2012 NFL season: OC Todd Haley’s new offence prophecy and Pittsburgh Steelers prospects – NFL Feature
The Pittsburgh Steelers are considered the top team of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team has all what it takes to be a Super Bowl contender. They are seen coming out on the field into the 2012 National Football
League (NFL) season as an even better outfit.
The team has made major changes in the squad and Steelers have young players at many positions. It was their compelling salary cap issue that required them to part ways with many veterans i.e. wide receiver Hines Ward, and introduced fresh
and young talent.
They, however, refrained from committing any change to their key positions such as quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger stays as their offence leader.
Another major change the team has introduced this season and waiting to see how it impacts their performance is the addition of offensive coach Todd Haley. He has replaced Bruce Arians.
Bruce was a likeable personality among a number of players. He particularly had the trust of QB Ben. Todd on the other hand is struggling to win confidence of the QB, so far at least, and no one can say about future.
It is not the coach’s presence in the team as a person that is unwanted, but his newly introduced offensive scheme that has made the Steelers uncomfortable QB Ben is particularly not a happy person at all.
The player did not buy into the training technique of the coordinator. As a matter of fact, he referred it to learning a new language. He cited the progress after very first session with Todd as an equivalent of saying ‘Hello’. Ben also
felt himself back in the rookie days when he had started learning everything from the scratch.
Nevertheless, Todd insists the Steelers will gradually pick up his offence. He is even optimistic about waging a strong working relationship with Big Ben. The QB has not clarified the prospects. Steelers’ head coach, Mike Tomlin, believes
they will get along very well, something that the future will bear witness to.
The problem is deeper than the new coordinator’s methodology of teaching new offence. It is not just new training method, it is the new offensive scheme. The Steelers’ led by Ben were comfortable with Arian’s pass-centred offence strategy.
His predecessor had adopted the same approach. So when Arians replaced his predecessor, the Steelers carried on from where the previous coach had left.
In reality, they did not have to work extra and learn something new. They just had to build on the knowledge and techniques they had learned from the previous coordinator.
Not anymore though. Haley is among the few coaches in the league who still persist with run-focused offence. They do not see any point in the passing-happy offence and supply of extra protection around the QB. This makes the game more
competitive for the QBs, and they have to gain even more competitive skills to come up to the demand of it.
The Steelers are not happy over the change. QB Ben is clearly exposed and has to assume greater responsibility. With almost all sides optimistic about seeing the strategy as a success for the team this season, the focus is on Ben – how
quickly he adapts to the new approach.
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