The Facts:
Mike Tomlin wasn’t expected to speak Thursday as the Steelers introduced offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Perhaps sensitive to the perception in Pittsburgh that Tomlin didn’t want to hire Haley, the Steelers head coach wound up talking after all. “Needless to say, we’re extremely excited” about hiring Haley, Tomlin said. He didn’t take questions or say a lot more about the direction of the offense. “We find pleasure in being something of a mystery,” Tomlins said.
Reported by Profootballtalk.com
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
As PFT's Mike Florio noted earlier this morning, Tomlin wanted to retain former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. The Steelers and Tomlin never denied these reports. Two weeks later, the Steelers forced Arians to “retire.” Arians quickly found work with the Colts. There is a strongly held belief in Pittsburgh that the Rooney family forced Tomlin to get rid of Arians. There is also some belief the Steelers forced Tomlin to hire Todd Haley as offensive coordinator instead of an in-house candidate. Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised the question
in a column for Thursday’s paper. Florio also heard chatter at the Super Bowl that Tomlin didn’t want to hire Haley. ... So the fact that Tomlin spoke out is an indication the Steelers are aware of the perception. In the end, Florio suggests the hiring Haley could be the best thing for the Steelers, even if Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger don’t like the idea right now. “It’s going to be definitely different for us,” Roethlisberger told Cook. “The powers that be make decisions and we live with it and go with it. We’ll just have to see where we go from here.”
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