Earning a college degree for Ben Roethlisberger was relatively easy. Learning Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley's new playbook is a lot tougher.
"I joke and say that my final paper for Miami on Tibet was a lot easier than the Rosetta Stone we're doing now here," Roethlisberger told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
That's not a great endorsement for the Rosetta Stone. Or Haley's ability to make his concepts simple. The Steelers aren't carrying much over from the Bruce Arians era. Roethlisberger pushed for Arians to stay, and it's not hard to hear some conflicted feelings from Roethlisberger when asked about the transition.
"Right now, we're practicing the pass because it's more complicated," Roethlisberger said. "Steelers fans and coach (Mike) Tomlin and the Rooneys apparently thought B.A. was throwing the ball too much. But yesterday in coach Haley's office, we were talking about using the no-huddle and throwing the ball and how much we have to use our weapons."
The Steelers have the offseason to catch up, but Roethlisberger says the entire team is "way behind" right now. When asked what is different, he responded:
"Everything. The similarities would be on a shorter list. Off the top of my head, from what I've seen so far, there's a 90 percent change. ... We're all asking each other what's going on. Coach Haley is not only coaching the players he's coaching the coaches."
Roethlisberger is making it clear that Haley still has plenty of coaching to do.
