scoring. He solved both problems in one night, then stood at his stall, hands on hips, for an extra-long period after the game to conduct interviews in English and Russian to make the above case.

• Just a reminder that, even though Rob Scuderi and Kunitz have become the primary and secondary targets of fan criticism, the old guys aren't always the problem and aren't even always the slowest.

Matt Cullen, who will turn 39, was getting rave reviews in the locker room for his many bursts of speed Thursday night, notably this one to set up Sprong's first NHL goal:



"Cully," Sprong said, "was just flying out there."

Chris Neil, the falling Senator on that sequence, is 36, but we'll let the Ottawa version of the Friday Insider cope with that issue.

• Sprong, of course, is 18. And I learned late Thursday night that he's only got a learner's permit for a driver's license, so he's needed to take Uber to and from practices and games while awaiting the permanent card.

If I told you he's being teased mercilessly over this ... well, yeah, you'd believe that.

• There's never any noise on the Pirates' front this time of year, as Major League Baseball mandates that teams minimize any news to ensure that all focus stays on the playoffs.

I will share with you, though, this one leftover from the night of the Wild Card loss, this from Gerrit Cole: "I like the Cubs. I do. They're a good team. Good players. Good people. I hope they go on to win. I really do."

And this is because, I asked, it would mean the Pirates lost to the best?

"Nah. Just to beat the Cardinals. It gets boring watching them win everything."

So he at least got that wish.