Sunday will mark the first time this season that the Pittsburgh Steelers will have all of their offensive weapons on the field at the same time and it couldn’t come at a better time with the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals coming to town. On Thursday, offensive coordinator Todd Haley was asked what it’s like to final have all of his pieces together for the first in 2015.
“I am just happy to have guys healthy,” said Haley. “Obviously we’ve had guys in and out but that’s life in the NFL. It’s never going to be perfect. But the more guys you have out there practicing together and working together the better it is for us as a coaching staff.”
The Steelers centerpiece of offense, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, has practiced fully on both Wednesday and Thursday and barring anything happening on Friday, he’ll be back on the field Sunday for the first time since he sprained his left MCL in the Week 3 game against the St. Louis Rams.
“He is doing a good job,” Haley said on Thursday of Roethlisberger. “It’s great to have him back. He’s obviously been chomping at the bit to get back. As Coach said, he is full-go, and that’s what we are expecting.”
While Haley certainly is glad to get his quarterback back this week, so too is wide receiver Antonio Brown and he talked a little this week about how Roethlisberger’s looked in practice so far.
“He didn’t miss a beat,” Brown said, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He’s a special quarterback, an elite guy. I was excited to see him in the huddle today. Anytime you have a guy of that caliber you know what kind of opportunity it will present. You know what it does for a team. It revitalizes, rejuvenates and gets everyone excited.”
While Roethlisberger hasn’t had Roethlisberger-like performances in his first games back from injuries so far during his career, Haley said Thursday he’s not overly concerned about the Steelers quarterback being rusty on Sunday against the Bengals.
“No concerns from what I’ve seen, said Haley. “Obviously it’s a potential issue when a guy hasn’t played a bunch, but as we said at the start of the week, we have to get on track fast. That takes everybody. That means everybody needs to make plays when they get an opportunity.”
