Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II held his season-ending talk with the Pittsburgh media on Wednesday and several of the things that he talked about have now been passed along on Twitter by both Ed Bouchette and Bob Labriola.
The first bit of news that we received was the confirmation from Rooney that Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley is indeed interviewing for the open head-coaching position of the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday. Rooney also told the members of the media that were present that he endorses keeping Haley in 2013 and that he thought Haley did good job for the first nine games before quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered the injuries to his shoulder and rib in the game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Rooney also reportedly told the media that he thought head coach Mike Tomlin did a good job in 2012, and while the 8-8 season was indeed frustrating, he still has a high level of confidence in his coach.
As far as injuries went in 2012, Rooney said that they will evaluate their training methods to see if they need to change anything moving forward. He did admit to the possibility of them coming in cycles as a reason.
The Steelers president would go on to point out the obvious things such as lack of a pass rush and turnovers on defense, along with turning the ball over on offense, as areas that need to be improved upon next season. Rooney said that teams with a negative turnover differential usually do not make the playoffs. The Steelers of course had a -10 turnover differential in 2012 and recorded just 37 sacks.
Reports also state that Rooney declined to say whether or not more coaching changes will take place this offseason. The team already needs to fill their open offensive line coach position now that Sean Kugler has left to become the head coach at UTEP. You would also have to think that special teams coach Amos Jones could be on the hot seat as well, but Rooney did not name any names in the early reporting.
As far as the salary cap situation goes, Rooney noted that the team is more than $10 million over the salary cap as it stands now and that more tough decisions ahead. He called the process a jigsaw puzzle. None of this is a surprise, however.
We will update this post with more information as it becomes available from the media.
