Ben Roethlisberger has heard good things and bad things about his new coordinator Todd Haley.
One way for Haley to make a positive first impression on his quarterback: Don’t scrap the entire offense.
“It would probably be easy for him to do,” Roethlisberger told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Haley changing the offense. “I don’t know if it would be easy for us to learn it. We’re so young on offense and the most-talented room in this whole building is probably wide receiver, no disrespect to anyone else. And they’re also really young.”
Roethlisberger is worried that starting from scratch will set back the development of young receivers Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.
“That was my biggest talking point to Mike [Tomlin] and those guys -- I would hate to just throw everything out and start over because I feel it would set us back two or three years because these guys are just starting to get it.
“I hope we don’t have to start over and, if we do, you know what, here we go. Let’s do it. We’ll do it. We’re not going to complain about it. But I would hate to have to set certain guys back who are doing so well right now,” Roethlisberger said.
It sure sounds like Haley intends to start over.
“We’re going to start with a clean slate and what gives us the best possible chance to succeed and score a lot of points,” Haley said at his introductory press conference.
Haley didn’t sound too worried about upsetting the apple cart in Pittsburgh.
“I am sure [Roethlisberger] will figure out we are trying to make him as good as he can possibly be,” Haley said.
We’re looking forward to watching the dynamics in Pittsburgh next year between Haley, Roethlisberger, and Tomlin. Hiring Haley may ultimately help the team, but it also seems likely to create some drama along the way.