Larry Brown Sports

Ben Roethlisberger said he took complete blame for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, but he also took the opportunity to publicly question offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s decision-making. Roethlisberger said he was disappointed that the team strayed away from the no-huddle in the second half and wondered why tight end Heath Miller was not more involved after his big first half.

Apparently Big Ben later realized that calling out one of his coaches in public was unprofessional.

“I actually came in (Monday) and apologized to Todd, apologized to Mike (Tomlin), apologized to Mr. (Dan) Rooney, just because I did let my frustrations jump out after a game,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I don‘t usually do that, I usually keep it under control, (it was) just frustrations on myself. I‘ll be better at that.

“I apologized for the storm it created and caused.”

The fact that Roethlisberger has not been thrilled with Haley since the offseason is hardly a secret. However, the important thing to remember about Sunday’s loss to Dallas is that Roethlisberger threw a crucial interception in overtime that handed the Cowboys the ball in field goal range. You could argue that the Steelers could have avoided overtime with a better offensive plan in the second half, but Roethlisberger had the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game. Haley didn’t throw the interception.

As for the future, Haley and Roethlisberger need to find a way to work together if Pittsburgh hopes to make the playoffs. If the Steelers lose to the Bengals this weekend, the fans aren’t going to care if the issue was playcalling or execution.

H/T Around the League
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Many wondered how Ben Roethlisberger would adjust to the Steelers hiring a strong personality like Todd Haley to be offensive coordinator, and now we’re getting a glimpse.

Big Ben spoke to Pittsburgh reporters on Friday and seemed to express disappointment that the offense isn’t shooting for bigger plays.

“Haley’s offense is not a big-play offense,” he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It’s kind of a dink-and-dunk offense.”

Asked why the Steelers never went back to big bombs after Roethlisberger and Mike Wallace connected for an 82-yard pass last week, the quarterback replied, “There’s a guy calling the plays. That’s on him.”

Columnist Joe Starkey notes that Roethlisberger did not have any venom when he made those comments.

The relationship between Haley and Roethlisberger seems to be professional and not strained, but there appears to be a significant disagreement when it comes to philosophy. Pittsburgh is 2-3 — the first time they have a losing record through five games under Mike Tomlin — so it’s understandable why people may be frustrated. Overall, Roethlisberger’s passing numbers have been relatively strong. The Steelers are fifth in the league in passing attempts (198), seventh in passing yards (1,429), and sixth in touchdowns with 10. If they were doing worse, then there would be more reason for concern.

H/T Pro Football Talk
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

When Scott Pioli took over as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, he vowed to change the culture of the club. The team has gone 21-27 in his three years and has undergone many changes. More than half of the 155 people employed by the team since Pioli was hired are gone. Many current and former employees describe the work environment as uncomfortable, and built on secrecy and fear. That includes former head coach Todd Haley, who was fired in December.

The Kansas City Star interviewed several current and former employees who suggest that “intimidation and secrecy are among the Chiefs’ principal management styles — and that Haley wasn’t the only one with paranoid thoughts.”

Haley stopped talking on his phone, believing that his conversations were being monitored. He even though his personal cell phone, which he had prior to taking the Chiefs head coaching position, had been tampered with.

The Star described in great detail some of the franchise changes aimed at secrecy.

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After turning in an impressive 2010 campaign, most of us knew the Chiefs were somewhat of a pretender. Very few expected Kansas City to come out this season and enjoy the type of success they had a year ago. When Jamaal Charles went down with a season-ending injury, common sense would tell you the Chiefs playoff hopes went down with him. That was before they came back and ripped off three wins in a row.  Given the current winning streak, Todd Haley has decided it’s not too early for a playoff beard.  Check out this picture that Shutdown Corner passed along:

“This thing is getting gnarly,” Haley told the Kansas City Star on Sunday. “It’s really uncomfortable.”

Who really knows if it’s the bean bag toss game, the beard, or the fact that the Chiefs have played terrible opponents and rusty quarterbacks.  All that matters is they’re winning games and staying in the hunt.  However, it’s important to note that if Haley thinks his rally beard is going to rival L.B.’s Bruins Stanley Cup beard, he’s sorely mistaken.

The Kansas City Chiefs are looking like one of the worst teams in football. They already got smacked at home by the Bills in their season opener and then found out that emerging safety Eric Berry had been lost for the year. Then, early on in their beatdown against Detroit, star running back Jamaal Charles slipped on the sideline and tore his ACL. He’s also out for the year. The team has lost by a combined 89-10 in its first two games and is having a disaster season. The head coach is likely to pay the price.

Michael Silver at Yahoo! Sports says the relationship between Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley has been strained since Pioli brought in Charlie Weis as the team’s offensive coordinator against Haley’s wishes. Silver predicts that if Pioli fires Haley, he will end up hiring Josh McDaniels. McDaniels is the offensive coordinator in St. Louis but he notoriously flamed out in Denver after two years.

Adam Schefter at ESPN took things a step further, suggesting Sunday that the Chiefs could fire Haley mid-season and promote defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel to head coach. It would be a natural move for Kansas City considering Crennel’s experience as a head coach and his relationship with Pioli, for whom he worked in New England. I was also told it would be a surprise if Haley lasted until week 10.

Kansas City will likely get slaughtered by San Diego this weekend, but they have winnable games against the Vikings and Colts after that. If they can’t pull out a win then you better believe Haley will be on his way to getting canned. Strange for a guy who earned Coach of the Year last season, right?

Throwing the “best of all time” phrase around over a young player is not always a good idea. The first issue that comes to mind with it is health. In order to become on of the greatest players of all time at your position, you have to stay on the field. Calvin Johnson is only 25 years old, so it would be way too early to speculate on whether or not he can join the likes of Jerry Rice and Cris Carter when all is said and done. Not for Todd Haley.

Mlive.com passed along a piece of Haley’s conference call with the Detroit media on Wednesday, during which he praised Calvin Johnson for being an extremely dangerous weapon.

“This 81, Calvin Johnson, was one of my favorite players as a receivers coach when he was coming out,” Haley said. “I thought he had a chance to be one of the best ever, and I think he’s kind of pushing toward that. You’ve got to handle him. If you just put the blindfold on, and hope a guy like that doesn’t hurt you, you’re probably going to have problems.”

Cris Carter and Al Davis would certainly disagree with Haley’s assessment. Trending he may be, but Johnson has been in the league only four years now and had two very good seasons and two very mediocre ones.  He has yet to catch more than 80 passes and cracked the 1,000-yard mark only twice.  The difference now is he has a quarterback who looks like he can play in Matthew Stafford, so we can truly see what Megatron is capable of.  In any event, receiving a compliment from an angry man like Haley is something Calvin can take to the bank.

And the award for the shortest fuse in the NFL goes to: Todd Haley.  Seriously what is up with this guy?  The situation with Josh McDaniels last season looked like a little much at first, but it became more understandable when the talk of cheating came into play.  Then, we heard rumors that Haley and Charlie Weis used to scream at each other in the locker room before Weis left the Chiefs.  Only two preseason games into 2011, and Haley has already outdone himself.

John Harbaugh’s Ravens scored to touchdowns in the final two minutes of Friday night’s 31-13 win over Kansas City.  In the regular season, piling it on at the end of the game like that could be looked at as running up the score.  In the preseason, every second counts for players who are trying to earn a spot on the roster.  As Pro Football Talk pointed out Haley sees it a bit differently.

“I want to apologize to the Chiefs if they feel like we were not doing the right thing at the end of the game,” Harbaugh began his press conference after an awkward exchange with Haley after the game. “That wasn’t the mindset, OK? The mindset was – this is the preseason. If this had been the regular season, we would’ve been on a knee. The idea in that situation is to give those young guys who work hard and who are trying to make a football team – this football team or another football team – to play the whole 60 minutes and give them a chance to show what they can do. Offensive line, running backs, everybody.”

Isn’t that common knowledge?  Every coach in that NFL hates losing.  I think Haley just takes it a step further.  Accusing someone of running up the score in a preseason game is a huge reach.  Careers are at stake in the fourth quarter of a preseason game.  Haley will either have to keep the score closer or learn to deal with it — or take some Ativan.