Todd Haley holds court
Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley held court this afternoon with reporters on a range of topics. Some excerpts:
Will the Steelers return to a "ground & pound" offense?
"If we can win every game running it 35, 40 times that’d be great – I think statistically if you hand the ball off 30+ times in a game, you’ve got a 90+ percentage chance of winning – but I think that’s yet to be determined. We’ll play the way we need to play to win each and every week."
Will the 2012 Steelers offense have a defined identity?
"What I am excited [about] is we’re definitely going to have some versatility – whether is from a run/pass standpoint or schematic standpoint because of the ability [we] have at different positions -- I think we will be a versatile offense ... You don’t want to do a lot [of things] just OK, you want to do some things real good. But I think again with some of the ability it looks like we will have, and if our line again continues to jell together and gets better every week, we have a chance to be a pretty versatile group that can hurt you in a number of ways."
How long would it take to get Mike Wallace up to speed with the new offense if and when he reports?"Everybody’s a little different – but I am familiar with his skill set which is pretty impressive so I would think we would just tailor to his skills early on and ease him into it. You want a guy like that involved as much as you can because he is a difference maker."
On the impressive camp of rookie running back Chris Rainey:
"I think that’s a testament to him. He’s still got a long way to go – we’re not gonna start carving the [Hall-of-Fame] bust yet for Chris Rainey – but he has done some things that get you excited as an offensive staff. We’re all kind of encouraged to see a young guy not be afraid to step up and make plays. But I think it’s a testament to him, the way that he prepares – he’s obviously studying hard because we’ve asked him to do a lot of different things ... he’s got a high level of pride and he’s conscientious about the job that he’s doing. He’s being coached real well by Coach Kirby, who’s on him pretty much all the time and doesn’t make [his] life easy, but he’s responded well to this point. But like I said – a long way to go."