This is part three in our on-going series where we grade the 2014 Pittsburgh Steelers. Part Two was General Manager Kevin Colbert.
Today I’m turning my attention to Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley.
Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley. The Steelers Offense finally hit the strides that were expected under Todd Haley’s guidance in 2014. They finished the season second in the NFL in total offense trailing only New Orleans.
The passing offense finished second as well and the running attack finished 16th powered on the legs of Le’Veon Bell.
When Haley came to the Steelers, this was the offense I hoped we’d see rather than the one he ran in Kansas City. While the numbers put up by Bell, Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown cannot be argued for a second, I still think there is some drastic room for improvement.
One area is the red zone where the team ranked 19th in the league in scoring touchdowns inside the 20-yard line. We saw this problem rear its’ ugly head in the final weeks of the regular season and then in the playoff loss to Baltimore.
The Steelers were settling more and more for field goals because of poor play-calling and/or poor execution and you cannot kick field goals in the red zone and expect to beat playoff teams.
Haley also struggles with his personnel which plagued the offense all season long resulting in several unnecessary timeouts being called. I also find Haley to be the classic example of a guy who is constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.
Why he so often moves away from what works I’ll never know. Sometimes you just keep doing what works. Don’t get fancy, don’t get tricky, just do what works.
I’ll never understand why Haley chooses to keep Roethlisberger in the pocket so often especially when the two-time Super Bowl Champ does so well when he’s on the move. The playoff loss to Baltimore was a perfect example of Haley doing nothing to slow down the rush of the Ravens.
As I said, it’s hard to argue with the numbers put up by the Haley offense in 2014 but things like time of possession and yards between the 20’s really don’t mean anything unless you are consistently scoring touchdowns.
This offense will be a year wiser and more confident in 2015 and I believe with added depth at both running back and tight end, it can be even better. Haley must resign himself to the fact that this team is better by spreading the defense out and attacking. My gut feeling is he knows this but also knows that it isn’t always what the powers that be want to see.
Final Grade: B
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
3 comments
I agree with the grade and comments. Using Bell and Ben wiser should be a priority. I think during the playoff game the play calling was predicable i even called it a day before the game. Ben’s strength is not the short passing game he’s best at the intermediate passing game 15-25 yards throwing slants, double moves and bootlegs. What i am thankful for is that we don’t run the delayed run over center quite as much and the numbers are down on the bubble screens. But as you said there is room for improvement.
Oh come on people did you honestly think Haley was going to stick to the game plan he had the last time they played the Ravens at home? I know I didn’t. The reason for keeping him in the pocket is to prevent the big hits he has taken over the years to a minimum. The Red-Zone yeah that was a problem but I stated before when they tried to run as many people wanted them to the D expected it and stuffed it and when they expected pass it was well defended or it was that Ben had little time to look for a opening. My answers for fixing this problem are simple: 1.Miller 2.Bell those are the most simplistic answers for there red-zone problems. We can sit here and debate this issue till were blue in the face but ultimately it comes down to 3 people on the Offense: Tomlin, Haley and Ben. Those are the 3 guys who have final say on the playcalling for the Offense.
[…] Today is Part Four in our series where we “grade the 2014 Steelers.” Part Three was Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley. […]