Ben Roethlisberger said earlier this off-season regarding his relationship with offensive coordinator “I enjoy working with him. I think we have a good relationship now.”
My guess is that Coach Haley is giving his quarterback more input in the offense, which is why we’re hearing that we should see a lot more no huddle this season.
With the face of the franchise finally embracing Todd Haley, will the fan base follow suit in 2014?
I know that Todd Haley is a lightning rod for Steelers fans, but I want to try to take a step back and look objectively at what the offense has done under Haley, and what we can expect going forward.
The easy numbers to look at right away are the yardage and scoring ranks under Haley. In 2012 the Steelers ranked 22nd in scoring offense and 21st in yardage. In 2013 there was a slight improvement ranking 16th in scoring and 20th in yards… That’s the bad.
Ben’s biggest problem throughout his career has been taking big hits and lots of sacks. Under Haley Ben took 2.62 sacks per game last year, and 2.30 sacks per game the year prior. For reference, the 5 seasons prior Ben took 2.66, 2.66, 3.33, 2.88, and 3.13 sacks per game. Also, keep in mind once the OL started to gel, Ben took 7 sacks in the final 7 games of 2014… That’s the good.
Overall, the numbers aren’t very impressive. However, just looking at those numbers doesn’t explain the whole picture of the offense under Haley. Ben has had some of the best football of his career, in spurts, under Todd Haley.
2012 Season
Through the first 8 games on the 2012 season Ben put up the following numbers… 67.4% completions, 2,203 yards, 16 Touchdowns, and 4 Interceptions. If you google “2012 Ben Roethlisberger MVP” you’ll see several articles written about Big Ben being a legitimate NFL MVP candidate.
Then, in week 9 Ben was injured in a game against the Chiefs and missed the following 3 games. After that Ben never looked the same.
In the last 4 games Ben had the following numbers 56.9% completions, 978 yards, 9 Touchdowns, and 4 Interceptions.
That means the per game average before injury was 275 yards, 2 Touchdowns, and 0.5 interceptions. Following the injury it was 244 yards, 2.25 Touchdowns, and 1 interception.
2013 Season
The 2013 season started really the same way that the previous season ended. The Steelers offense was significantly weakened out of the gate with Le’Veon Bell and more importantly Heath Miller missing the first 3 games. The Steelers wouldn’t have their offense at full force until week 5 following the bye.
Ben’s numbers weeks 1-4? 62.9% completions, 1231 yards, 5 Touchdowns, 5 Interceptions. Weeks 5-17 it was 65.2% completions, 3030 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 9 Interceptions.
The per game averages again… First 4 games 307 yards, 1.25 Touchdowns, 1.25 Interceptions. The rest was 252 yards, 2.08 Touchdowns, 0.75 Interceptions.
2014 Pre-Season
The Steelers have shown problems with depth so far this pre-season. However, as Dale Lolley of the Observer-Reporter pointed out, the first team offense has looked solid under Ben Roethlisberger.
Lolley wrote “With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the field, the Steelers have gained 210 yards and scored 17 points in four preseason possessions, the equivalent of about one half of football.”
There’s been plenty to like thus far. Sunday night against the Bills the Steelers rolled out the no-huddle in full force without any communication issues you’d expect in pre-season.
There’s been consistency in the run game from starter Le’Veon Bell. There’s also been big plays including Antonio Brown’s 76 yard catch-and-run. Rookie spark plug Dri Archer has also had 2 big gains on screens in 2 games.
Todd Haley certainly has his issues, but it hasn’t all been terrible. When the offense is at full strength Todd Haley’s moved the ball down the field.
I think that the biggest failure by Todd Haley to this point has been putting the ball in the end-zone when they get down the field. The Steelers ranked 16th in the NFL last year in scoring touchdowns once in the red zone (52% of the time).
The Steelers would have won 5 of their 8 losses in 2013 if they had converted just 1 field goal in the game into a Touchdown. Just a small improvement in redzone offense could make the Steelers a dangerous playoff team.
Martavis Bryant could eventually be a guy that could help in that department with his 6’4″ frame. He’s had limited playing time, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Bryant so far.
Bryant has done a good job at drawing flags as a deep threat, but I’ve heard about some nice end-zone catches in camp. I’d like to see some more plays drawn up for him in games.
Bruiser LaGarette Blount is sure to help in that department as well, although I think the Steelers tend to struggle in the 10 to 20 yard range more than the goal line where Le’Veon Bell was pretty solid last season.
A healthy Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth could help in that area as well. Antonio Brown had a record breaking season, but he’s not a huge red-zone threat, so Ben was lacking options with Heath out.
In conclusion, I’m not saying the Todd Haley offense is perfect by any means (neither was Bruce Arians’ system).
However, Haley has had some success moving the ball and has kept the most important player on the team clean.
With some young, talented skill players and Haley’s system fully implemented now, I expect to see a dangerous offense in 2014 and hope that Big Ben gets some of the national recognition he deserves.
1 comment
Todd Haley is here to stay, and we need to think (and hope) that the trials of the first two seasons under his regime are behind us. That he’s seen how this team works and what the personnel can do. When you have a QB like Ben, who can run the no huddle, then use it.