If you haven’t heard already, former offensive coordinator, Todd Haley has made some pretty bold comments lately. After the Steelers decided to part ways with Haley, he made his move to the Cleveland Browns, a team that literally had the lowest scoring offense in the 2017 season and has only recorded exactly one win, in two seasons. But Haley apparently doesn’t find that disheartening and his comments on the talent that the Browns have gathered at quarterback shows that.
“This is probably one of the best – if not the best – quarterbacks rooms, in general, that I’ve had. The group, in general, is what I’m excited about. I think that it’s an intelligent, intelligent group, with ability to throw the football and make plays with their legs, some of them. When you have that, I think that good things happen. Competition is created in the room, even though they’re working hard together to help each other and get better as a group.”
It’s good to have confidence and I think any fan of sports can appreciate that, but to say that after leaving a team that has a quarterback with very high Hall of Fame potential and after having numerous winning seasons with the Steelers, that is quite the comment. While not taking away any kudos to the Browns for the talent that they have including, Tyrod Taylor, Drew Stanton, Baker Mayfield and Brogan Roback, there really can’t be any judgments made until the season starts.
Roethlisberger and Haley’s relationship didn’t seem to be the best at times either. From what Big Ben has said, he hasn’t bad-mouthed Haley once, but from games, you could tell that Ben did not agree on some of Haley’s decisions. One surprising thing coming from Browns quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, was that Haley, “allows the quarterbacks to go out there and lead, to take ownership of the offense.” That was something particular that was up in the air with a lot of Steeler Nation and questioned if Roethlisberger knew better than what was called during snaps and didn’t get to make the ultimate decision for his team.
Whether or not you liked Haley or not the deal is done and Randy Fichtner will take the role as offensive coordinator for the Steelers this season. After feeling pretty confident and content with the offense after minicamp Fichtner said, “I don’t know if it’s changing. Offense changes just in general with people. Dynamics every year are different. There are bodies out here that are different then we had last year and the year before. I think you have to be determined and I think you’ll get a chance to say how I did.”
Fichtner’s expectations for the offense are very high and has the support of the team. Roethlisberger commented on if the changes to the offense will be prevalent this season.
“I don’t think much will change,” Roethlisberger reiterated. “I think that was the key. That was important for everybody, that it didn’t change much. We have a window. We have the pieces. Why would you want to try and change it too much? So I think that’s one of the reasons they kept it in-house,” Roethlisberger said.
Le’Veon Bell agreed with Roethlisberger after discussing some changes on the offense saying, “he talked to me about a couple of little things,” Bell commented. “We’ll have some personnel changes. Some formations will be different, but it’s just small minor changes.
