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Larry Foote: Keith Butler giving tackles to Timmons no one sees

Steeelers linebacker Larry Foote is upset, sort of, over the discrepancy in tackle stats kept by the team vs. by the league.

By Neal Coolong
Gregory Shamus

Post Gazette reporter Ed Bouchette points out Sunday Larry Foote's mock resentment toward linebackers coach Keith Butler for giving ILB Lawrence Timmons the most tackles in 2012.

He's sort of mocking, at least.

Tackles are not an official stat in the NFL, and the home team is responsible for tracking and reporting them. The crew the team hires out, according to Bouchette, gave Foote 113 tackles and Timmons 106. The Steelers coaches gave Timmons 134 and Foote 114.

So Foote will lead in the media guide, and Timmons will lead on the team's web site and according to the league. It's sort of old school vs. new school.

Either way, it's something Foote is seemingly torqued off about.

" 'Butz' and them want to give Lawrence the tackles nobody sees, but they don't want to give me mine." Foote said of Butler. "It's politics, they want the first-round pick, Lawrence, to get all the glory."

Whoever got the stats, they played well as a pair, and they comprise one of the few positions on the Steelers' roster that isn't currently being made over. Foote signed a three-year deal this offseason, and Timmons is poised to be among the breakout players this season.

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