Ben On Use Of No-Huddle Moving Forward: 'It's Up To Coach Todd And What The Rest Of The Staff Wants To Do'
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PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- The Steelers are coming off an extended weekend after the offense exploded for a 40-17 win over the Tennessee Titans and to hear Ben Roethlisberger say it, the no-huddle offense was a key component to their offense hitting on all cylinders.
"We used it the first drive...maybe even the second drive. But then used it end of the first half, kind of that two-minute drive...And then pretty much early in the second half to the end of the game."
Obviously the no-huddle worked well for the team as they had their best offense performance of the season, so will we see it again?
"We'll kind of see what the plan tomorrow is whether that's Coach Haley calling all the plays, us doing some no-huddle, sprinkling it in here or there, it really is kind of up to Coach Todd and what the rest of the staff wants to do."
Aside from the first drive of the first half, the first and second quarter didn't see much of that high-flying offense that they showcased on the game opening drive. Ben shared with us what he said to the offense at halftime and why he felt it necessary to stand up and rally the team.
"I got up in front of everybody, I said, 'Guys, give me your ears' and I said 'this is unacceptable. The defense over there,' and I pointed to them, 'they're playing their butts off. They're doing their part and ours. They're doing more than they need to be doing and we need to pick it up. We started fast, but we haven't done anything since and somebody has got to make a play, starting with me.' Just kind of challenged everybody, including myself."
The other big story of the week for the Steelers has become right tackle Marcus Gilbert's four game suspension for violating the league's performance enhancer policy and Ben told us how the team took the news.
"Ya, it stinks," Ben said about this happening. "You hate to lose a guy like that for four games...When you're missing a guy like that, it hurts us in terms of some of the extra stuff that we do, [Chris] Hubbard is kind of our extra tight end, so our depth is hurt and some of the offensive stuff that we like to do is hurt as well."
Ben revealed that he had known there was a chance this suspension was coming for "maybe a week or so, maybe two weeks."
Gilbert won't be appealing the suspension and Ben said in the NFL, you can typically only postpone suspensions, but rarely are they overturned, and Ben speculates that Gilbert just took his suspension so he could get it over with and be back in time for the playoffs.
Finally, Ben was asked if the team will welcome back and he answered that question with one word, "Absolutely."
Click the audio link at the top of the post to hear more from Ben as he also talked about how he handles his health to ensure he doesn't accidentally take something that would be against league policy and if he thinks the NFL has a performance enhancing drug policy.
The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show is heard exclusively every Tuesday at 11 am during the Steelers season on The Cook and Poni Show on Sportsradio 93-7 The Fan.