Big Ben On Being Cerebral And The No Huddle

Steelers fans everywhere know how successful Ben Roethlisberger was running the no-huddle offense during the latter part of the 2013 season. Ben spoke with Mike Prisuta of the steelers website about running the no-huddle offense, and about playing cerebral football.

On the no huddle, Ben concedes that it promotes getting the ball out faster. “I would agree with that because when I’m calling the plays, I can call it off what the defense is giving us. So it’s kind of that chess match I’ve talked about before with coordinators, where if Coach Haley calls a play, he doesn’t know what the defense is going to give us.” Roethlisberger went on to say, “The defense doesn’t know what play we’re going to call. When I’m out there, I can actually see what the defense is giving us, and I can change the play or call a play that I think is best to work against that specific defense. In that sense, yes, usually the ball will come out quicker because I’ve kind of predetermined where I’m going to go with the ball because I’ve called the play off a specific defense.”

Clearly it works, and Ben’s been wanting to run it for some time. At least as far back as 2011 when Bruce Arians was still the offensive coordinator.

Ben also says he can play cerebral football, too.

“I think so. There are still times that I make mistakes calling a play where I call the wrong play or guess wrong or they guess right and it doesn’t look so good. I’d like to think I get us in the best play possible most of the time. It’s more than just me. I’ve got to give credit to the coaches and the other quarterbacks, because so much of the no-huddle is done on the sidelines. We’re talking about so many things and the players are coming up and talking to me about plays that they like, whether it’s Heath or Jerricho, guys who are really on the interior part of it. It’s more than just me. It’s all of us and just being able to use the things that they give me on the field to make us all better.”