Steelers players reaction to Todd Haley’s playbook shows how weak Arians playbook was

[phillyesq]

Good read on the way the offense has operated early in camp:

http://pit.scout.com/2/1206898.html

I don't think the Steelers will be a ground and pound team this year, but I think you will see a balanced offense. I think right now Haley is working on instilling a new mindset for the offense.

[steelfin]

Good read on the way the offense has operated early in camp:

http://pit.scout.com/2/1206898.html

I don't think the Steelers will be a ground and pound team this year, but I think you will see a balanced offense. I think right now Haley is working on instilling a new mindset for the offense.

Crash's dream come true...

I want the offensive to have a physical presence and the ability to run, but our best skill players are the QB and receivers....

Time will tell...

[Djfan]

Crash's dream come true...

I want the offensive to have a physical presence and the ability to run, but our best skill players are the QB and receivers....

Time will tell...

No issue with that, but a legit running game will REALLY open up this strength.

[Slapstick]

I don't know why people argue about it...

This says it all, right here:

The Pittsburgh Steelers have run the ball 44 percent of the time or less only four times in franchise history
:
* After they did it in 1991, they fired Chuck Noll.

* After they did it in 2003, they changed offensive coordinators.
* After they did it in 2009, they publically demanded an improved running game.

* And after the same coordinator did it again last year, he was fired.

1991 - 7-9
2003 - 6-10
2009 - 9-7 (no playoffs)
2011 - 12-4 (Yay!...but, one-and-done in the playoffs)

[RuthlessBurgher]

Todd Haley bringing some old school back to Steelers O
Posted by Darin Gantt on August 1, 2012, 8:09 AM EDT

Todd Haley grew up working as a water boy at Steelers training camp, looking up to stars such as Joe Greene.

But as different as they are, they share a philosophy on how to improve the Steelers offense, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

This offseason, the legendary defensive lineman revealed the unhappiness with the way former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians treated the run game.

“You have to practice it, that’s the thing,” Greene said. “There is always a weakness in a defense for the run, but you have to be able to look for it. You don’t just call the run because you get tired of throwing it or because someone wants you to.”

So when Haley came in to put his stamp on the offense, it’s no accident someone who grew up on the Steelers of the 70s (his father was a personnel man who helped build those teams) had a similar blueprint.

“If you can run it when they know you’re going to run it — successfully — and you can throw it when they know you’re going to throw it, you have a chance to be real good, and that’s what we’re working on.”

Haley’s brought the fullback back into the offense, and put a bigger emphasis on the run game in practice.

“I’m staying away from last year because I had my own set of encyclopedias going on somewhere else,” said Haley, who had his own problems in Kansas City. “But I think that’s the name of the game on offense is being able to get the yards you need on the ground when the defense knows your running, wherever that falls in the game, if it’s critical short-yardage, if it’s a four-minute situation.”

The Steelers aren’t necessarily going to reverse the ratio and suddenly go back to running 60 percent of the time. But if they can bring a sense of balance (after 539 pass attempts against just 434 runs last year), there’s an opportunity to open more things up for Ben Roethlisberger and a group of receivers that may or may not include Mike Wallace.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...to-steelers-o/

[hawaiiansteel]

Antonio Brown praises Todd Haley's coaching style and personality

August 2, 2012
By Dan Gigler / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



While there has been much concern over how new offensive coordinator Todd Haley's schemes would be handled by the Steelers and whether or not Haley and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would get along, wide receiver Antonio Brown is effusive in his praise for Haley's style.

"It's definitely a big difference," Brown said Wednesday.

"Todd's really a cool guy -- shaking guy's hands, communicating with guys, putting in that extra time for guys, visiting with guys. Bruce [Arians] wasn't really that type of guy -- he just went about his business.

"Todd is more team-oriented and more communicative with players and trying to work together with all the men, so he's getting to know everyone," Brown said

"That's something special to be a part of."

That flies in the face of the image of Haley's supposedly thorny personality and his clashes with star players and management while he was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

"Not at all," Brown said. "He's a great guy. Definitely not what people made him out to be."

"You can't go off of what you hear about a person until you really get to meet him, and, since I met this guy, he's been first class. ... [Haley] asks me what I'm seeing on the field and [makes suggestions] -- 'look at this route, you can do this better.' When you have men like that who are willing to ... be on the same page as players it makes it better for you, and you're more willing to want to play hard for them."

"That's what we're establishing in camp. Establish our identity, get on the same page, know the way he thinks, build that relationship."

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...#ixzz22WmeMpZh