LATROBE, Pa. -- The two most roundly criticized men in Pittsburgh are probably Bob Nutting and Keith Butler.
Nutting, the owner of the Pirates, obviously doesn't care much about that. He's made that obvious by his spending habits with the team.
Butler? Well, the Steelers defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach doesn't care all that much about the outside noise, either.
He's more concerned about doing his job and the things necessary to win a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh.
"I’m 63 years old. If they fire me, so what? I’ll go play golf," Butler told me Thursday as the Steelers continued their training camp at Saint Vincent College.
"Do I want to keep my dadgum job? Sure I do. But it’s not like it’s going to kill me. It’s not a life or death situation. I enjoy what I do. I want to keep doing it. But if I don’t, it’s not a big deal. The noise is always going to be there. Shoot, my wife criticizes me. ‘Why are we close to them?’ What the heck, everybody is a coach."
That's especially true when it comes to Butler's critics. He's been with the Steelers since 2003, first as the linebackers coach, then, since 2015, as defensive coordinator.
He's seen the Steelers defense be dominant and help the team win two Super Bowls and go to a third. And he wants to get the team back to that level.
But the ever-changing NFL has made that more difficult than it used to be.
When the Steelers were a dominant defense, their main goal was to stop the run on first and second down and force opponents into third-and-long situations. Getting opponents into third-and-long remains the goal, but with teams passing more and running less, having a stout run defense doesn't necessarily add up to having a shutdown defense.
That has led many to feel the game has passed Butler by, just as they felt it did his predecessor, Dick LeBeau.
But for Butler, the goals remain the same -- win a Super Bowl and have the No. 1 defense. The means to that goal, however, have changed.
"It was better, but I’ve been here for a long time. I know what No. 1 looks like. That’s my expectation," Butler told me. "I want to be the best in the league. More than that, I want to win the Super Bowl. If we’re not the best in the league but we win the Super Bowl, I’m perfectly fine with that."
The Steelers ranked sixth in the league in total yards allowed last season but 16th in points. That was a slight drop in yards allowed from 2017, when they were fifth, but a precipitous decline in points. The Steelers allowed the seventh-fewest points in the league in 2017.
But much of that drop came because of personnel. The Steelers tried to replace inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, who was injured at the end of the 2017 season, with a combination of safety Morgan Burnett and linebacker Jon Bostic. That, however, made them predictable on defense.
They released both players at the end of the season and brought in linebacker Mark Barron in free agency and Devin Bush in the draft. The team also added former Lions and Bengals defensive coordinator Teryl Austin as a senior defensive assistant/secondary coach.
Some people might feel threatened by their employer adding a person to the staff that has done the same job as them. But Butler has viewed it as an opportunity for him.
"He’s brought some variety and he’s not afraid to speak his mind, which I am OK with that," Butler told me of Austin. "He’s got the experience of doing what I do. He’s got a really good knowledge of the secondary, that’s been his area the whole time he’s been coaching. His forte has always been the secondary, so that helps me.
"I know with him and (secondary coach) Tom (Bradley), it gives me a chance to coach the outside linebackers without having to worry about the secondary. He’s got a good handle on what we’re trying to do. He knows what we’re trying to do and that’s going to help us."
It also allowed him to return to his roots.
When the team chose not to retain outside linebackers coach Joey Porter at the end of last season, Butler stepped into the void to coach the outside linebackers as well. It's been a return to what he knows best for the former 10-year NFL veteran at the position.
"It makes me be a little bit more detailed. I have to be a little bit more concerned about what they’re doing, what they’re seeing, whereas, when I was just coordinating, I kind of had to oversee everything," Butler said. "It makes me be a little bit more detailed. That’s alright. I like it."
The goal has been to create more turnovers. The Steelers forced just 15 turnovers last season, despite leading the league with 52 sacks. In 2017, they led the league with 55 sacks and forced 22 turnovers.
That was a big part of why a team that finished 13-3 in 2017, stumbled to 9-6-1 a year ago.
"If we’re plus 2 (more), we’re in the playoffs. And if we’re in the playoffs, we beat the guys who won the Super Bowl," Butler said referring to a 17-10 win by the Steelers against the Patriots Dec. 16 of last year. "So what do we do? That’s the whole thing for us, we’ve got to get to the party. How do we get to the party? We’ve got to get the ball out. We’ve got to catch the ball and we’ve got to tackle."
If they do that, maybe fans will finally slow their criticism of Butler. Either way, he's fine with it.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Latrobe, Pa., Aug. 1, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS