One thing that first-year defensive coordinator Keith Butler has shown in his debut in that role is a willingness to be adaptable, to experiment, to tweak. One of the late-season changes that the Pittsburgh Steelers adapted to counteract passing offense was to start using more dime defense and taking Lawrence Timmons off the field, replacing him with Robert Golden.
This was particularly the case in the Week 15 game against the Broncos, and they used the same strategy against Denver again in the playoffs, logging about a dozen snaps in the dime, but Golden also saw some nickel snaps late as well as one of two safeties.