Coord's Corner: Todd Haley

[Ace Gunner]

Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley

Is there anything more to this game?
No. Honestly no. Every game of the week is the biggest game of the year. This is the biggest game of the year as far as I am concerned, because it’s this week. This team needs to continue doing the things on offense and continue to get better.

Re: Some players said you were a little different in the meeting room yesterday:
I don’t recall doing anything differently. We have one goal in mind and that’s to continue to get better in all facets on offense. This will be a very good test for us.

Does being familiar with the Chiefs’ personnel help at all?
To an extent, understanding matchups and things like that. As an offensive coach, as we went through the game plan, I got a pretty good feel for most of the guys. There are some new guys there, but I would say it’s a benefit.

What are your memories from your time in Kansas City?
I’m very proud, number one, of the things myself and the players were able to accomplish. I thought we made a lot of progress. Even taking the 2010 division win out of the equation, last year was probably the year I was most proud of because in difficult circumstances, losing three really good players early in the year, and starting as poorly as we did, we battled back and won four games in a row, which is hard to do in this league. We hung in there and beat Chicago on the road playing with really our third team quarterback at that time. I’m proud of my players from that time and have a lot of really good feelings towards all of them. They’re good memories.

What has allowed RB Jamaal Charles to put up big numbers?
I haven’t really seen him on offense. I watched a little bit of the game last week on TV but haven’t seen enough really to comment. He’s a heck of a player, though. I really haven’t seen him post-injury. He’s put up some big numbers. I know he’s a heck of a player and came a long way during our time. Really, I’m focused on their defense and what we need to do offensively to make good things happen.

Re: Drafting Chiefs WR Jon Baldwin in the first round and his development:
Again, I really haven’t seen the offense this year to really comment. I had him for one year and it was tough year for him. He had an injury but battled back and worked hard and made some big plays for us last year. To get picked where he got picked, we thought he was a heck of a player.

How disruptive of a player is DE Tamba Hali?
He’s really something. He is a warrior in every sense of the word. He’s a guy that does not stop. You cannot get out-tempoed by him. He can beat you with speed, quickness and power. He’s a relentless worker in the offseason, regular season and training camp. In between every period, he’s working on his craft non-stop, and it shows. He’s one of the elite outside backers in the league in my opinion and a player that you definitely have to pay attention to and handle as best you can or he can disrupt the game in a negative way fast.

Is it true that you only ran about a half dozen different runs against the Giants?
Yeah, and we didn’t really run many more passes. That doesn’t mean it’s not different formations or things like that. I’m a big believer in less is more and you get good at what you do. I think that’s been part of the process, us figuring out our identity in both facets, run and pass. I think that as you narrow it down, you do simplify in a sense in that you’re going to see different defenses, fronts and pressures. You’ve got to practice all the different looks. We don’t waste a lot of practice time. We focus in on what we’re going to do and guys get good at doing it and you have success.

What does it say about your team that you can run the ball when the other team knows it’s coming?
I think in the last few weeks and some of the situational football earlier in the year, even though we weren’t putting up gaudy numbers, in situations in games where we needed to, we were efficient running the football. I think that’s a good sign. I think one of the things when I first got here and I talked a little bit about what I believed. When you talk about what you want to do, you want to win the game. You want to score more points than the other team. In games, what separates average, good and great offenses are the ones that can throw it when they know you’re going to throw it and run it when they know you’re going to run it and do it efficiently. When you do that, you’ll be a pretty good offense. You don’t have to worry about numbers, statistics, anything like that. You’ll know it because generally you’ll be winning situations and winning games.

Coach Tomlin said this team and the schemes they run are similar to what Romeo Crennel ran in Cleveland. Is the Chiefs defense similar to how it was last year?
I think that’s probably a complete picture look that Coach [Tomlin] is looking at because so much of the offensive staff has some Cleveland Browns basis. There are some guys that were all together in Cleveland. Defensively, it’s generally the same crew and they’re running a very similar defense they ran in Cleveland that we ran the last three years I was there. I think that’s probably true but it looks like the Chiefs defense of the last couple years.

You tried to stop last year what you are running now. Any insight along the way?
Only watch one side of the ball. [Laughs]

How much of an advantage is it to have a former head coach going against the team he recently coached?
I think it works both ways. A lot of guys over there know me pretty well, too. From our perspective I think it’s a minor advantage. Like I said earlier, it’s more than anything just understanding the guys on the other side of the ball and their strengths and weaknesses. As an offensive staff, that’s what we try to do every week. We try to figure out where our best matchups are, run and pass. Having some real insight to a lot of the players on the defensive side of the ball, there is a slight advantage for me personally. They probably feel like they have an advantage too.

Is there anything you would have done differently to avoid the way things ended for you last year?
Really, I think I’ve moved on. I’m really happy to be a part of this great organization and really what is a tight-knit family. It’s a unique environment that I think is hard to find. I know the Chiefs have moved on and I have a lot of fond memories and am proud of things that were accomplished. I think we came a long way in three years from where we started. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of fond memories of a lot of my players from that time and think a lot of them.

Will there be any extra emotion at the end of the game?
No. I’m always excited if we win. I’m always depressed if we lose. I leave that to my wife to handle both of those emotions.

Are you proud of the diversity of your offense and is it easier to be diverse with the personnel you have here?
I just think it can lead to good offensive play. The more diverse you can be and still be playing within the parameters of what I spoke about and doing the things you do well. I think when you do have real good personnel in a lot of spots, it makes it a real good situation for you as a staff and as a team.

Is your family still holding on to how things ended in Kansas City?
No. [Laughs] I’m saying on a weekly basis, win or lose, my wife has to handle my excitement or depression, one or the other.

Is there anything the receivers can do to open up the deep pass?
If Mike [Wallace] could run slower for a couple of weeks then maybe they’d forget about him. No, there’s really not. I think every play generally has a downfield shot, an intermediate and a check down of one kind or another. Ben [Roethlisberger] has a done a terrific job to this point in the season of making real good reads for the most part and getting the ball to the open guy. I think it shows and when we’re playing successful that’s what he’s doing. He just needs to continue doing it and just getting a little better every week and we’ll be feeling pretty good.

Jonathan Dwyer said yesterday that Rashard Mendenhall is the starter when all three back are healthy. Is it that cut and dry? Or does the performance of Dwyer and RB Isaac Redman make that more difficult to determine?
I’ve always been a big believer in competition is a good thing. Right now, through circumstance, through injury, guys have had to step in and see more action than they’ve seen in the past. Isaac Redman and Dwyer have gone from situational backs to being starters for us in games and they’ve taken advantage of that opportunity, which in turn has created competition. I think any time a position on a football team, running back being no different than others, competition makes people better because they start competing with each other, not wanting to be outdone. And that’s a great thing. Like I said, through circumstance I think we’ve grown at that position a lot more now that we knew eight to ten weeks ago. There were some questions but some of those question marks have been eliminated. We’ve got a few more to clear up and that means guys are developing. So, competition is always a great thing.

This link has video of the Haley interview;
http://blog.steelers.com/2012/11/08/...aley-lebeau-2/