One of the biggest questions surrounding the Steelers this offseason -- beyond the health of Ben Roethlisberger -- is how the additions of veteran wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard and new quarterbacks coach Matt Canada might affect the offensive play calling.
The Steelers have long taken input from all of their coaches on game plans, whether they be offensive or defensive, and added or subtracted things from the playbook based on what the position coaches feel they can achieve.
As Mike Tomlin often says, he doesn't care where good ideas come from, as long as they come.
But make no mistake. What the Steelers do offensively in 2020 will be built around the talents of Roethlisberger. Randy Fichtner isn't going to have this team running the Wildcat with Roethlisberger on the field, as the Steelers did at times in 2019. And the Steelers aren't going to go to a spread, college-style offense anytime soon.
Hilliard has 12 years experience as a player and nearly a decade as a coach in the NFL under his belt. Canada has an extensive history as a play-caller at the collegiate level, where his offenses utilized a lot of pre-snap motion to keep defenses guessing. Some of what they bring to the table will be used, but it won't be wholesale changes.
"We have to do whatever we have to do to win football games. That’s kind of the most important thing," Roethlisberger said Tuesday. "It’s throwing the ball if we have to; it’s run the ball if we have to; it’s misdirection stuff. We brought Coach Canada in to help with some of that stuff. I think Coach Ike is going to help in a lot of areas. He’s been really kind of giving Coach Randy a lot of ideas and thoughts and help. I’m just excited about where this offense could go."
It can only go up after 2019.
With Roethlisberger shelved for all but six quarters because of an elbow injury that required surgery, the Steelers fell to 31st in the NFL in passing yards, 30th in total yards and 27th in points scored. They were a top-10 unit in all of those categories in 2018.
Getting Roethlisberger back will certainly help. But the Steelers over the past decade have been among the lowest in the league in using play action and pre-snap motion, which can help tell a quarterback things about a defense and perhaps create mismatches.
"I am coming in and joining what we are doing here," Canada said Tuesday. "I have always enjoyed that part of the game and we were doing that probably starting all the way back in 2009 or so. Certainly, at Wisconsin in 2012, we started having some fun with it. It has been part of what we have done in the past. But again, I am coming in here and we are more focused on learning our system and getting going with what we are doing here."
To Canada's point, the Steelers and every other NFL team will only have 14 padded practices to prepare for the 2020 season because of COVID-19 restrictions. There won't be time to reinvent the wheel.
Perhaps Hilliard put it best when he described trying to learn Mike Shanahan's offense in his first season as a coach in Washington in 2012.
"When I first got into coaching, I was fortunate to work for Mike Shanahan. He told me, as a coach, it would take about three years to learn all the details of (his) offense," Hilliard said. "Imagine being told that as a coach, and now you have to turn that over to young players."
Three years compared to 14 practices. It's a daunting task, to say the least.
Hilliard has been interacting with Roethlisberger, picking his brain on how he wants receivers to run certain routes and what he is looking for from those plays.
"There is never going to be enough time for me to spend with the quarterback and trying to pick his brain in regard to what he likes and what he wants," Hilliard said. "If nothing else, just making sure the young men are where they are supposed to be when he is ready to throw the football. I am looking forward to diving in and spending a bunch of time with the quarterback and hopefully we can all get an accelerated in where it needs to be so we can be the best offense in the league."
The Steelers have had virtual meetings throughout the offseason to assist the new coaches in getting acclimated to the players and also learn a new offense. But it's not quite the same as seeing it in a classroom or on the field every day.
But the new ideas have been flowing back and forth. Some of the misdirection and things of that nature that Canada used as an offensive coordinator at college stops such as Wisconsin, Pitt, LSU and Maryland, are easily implemented, such as sending a receiver in jet sweep motion. Others depend on having a quarterback with above average mobility.
At one point in his career, that was Roethlisberger. Now 38, he's not as mobile as he once was, so to expect him to roll out a lot or get out on the edge for stretch plays might be asking too much.
Still, the coaching staff is working on adding whatever they can to the playbook. They won't ask Roethlisberger, one of the most accomplished passers in NFL history, to be something he is not or do things of which he isn't capable.
However, if they have to turn things over to one of their young quarterbacks such as Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges again in 2020, as they did in 2019, that could be where the differences come into play.
"I think coaching Ben and his style, whatever input I have on that, I will be involved in what he does well with Randy and what Ben likes and then incorporating that back," Canada said. "And I think that is more my job, taking what we do and looking at the other quarterbacks and from this what do you do well, so when your time comes to play, again, we are focusing and majoring in what they do well in our system. I think that is probably what I am looking to bring to the room with those things as we go. Ben’s strengths are awesome. He wouldn’t be the player he has been, so we are going to continue to do what he does well."
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