Kovacevic: Butler, Fichtner might be Steelers' biggest variables in 2020

The ball rocketed from the right hand of NAME REDACTED, the Steelers' quarterback on this specific drill Thursday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, arcing just enough over the outstretched secondary and into the arms of a leaping, contorting NAME REDACTED, one of their promising rookies, his toes retouching terra firma mere millimeters inside the end zone's white-lined corner.

That prompted the head coach, NAME REDACTED, to boom out, "That's how you do it, (NUMBER REDACTED!)"

And I'll bet there'd have been that much more of a vocal reaction from everyone observing this if not for the scorching temps under the merciless NEARLY PERFECT SPHERE OF HOT PLASMA HEATED TO INCANDESCENCE BY NUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS IN ITS CORE REDACTED high above.

OK, so maybe following NFL guidelines on practice reporting isn't my thing.

Let's try this a different way: What happened above was a very good football play.

Also, the Steelers are a very good football team.

Maybe more than that.

No, I'm not about to concoct some grand, hollow prediction to try to catch anyone's attention. But it's reasonable to say, based on what I've witnessed and heard from training camp and here on the South Side, based on the respective histories of players up and down this roster, based on having the NFL's second-easiest schedule in front of them that ... they really ought to beat the Giants this coming Monday night in East Rutherford, N.J.

And they really ought to beat the quarterback-free Broncos the following week at Heinz Field.

Beyond that, though, I'm not willing to delve too deeply. Not just because of the obvious glaring variable in health, but also because of that other glaring variable, at least as I see it: I can't feel confident yet that they'll use all this talent to the fullest.

Generally speaking, when a gifted football team falls shy of a fair goal, there are three potential areas at fault:

• Head coach
• Chemistry
• Coordinators

The first of those is a given, of course, from a civic perspective. This is Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin’s respected around here, it seems, on every day except Sundays that see losses. In those settings, he’s a bumbling fool with no plan who coddles his players and couldn’t manage a clock if he held a horology degree.

I'm not there. From my own perspective, any head football coach is primarily tasked with leading his team to success, much more than scripting that success. So while Tomlin bears ultimate responsibility for, say, winning only three playoff games over the past nine years, what he's got to do for the purposes of this conversation is to make sure his guys are all pumped up and ready to roll. Common focus, common purpose, all that stuff.

That won't be an issue.

Neither will chemistry, as a result. Not everyone will be wired the same way on a 53-man roster, but no reasonable person would cast doubt on the leadership -- and following -- of a group led by the veteran likes of Cam Heyward, Joe Haden, Maurkice Pouncey, Ben Roethlisberger and the list is so much longer that I inadvertently took this long to mention Vince Williams. There's a foundational dynamic in place, as firm as any I've covered, and it's evident everywhere here, including extraordinary effort.

Unlike the Giants on this same day, I might add:

And then, there are those coordinators.

Keith Butler’s had five years in charge of the defense, Randy Fichtner two in charge of the offense. Neither has distinguished himself. Neither has shown the imagination, the ingenuity, the sense of identity one commonly associates with a coordinator. There's no Butler brand of defense, no Fichtner brand of offense. Neither has risen to the level where another team would covet him, even for a lateral move.

To my mind, they're on the hook here. There’s too much talent at hand, on both sides of the ball, for a failure to be principally assigned anywhere else.

It's not as if they don't realize that.

Asked after this practice to assess his group, Butler spoke, as only he can, "Our guys ... they're gonna dadgum want to play. They're gonna want to prove themselves. And for me to sit here and say, 'They're gonna be outstanding at this' or 'They're gonna be outstanding at that' ... you know, we'll see. ... If we do what we did last year, we're gonna be OK."

Asked something similar after this practice, Fichtner spoke, "I'm excited."

He should be. And they'll be more than OK, on both sides of the ball.

At the same time ... eh, you know.

Doubting Butler might seem a bit off, being that his defense was the NFL's best in 2019, leading the league in takeaways (36), sacks (54), fumble recoveries (17) and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (seven), not to mention ranking second in interceptions (20) and third in passes defensed (83). That's extraordinary, and it's across the board.

But how much of that was scheme and how much was having arguably three of the league's top 10 defensive performers in T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick?

Is that unfair?

Maybe. But maybe I'm not the only one who recalls that 13-3 season going up in flames because Butler couldn't figure out a way to plug the same hole Leonard Fournette blew through all afternoon. Or Rob Gronkowski running wild in single-coverage. Or Bud Dupree being senselessly asked to drop into coverage on more than half his snaps. Or all those fourth-quarter, final-drive fades when all that was needed was one minor adjustment to finish strong.

Butler's done it once, and hurray for him. But show me a sample that isolated, and I'll show you Jaylen Samuels trampling the Patriots for 200-plus yards, right?

Doubting Fichtner might seem equally off, given that Roethlisberger and other vital pieces to his offense were lost in 2019. If anything, trotting Duck Hodges onto the field on a Sunday night in L.A. to beat Philip Rivers and the Chargers should earn all concerned a special distinction in coaching circles.

But how much more would've been required offensively in any one of those eight losses to push the Steelers into the playoffs?

And did the total offense really need to plunge all the way to 30th in a 32-team league?

And if Fichtner hadn't also been serving as the quarterbacks coach, wouldn't it be easier to blame Mason Rudolph for being so bad at quarterback?

Also unfair?

Maybe. But maybe I'm not imagining that Tomlin brought aboard Matt Canada to address not one but two clear shortcomings in serving as quarterbacks coach and adding actual deception to the offense. As Roethlisberger put it here a couple days ago, "This offense will have his fingerprints all over it," and he wasn't referring to Fichtner but to Canada adding an array of pre-snap motions that'll make the Steelers look very different than in previous years.

I don't know about you, but if someone suddenly came along at this site to serve as both columnist and creator, I wouldn't take that as some ringing endorsement.

Not to be a downer here. Bear in mind, the core issue here is that the Steelers have talent, plus all the requisite intangibles. Those are the positives that matter most, and I hope you'll take my word for it that they were on abundant display at this practice:

Feeling it yet?

Terrific players. Terrific collective. Terrific vibe.

But football's a game of chess almost as much as it's a game of chess pieces. And I'd welcome having the additional feeling that the guys in control aren't a grandmaster shy of a Kasparov.