Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts Sunday on the road a lot will be made about the play of their offense during the game and how the unit almost botched a two-point play opportunity in the fourth quarter.
During that two-point play fiasco, that included the offense taking a delay of game penalty immediately following a timeout, the CBS television cameras showed a very angry Todd Haley, the team’s offensive coordinator, on the sideline as he appeared to be yelling some obscenities to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. On Monday, Roethlisberger was asked about what Haley was so mad at during his interview on 93.7 The Fan.
“You know, it was crazy, yeah, obviously he was screaming,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s nothing new, him screaming at me during games. You guys don’t ever see it. I don’t know if he was actually yelling at me through the headset because I didn’t hear that, but I did look over at the sideline and he was definitely screaming. I know they’re making a big deal about it today on social media and that’s how you guys are all hearing and seeing about it.”
Roethlisberger gave a little more insight into what was happening on the sideline during that point of the game.
“I know there was some coach to coach arguing, him hollering, all kinds of things, but at the time, it’s just you move on,” Roethlisberger explained. “You can’t really get caught up in that stuff so that’s why I was focused on kind of what was going on there. It was the same sort of thing on the last drive, the big play to Martavis [Bryant]. He [Haley] was trying to call another play. He kind of wanted us to huddle and do some things and I was kind of like, no, in hollering at me and what not, it’s just like, you know what, we’ve just got to move and go and so I called that play to Martavis and he made a big play.
“And so, those things happen more than people know, I think. There’s frustration, there’s competitiveness, there’s all kinds of things that happen during a game. So, if he was hollering at me, it wasn’t coming through my headset that I remember.”
Man, I can’t wait to watch the Haley-haters respond to these comments.
For what it’s worth, Roethlisberger did say that Haley called the two-point play that resulted in a successful reception by wide receiver Martavis Bryant. Additionally, the Steelers quarterback admitted that the delay of game penalty was also probably a blessing in disguise as it gave Bryant more room to work over the middle.
It’s so shocking that an offensive coordinator yells occasionally at the team’s quarterback during a game, however. I wonder if the Steelers will be able to move on from Haley being so upset during a key moment of a game. Surely that doesn’t happen with other NFL teams.
