2018 will mark the first season for Randy Fichtner as the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator as he was promoted from quarterback coach during the offseason after Todd Haley didn’t have his contract renewed by the team. In case you haven’t heard by now, Fichtner, who has been with the Steelers since 2007 when Mike Tomlin was hired to be the team’s head coach, isn’t expected to change much immediately when it comes to the overall playbook and scheme. Steelers backup quarterback Landry Jones confirmed as much Wednesday afternoon when he arrived at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for the start of training camp.
“No, not yet,” Jones said when asked Wednesday if much has changed in regard to the playbook since Fichtner has taken over as the team’s offensive coordinator. “It’ll be interesting to see like how it is in training camp and in the fire you never know what someone’s going to call and how their playcalling style it going to be. So, I’m sure that’ll be a lot different than what we had in the past, too.”
Overall and as one would likely expect and hope, Jones said Wednesday that the transition from Haley to Fichtner has taken place without any issues.
“No, it’s been pretty seamless,” Jones said. “For Randy, he was already in the room with us, so it wasn’t like bringing in a whole new person that you have to get to know. We already kind of knew who Randy was and what he’s about.”
So who is Randy Fichtner and what is he really all about? That was a question the Steelers backup quarterback was asked on Wednesday and his response was quite an interesting one.
“Randy’s really detailed,” Jones said. “I think Randy wants to do things with excellence and so that’s exciting to see in that quarterback room. Someone who wants to do things the right way. He wants to have everybody on the same page and I think he’s a good communicator.”
Does that mean that Jones thinks Haley was the opposite of all those things? It’s hard to say for sure and quite honestly, it really doesn’t matter at this point. What does matter is that Fichtner taking over as the team’s offensive coordinator is welcome sight not only for starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but Jones as well.
The real test will be what happens this season on the field and especially in key situations like short yardage, fourth downs and inside the red zone.
