When the Steelers hired Todd Haley as their offensive coordinator last year, many people predicted that he and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would get along about as well as oil and water.
There were a few moments where things were less than placid, but the two men were able to play nice in the public eye for the most part as the team finished 22nd in the NFL in points per game. That doesn’t mean they saw things eye-to-eye, however, and Roethlisberger admits that he made some requests for changes to the offense in 2013. Others made similar requests and Roethlisberger says that it has resulted in an offense that everyone’s excited about.
“There’s been some changes this offseason in some of the offensive philosophies, playbook and some things that I think are good,” Roethlisberger said, via Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It’s some compromise from all the different position coaches, the running back coaches, the line, and quarterback coaches. I think we’ve taken a little bit of everything and made it a lot better. You can ask anybody on offense that, including coaches, and they’ll tell you that we all like the way the offense is and where it’s going.”
The departures of Mike Wallace and Rashard Mendenhall guaranteed a different look on offense in Pittsburgh before we even heard anything about larger schematic changes. Roethlisberger didn’t get specific about any of the changes, though we suspect it is safe to rule out any talk of him running the read option once the regular season rolls around. Whether or not it means less dinking and dunking, though, is a question that we’ll have to wait to have answered.