Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
One point that’s often brought up in debates over the improvement of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense this season is that Todd Haley is entering year two. The Steelers players and coaches themselves seem to be on a public relations campaign in this regard, echoing each others’ sentiments about how great a second offseason will be for both quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his offensive coordinator.
“It’s night and day,” Haley said during Steelers training camp, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You can’t speed up the process of getting to know people that you haven’t previously known. But through time and experience, trust is built, and you get to know, and I think that’s what’s kind of going on. I’m not speaking for anybody else, but I think everybody’s more comfortable, and that’s the way it should be.
“I know that it’s night and day for me. … That’s the key this year going forward, is the trust level needs to continue to build, coach to coach, coach to player, player to player, player to coach. That’s when you get good, when … there’s give-and-take trust, you’re going to get stuff done.”
Whether this level of familiarity will mitigate a recovering Heath Miller or departed Mike Wallace remains to be seen. Then the other concern is the offensive line (when is it not?), which features plenty of draft-day investment but no improvement as of yet to show for it.
Haley’s second year as offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals ended with a Super Bowl run on the arm of Kurt Warner. Haley’s second year as Kansas City Chiefs head coach deliver a division title on the arm of Matt Cassel, which might be more impressive. Pittsburgh would like history to repeat itself.
Thomas Emerick is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasEmerick, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
