The Haley Effect

[flippy]

Agree mostly, but also think its only fair to give a coach 3 yrs before calling them a bust, especially given the Steelers injury problems. Most people are feeling good because the last month of the season the Steelers were actually putting up some points.

Im fine continuing on the Haley path. Maybe we get better as some young players come of age. I really don't hate him. Just not sure how he's making this team better?

[ikestops85]

Count me as still not a Haley fan. The only good that's happened this season is allowing Ben to call more of the plays. Clearly Ben makes quicker reads and knows where he wants to go with the ball when he gets to call the play at the LOS. But we've seen that from Ben in the no huddle for years and most of us have wanted more for years. So I'm not giving Haley too much credit there.

Haley's personnel/play calling isn't all that impressive imho. I put more credit in the improvements on the OLine, AB, and Bell. And the health of Heath toward the second half of the season for the turnaround.

Seems like things are coming together a little so I'm ok with keeping Haley. But if we replaced him, I wouldn't b upset either.

This is where we differ. I put more credit for the improvement on Ben finally buying into Haley's system. Ben getting rid of the ball quicker and using the check-down made the o-line and Bell better. I have to give Haley's system credit for finding ways to get AB open in space so he can use his ability to get the yards after catch.

Remember the first half of last year Ben was being talked about as a possible MVP. I think the same could have been said for the 2nd half of this year. Like someone before me said, if you take those 2 halves we were 12-4. The lousy part is if you take the 2nd half of last year and 1st half of this year we were 4-12.

We need Ben to play this way for a complete season and we have a shot. At mid-season I was one of those that thought we needed to blow this team up and start to re-build. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Ben changing his philosophy would improve this team so much. Haley might not be the end all to beat all offensive coordinator but if he keeps Ben on track we just might be an offensive powerhouse.

[NorthCoast]

All the talk now is on how River's has turned his game around since mid-season. It just so happens it coincides with the emergence of SD's rushing attack. A parallel could be drawn with Roethlisberger/Bell.

[Shoe]

All the talk now is on how River's has turned his game around since mid-season. It just so happens it coincides with the emergence of SD's rushing attack. A parallel could be drawn with Roethlisberger/Bell.

I definitely see that, and if that is 1a, I think 1b is the benching of Adams (and Beachum's emergence) or vice versa. After all, if Adams continued on: Ben would be dead, we'd have Bruce Grad running the show (8 in the box).

[fezziwig]

I'm just glad Ben wasn't busted up by mid season, playing on with a boot, broken this or broken that and he played all 16 games. This would have never happened under Arians. Haley evaluated the talent or the lack of talent and schemed this offense to handle what it could handle in my opinion. I'm not saying I love everything about Haleys offense or his selection or plays all the time but, he sure has made these guys a unit and Ben is healthier.

[DBR96A]

Points scored per game (2007-2013)

2007: 24.6
2008: 21.7
2009: 23.0
2010: 23.4
2011: 20.3
2012: 21.0
2013: 23.7


This season, the Steelers scored their most points per game since 2007, and this was despite scoring only 19 points in the first two games combined. They scored 379 points in all this season, which tied them for 16th in the league, and they were only 35 points behind the 10th-ranked team. In other words, an extra TD every three games would have made the Steelers a top-10 scoring team this season. The offense is clearly heading in the right direction.

[feltdizz]

All the talk now is on how River's has turned his game around since mid-season. It just so happens it coincides with the emergence of SD's rushing attack. A parallel could be drawn with Roethlisberger/Bell.

I think it's Bell out of the backfield as a pass catcher... our running game is still struggling but it's nice to see a commitment to the run even though we aren't seeing 100 yard games.

[fezziwig]

I would have loved to see what Haley or someone other than Arians could have accomplished with a younger Ben, younger Heath Miller, younger everyone along with Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes.