Haley: Steelers still have some weapons
NFL.
“We’ve been through this before,’’ Haley said Thursday.
The Steelers rank ninth in yards produced and ninth with an average of 25.7 points per game. Yet in their two losses, they managed only 18 points combined — 12 below their goal of points per game. They also rank tied for eighth with six interceptions.
Landry Jones, who did not pull on a uniform in his first two seasons, will make his third NFL start Sunday against the New England Patriots at Heinz Field. He has just 55 career passing attempts, but Haley said those were important.
“He’s just solid all around. He’s going to make good decisions, he’s going to throw the football where it’s supposed to go. For him — for us — to take another step forward, it’s going to be just executing at a high level.”
Jones said this week that he wants to be “cautiously aggressive” on Sunday.
“You got to pull the trigger,’’ Haley reasoned. “You got to trust your preparation, trust the guys around you, trust what you’re seeing and then just let it rip. If there’s any tentativeness, that will usually drag a quarterback down.”
Other than Antonio Brown, Jones will throw to a mostly different cast since the last time he started. Martavis Bryant, who helped him pull out a victory against Arizona last season, is sitting out a season-long suspension. Markus Wheaton is injured. Sammie Coates, who mostly did not play as a rookie, also is injured but played through it last week, albeit ineffectively. Le’Veon Bell was knocked out for the rest of last season on Nov. 1. Heath Miller retired and Jesse James is now the starting tight end. Marcus Gilbert is out with a foot/ankle injury and center-guard Chris Hubbard starts at right tackle. Cobi Hamilton came off the practice squad to catch the lone touchdown pass in Miami.
If Haley were digging in his bag for a club to use Sunday, it would be a “rescue” club because the Steelers are deep in the woods with no sight of the green.
“We got other different moving parts, potentially Cobi playing some, Sammie, all the different moving parts we’ve had. We’re going to game-plan as best we can to the strengths of our players, the same goes for the quarterback, obviously.”
With the defense also banged up and under-performing, it would behoove their offense to at least hit their goal of 30 points Sunday, and that still might not be enough with Tom Brady driving the Patriots machine. Can Landry Jones quarterback an offense to that many? He still has Bell, he still has Brown, so it’s not as if he has no playmakers.
“Ben’s not in there, we understand that,’’ Haley said. “Guys then just have to step in and execute their job exactly the way they’re supposed to do it.
“I think we got a lot of good options. I believe that’s what will give us a chance to win week in and week out. We have a number of weapons, we have versatility. Those are all positives for us.”
It would seem the game plan under Jones would look a lot different than one under Roethlisberger — run more with Bell and play keep-away from Tom Brady? Haley said there will be little change because of the switch in quarterbacks.
“No, not really, because Landry has been around such an extended period of time. On top of that he’s played a ton in the preseason, he did again this year. It makes it pretty seamless for us as far as game-planning.”
It’s the game, not the planning, they must worry about.