On the same day that Brian Daboll was officially announced as the Chiefs offensive coordinator for the upcoming season (here's the Chiefs official press release and here's my thoughts on the hire from when Adam Schefter reported it on Friday night), another OC position was officially filled. That position was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the new hire was former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.
Todd Haley has been a busy man since he was fired from the Chiefs, having interviews with several teams including the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals. As soon as it was reported last week that Haley had interviewed with the Steelers after the retiring/firing of former OC Bruce Arians, however, a lot of people speculated that would be Haley's dream job, other than head coach. Haley's dad, Dick, was the Director of Player Personnel for the Steelers from 1971-1990, and Todd grew up around and admiring the Steel Curtain organization.
Haley is inheriting the 12th ranked offense from a year ago, as well as two-time Super Bowl Champion Ben Roethlisberger and a group of emerging stars at the wide receiver position. Decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball by the time the playoffs rolled around, the Steelers lost on the road to the Denver Broncos in Wild Card Weekend this past postseason.
Haley has three years experience being the primary playcaller for an offense: 2007-2008 with the Cardinals and then his first season as the Chiefs head coach in 2009. In Arizona, the offense was ranked 12th in the NFL in total offense (344.1 ypg) and 7th in points per game (25.2) in 2007. In 2008, they were 4th in total offense (365.8 ypg) and 3rd in points per game (26.7). That year, they also reached the Super Bowl, but lost to the Steelers.
In 2009, with an inherently bad Chiefs team, the offense was 25th in total offense at 303.2 ypg and 23rd in points per game with 18.4.
As Chiefs wide receiver, Jon Baldwin, tweeted out earlier: "Congrats to Todd Haley on the OC job in Pittsburgh!" I couldn't have said it better myself. The Steelers got themselves a good coach.
No comments:
Post a Comment