The Steelers have a new offensive coordinator in Randy Fichtner, but Ben Roethlisberger will call most of his own plays. The team’s starting quarterback said Wednesday that the plan is for the Steelers to run more no-huddle, something Roethlisberger long has lobbied coaches for.
“For sure,” Rothlisberger said Wednesday, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “which makes me study more, meet with Randy more, doing all that stuff, even more than in the past, which is fine. I always did a lot of stuff but if they’re going to put that trust in me then I have to then reward them with the knowledge that I’m going to do the right thing, call the right plays.”
The Steelers took 71 percent of their snaps out of the shotgun last season, via Sharp Football Stats. Only four other teams ran more last season, led by Detroit at 76 percent.
With Pittsburgh intending to run more no-huddle this season, Fichtner and Roethlisberger met Wednesday to discuss what the offensive coordinator will tell his quarterback between plays.
“I told him, ‘Listen, what I’d like when I’m in there is for you to tell me, hey, Ben, you’re in the red zone, here’s your top two tendencies,’” Roethlisberger said. “Not necessarily tell me what to do but tell me here’s a tendency. Or, ‘Ben, third and long, remember their top tendency.’ Just kind of some reminders as we’re going because when you’re out in the heat of it, you’re not always remembering what their No. 1 third-down coverage is or second third-down coverage, things like that.”
Fichtner is giving Roethlisberger more leeway than did the Steelers’ previous two coordinators, Bruce Arians and Todd Haley. And why not? Fichtner has a veteran quarterback, along with some of the best offensive talent in the league.
“There were times I think you pitched [Haley] for it, and you wanted to get it, and there were times it was smarter not to,” Roethlisberger said. “Same thing with B.A. There were times it was resisted, which is understandable. Coordinators are coordinators for a reason -- they want to call the plays. So there’s no hard feelings when it comes to that.”