Most Pittsburgh Steelers fans don't want to hear anything positive about Todd Haley. The majority of Steelers Nation consists of people who would dump Haley at the drop of a hat, regardless of offensive statistics and production.
But you can count Ben Roethlisberger as someone who sees Haley as a coach that's making a difference, not just on the practice field and in the film room, but on Sundays when the game is on the line.
"He's in a groove right now," Roethlisberger told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Obviously, we have to execute what he calls but...I've heard other coordinators talk about it, it's like a player when you're just feeling it somehow. I don't know what it is, but you're just calling the right plays at the right time. He's doing great right now."
"Great" might be an understatement considering the offensive production the Steelers have put on film the past two weeks. Blowing out the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens is no small task, yet Haley and his offense have done just that in consecutive weeks.
Some fans are wondering what happened to the highly-touted, no-huddle offense that help resurrect the Steelers' 2013 season and limited Roethlisberger to being sacked only seven times in the final eight games. Most fans point to Haley as the main culprit for the no-huddle's disappearance.
"I think with some new guys in here and some of the rotation at receiver, getting into more huddle calls has given them a chance to focus in on what they have to do," Haley said. "We've had success with it, but we've had some success going the way we're going against the two teams we played, and there was no need to get out of what we were doing at the time."
Roethlisberger was the one who hit the nail on the head in explaining the abandonment of the no-huddle offense in the short term.
"Why change what's working right now?"
To that point, the Steelers' offense doesn't need much to change, as long as their quarterback is thriving as he has during the past two weeks. In those wins over the Colts and Ravens, the Steelers' offense has gained 1,015 yards of total offense, has gotten 12 touchdowns from Roethlisberger and has scored nearly 100 points.
The Steelers will surely go to the no-huddle again at some point, but when you have a coordinator who's calling plays about as well as his quarterback is throwing touchdowns, why change anything?