Jul 23, 2021 5 min read

The Steelers opened their 2021 training camp at the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex with about six weeks before they play a game for real Sept. 12 in Buffalo.

Between now and then, they’ll continue to zero in on the differences in verbiage and scheme the change from Randy Fichtner to Matt Canada has brought.

At 39, Ben Roethlisberger is learning a “new” offense for the first time since he arrived in Pittsburgh in 2004. Back then, the coaching staff built a small package for the rookie quarterback and worked up from there when he was forced into the lineup after injuries to starter Tommy Maddox and primary backup Charlie Batch.

“We had Tommy Maddox to start. We also had Charlie Batch to back up, so he could be our third quarterback,” then-head coach Bill Cowher said last week. “As it unfolds, Charlie Batch gets hurt in the third preseason game and won’t be ready until the fourth game of the season. That’s fine. We’ll have a little package for Ben until Charlie gets back. Tommy goes down in Week 2. Now, ahead of (Philip) Rivers, ahead of Eli (Manning), the guy I thought was supposed to sit a while was now starting.”

This time around, everyone’s learning the new offense installed by Canada.

Roethlisberger has gone through coordinator changes in the past, moving from Ken Whisenhunt to Bruce Arians to Todd Haley and finally Fichtner. But they all kept the same verbiage.

“My daughter makes flash cards for me. We’ve done that,” Roethlisberger said. “There have been some quizzes at home. It’s become a mental offseason as much as a physical. You talk about the percentage of new things, the run game formations, everything. It’s a high percentage of new. It’s a challenge.

“It’s a little tougher, but I’m going into it full speed ahead to be the best I can be.”

There are still some similarities. After all, Canada didn’t come in to reinvent football.

For example, Thursday, the Steelers ran a staple of their offense in previous years – a screen – to one of the wide receivers. The play broke free for a long gain – though there was no tackling – down the sideline.

It looked familiar, but …

“The interesting thing about it was that the play looked familiar, but not one thing was called the same,” Roethlisberger said. “The blocking was different. Plays may look the same, but they’re going to be called differently. Hopefully, we’ll see those results a lot.”

Perhaps Roethlisberger is sandbagging just a bit. Head coach Mike Tomlin said the offense isn’t massively different. And thus far things have looked pretty smooth. Nobody has run into anyone else over the course of the install. There haven’t been mishandles of the football or passes that are thrown to no one in particular.

“It’s not all new verbiage, new concepts. It’s not. It’s really not,” Tomlin said. “Matt’s done a really good, thoughtful job of easing the transition. Sure, there are some new things, and sure, there are some new words, but it’s really not a blank slate. Ben’s been on the job long enough where I don’t want to make that seem like something significant. It’s an adjustment, but by the time we’re able to play I doubt it’s going to be of any significance.”

But they’re all still learning.

“I’m looking at the wrist bands quite a bit. We all are,” Roethlisberger said. “All of the quarterbacks are trying to pick up on it. New isn’t always bad, it’s just new.”

For a team that really hasn’t seen much change offensively other than the agenda – going from Arians’ downfield passing attack to the more controlled style preferred by Haley – it does give the Steelers a chance to catch some opponents early in the season a little flat footed, as long as everyone is on the same page.

n Deion Sanders threw a tantrum and walked out of the SWAC media day last week because a reporter there had the audacity to call him by his first name instead of – gasp – coach.

“You don’t call Nick Saban, Nick. Don’t call me Deion,” Sanders reportedly told the reporter before walking out.

Actually, reporters do call Saban, “Nick.” And since none of them actually play football for him, that’s proper.

The only people who should call Sanders, “Coach” are those who either work or play for him. Reporters do neither.

In fact, I can think of another name Sanders deserves to be called. And it doesn’t rhyme with coach. It’s close to egg roll.

n Rookie third-round draft pick Kendrick Green opened training camp as the Steelers’ starter at center.

Given his competition at the position, there’s a good chance he remains there.

Starting a rookie center is not a major concern for Tomlin.

“We don’t have the bar set really high,” Tomlin said. “We were last in the league in rushing, so we’ve got nowhere to go but up from certain aspects of that. It’s not something that we fear, no.”

We’ll see. But the expectation inside the locker room is higher for the completely remade offensive line than it seems to be nationally or even among many fans.

“We’ve got capable guys. There’s an expectation here that those guys are going to deliver, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “I’m not going to be surprised when they do. As a matter of fact, we expect them to.”

Dale Lolley covers the Steelers for DKPittsburghSports.com and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.