Each week Steelers' defensive coordinator Keith Butler, offensive coordinator Todd Haley and special teams coordinator Danny Smith share their insight in exclusive interviews that can be heard on SNR every Thursday beginning at 12 noon.
This version of Coordinators Corner will give you a sneak peak of what to expect each week, but this just touches the surface. Read what they have to say, but take my advice, listen every Thursday at 12 noon for the full interviews or check back there later in the day for the archived versions. It will be worth your time.
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Taking the heat:** The Steelers had a punt blocked that the Ravens recovered for a touchdown in the fourth quarter last week, and Coach Mike Tomlin said it was miscommunication that led to the block. Special teams coordinator Danny Smith agreed and said there is only one person to blame.
"That is flat out unacceptable," said Smith. "You get beat sometimes, you get schemed sometimes. Things like that. That doesn't really happen to us. But to just give one up, ultimately that is coaching. I mean that sincerely in this sense. We had a lack of communication between two players. We do two different things. One guy did one thing, one guy did another thing. The whole game we had been doing the same thing and it was very, very effective.
"It was a lack of communication and I am going to take the blame for that. If we have two players on the field that aren't on the same page, that's me. We'll move forward and it won't happen again."
No easy task: Defensive coordinator Keith Butler will be preaching a strong message to his unit this week, but first and foremost on that list will be to stop the run. And it won't be an easy task as Cowboys' running back Ezekiel Elliott is the NFL's leading rusher with 891 yards on 177 carries.
"We have to stop the run," said Butler. "We've got to stop the run with these guys and get them in situations where they have to throw the ball to get a first down. We have to get the ball back for our offense. They have a pretty good defense too. We have to get the ball back and give our offense as many opportunities that we can for them to score. We have to get some turnovers too. We got one last week, and had the opportunity to probably get three of them, and we only got one. We have to do that and pressure the quarterback."
Stepping up: There is no doubt offensive coordinator Todd Haley has a world of confidence in Antonio Brown, but Haley was asked who after Brown does he have confidence in at the wide receiver spot.
"I like them all," said Haley. "The injuries have been something that have hurt. I said going into this year one of the keys for us is guys not named AB (Antonio Brown) making plays when given the opportunity. When we have done that we have been very productive offensively. I think it will continue to be a key and we have to continue to push these young guys at all positions. We have to push them now that they are not rookies anymore, we are halfway through the year. If they are second year guys, they have plenty of experience. They need to step up and consistently do their part."
