Gone is Roethlisberger’s best receiving option in Mike Wallace. No longer does he have that deep threat to just heave the ball up to.

Without this crutch, Roethlisberger must go “all-in” with Haley’s offense. 

Pittsburgh’s offense is now littered with small, quick receivers who are going to fit perfectly into the quick rhythm passing attack that was implemented last season.

But not all was well with this type of play.

Roethlisberger caused a bit of a stir when he spoke out about the offensive scheme in the middle of the 2012 season (via Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

“Haley’s offense is not a big-play offense,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s kind of a dink-and-dunk offense.”

Not exactly the big blowout that some were expecting between Roethlisberger and Haley, but enough to get you thinking, is Haley taking Roethlisberger out of his comfort zone?

It was a valid question.

Roethlisberger was never a rhythm passer. He doesn’t like to take a three-step drop and get rid of the ball. That was not the style of play that made him one of the great quarterbacks in the game.

Instead, it was his improvisational skills: the ability to scramble around the pocket, avoid going down on first contact and making a play downfield. No quarterback is better at extending plays.

But the now-31-year old quarterback is not the same athlete he was five years ago.

Roethlisberger isn’t as fast as he used to be. His body cannot recover from the types of hits he takes on a weekly basis. While he is not fragile, he does get hurt a lot.

Injuries have gotten the best of Roethlisberger and the Steelers. It could be argued that the injuries he’s suffered over the past two seasons have been the main reason for the team’s end-of-season failures.

There cannot be a repeat this season if the Steelers are going to compete for a playoff spot. They need Roethlisberger healthy and on the field for the entire season. That means he has to take full ownership of what Haley is trying to accomplish on offense.

The first thing Roethlisberger will have to do is adjust to the new offensive line.

Expect Marcus Gilbert to take over for Max Starks at left tackle and to experience some growing pains. Not exactly what you want from the man protecting the quarterback’s blind side, but it is a reality.

So is the fact that the likely starter at right tackle—Mike Adams—struggles in pass protection.

Roethlisberger is going to face a ton of pressure from the edge, and he is going to have to fully embrace the short passing game.

The receiving trio of Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and Markus Wheaton will certainly help him in this area. They are all dangerous options on short routes as well as over the middle of the field and have the speed to break a short completion into a long gain.

But timing will be the key for the offense to be successful. Training camp will be important for Roethlisberger and his receivers to establish their rhythm. 

This was not a luxury that Roethlisberger had last season when he was without his top receiver for camp as he held out for a new contract. That should not be an issue this year.

Neither should any perceived—or potential—disagreements that Roethlisberger has with the offensive philosophy.

Though he may not have liked the dink-and-dunk approach, it was showing signs of success prior to Roethlisberger’s injury last season. However, it still needed some tweaks.

Apparently those changes have been made and Roethlisberger is feeling much better about his comfort level with the offensive heading into 2013 (via Steelers.com).

Yeah, a little bit. There’s a little more comfort. There has been some changes this offseason in some of the offensive philosophies, playbook and some things that I think are good. It’s some compromise from all different position coaches, running back coaches, line, and quarterback coaches. I think we’ve taken a little bit of everything and made it a lot better. You can ask anybody on offense that, including coaches, and they’ll tell you that we all like the way the offense is and where it’s going.

That sounds like a happy quarterback. It also sounds like a quarterback who realized the offense still needs to get better in many areas.

More short throws and fewer hits on Roethlisberger was nice, but the lack of points on the scoreboard wasn’t.

There is still a place for defense in the NFL, but it is an offensive league now, and to succeed, teams have to put points on the board. That is one problem that has plagued the Steelers in recent years.

But with his comments, Roethlisberger sounds pleased with the direction in which the offense will be moving.

While we are months away from seeing what they have in store for us, you have to believe that Roethlisberger, Haley and the rest of the offensive coaching staff took the best of what Roethlisberger does and combined it with the best of Haley’s offense.

More importantly, it sounds like an offense that Roethlisberger is ready to take ownership of.

In a quarterback-driven league, great play from your signal-caller is the difference between a Super Bowl contender and a team sitting at home for the playoffs.

Roethlisberger must take command of the offense to remind everyone why he is recognized as one of the best in the game. More importantly, it will get his team back to competing for championships.

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The team started strong only to fade down the home stretch amid a tough closing schedule—a pattern that’s become all too familiar over the past few seasons. The potential seemed to be there for another run at a Super Bowl, but injuries, sloppy play and a downright abysmal defense prevented even a playoff berth. 

But a new day has dawned in the NFL as training camp is just a couple months away, so let’s put last year in the rearview and turn our attention towards the upcoming year. The Giants will look to climb back to the top of the NFC East, a division with a lot of unknown variables—from the Chip Kelly experiment in Philadelphia to the health of RGIII and Tony Romo—with which to contend.

Despite plenty of talent and an intriguing draft conducted by Jerry Reese and company, Big Blue also have some questions to answer in the months leading up to kickoff in September. 

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General manager Kevin Colbert promised changes in the Steel City this offseason, and he certainly delivered. Mike Wallace was left to walk in free agency (inking a massive contract with the Miami Dolphins), and oft-injured linebacker James Harrison will be facing his former team at least twice this year in the black and orange of Cincinnati.    

Longtime nose tackle Casey Hampton remains without a contract—due in part to Pittsburgh’s lack of cap room and in part because of injury issues. And while Rashard Mendenhall had a few very productive seasons in Pittsburgh, his injury problems and poor attitude necessitated a change as well. He signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals to play for former Steelers offensive coordinator and new Arizona head coach Bruce Arians.

But this offseason wasn’t all about cleaning house and starting fresh.  

The Steelers still have a solid core in place for the 2013 season, including linebackers Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley, wide receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown and two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger—to name just a handful.

Colbert also made his mark as he so often does with a strong 2013 draft class that features multiple starting-caliber players, including first-round linebacker Jarvis Jones and second-round running back Le’Veon Bell. Pittsburgh isn’t known for rushing its rookies into starting roles, but both players could be in line to see substantial playing time this season.

The 2013 season holds a lot of question marks for the six-time Super Bowl winners, though.

Todd Haley took the reins of the offense last season with underwhelming results. While injuries to Roethlisberger and general sloppy play from the likes of Mendenhall and Wallace didn’t help matters, it was obvious the Steelers’ offense would need more time to adjust to Haley’s system.

But with a year of experience under their belt, the Steelers will be in much better position to take another run at the Super Bowl champion Ravens in the AFC North. Provided Roethlisberger can stay healthy—and Bell stabilizes a running game that finished 26th in the league last season—there’s no reason Pittsburgh can’t be a dominant force in the AFC again this season.

Dick LeBeau is one of the best defensive coordinators in the history of the league, and he continues to churn out top-three units year in and year out. This season should be no different, but a few fresh faces will have to step up.

2009 third-round cornerback Keenan Lewis had a tremendous 2012 campaign after earning the starting role to begin the season. However, much like with Wallace and Hampton, salary cap restrictions forced the Steelers to allow their best corner to walk in free agency. He signed a five-year, $26 million contract with the New Orleans Saints in March.

Lewis’ departure proves LeBeau has faith in 2011 fourth-rounder Cortez Allen and third-rounder Curtis Brown to fill his shoes, but Colbert also orchestrated the return of former Steelers corner William Gay to aid in those efforts. Allen is a favorite to get the nod across from Ike Taylor, but Brown and Gay should still play a sizeable role this season, especially in nickel and dime packages.

Pittsburgh may not have experienced its usual success last season, but Mike Tomlin will have his squad prepared to turn things around in 2013. Here, we’ll take a closer look at some of these storylines and break down several key position battles to watch this offseason.

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“I want to do anything we can to help this team get better,” Allen said, via Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Times.

“So, we’ll see how that process goes.”

Woodson also finds the prospect of coming back to the team he spent the majority of his NFL career with, ‘intriguing.’ Woodson would give the Raiders a veteran player to match up with strong safety Tyvon Branch on the last line of defense.

“It would be a really big thing to go back to Oakland being that I played there really most of my career,” Woodson said.

“I spent most of my career in Oakland and I still have a lot of friends there,” Woodson said. “I still know people in the organization. It would be a homecoming of sorts if it were to View full post on Yardbarker: NFL

McCarthy also tweeted that Houston will host Super Bowl LI in 2017.

Santa Clara was in direct competition with Miami, which has already hosted the Super Bowl on 10 occasions. The league decided on the Bay Area, though, as the 49ers’ new stadium was obviously deemed to be worthy of hosting the biggest event in football.  

After losing the Super Bowl L vote to Santa Clara, Miami contested Houston for the Super Bowl LI bid. Miami once again came out on the losing end, however, as Houston’s Reliant Stadium will host the Super Bowl for a second time.

The 49ers, who have played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco since 1971, will officially move into their new Santa Clara digs in 2014, according to Mike Rosenberg of the San Jose Mercury News. The state-of-the-art facilities will cost a total of $1.2 billion, so there is no question that the stadium should look immaculate when it hosts Super Bowl L.

Super Bowl L could provide Santa Clara with a huge economic boost if trends from the last three Super Bowls continue. According to Rick Jervis of USA Today, New Orleans expected an estimated $432 million from Super Bowl XLVII and the parties and events surrounding it. Indianapolis made more than $300 million for Super Bowl XLVI, and Dallas made about $600 million for Super Bowl XLV, according to the USA Today article.

While Santa Clara was an attractive option for the NFL regardless of other factors, Miami’s failure to solidify its bid may have locked things up for the Bay Area.

According to Chris Roberts and Damian Trujillo of NBC Bay Area, Miami hurt its chances by struggling to come up with a resolution with regards to Sun Life Stadium. Armando Salguero reported the same in pointing out that the Dolphins lost out on both because of the stadium issue.  

The NFL informed the city of Miami that Sun Life Stadium needed improvements, but lawmakers couldn’t agree on a $350 million renovation project. That had to hinder Miami against both Santa Clara and Houston.

Renovations obviously aren’t an issue for Santa Clara, as Levi’s Stadium will be just two years old when it holds Super Bowl L. It’s somewhat ironic that stadium issues may have sunk Miami’s 2016 bid, as that is likely what has held back San Francisco over the past 28 years.

Earlier in the day, Rosenberg posted a picture on Twitter of the podium at which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would ultimately make the historic announcement:

The victory comes at a great time for both Santa Clara and the 49ers, as they could be on the verge of another golden age in the franchise’s history. They have reached the NFC championship game two years in a row and fell just short of winning the Super Bowl last season against the Baltimore Ravens.

While the 49ers were unable to capture six Lombardi Trophy in team history last season, owner Jed York views landing Super Bowl L as a consolation prize of sorts, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

San Francisco has a talented roster with a great blend of youngsters and veterans, and the team should be a contender for the foreseeable future. The 49ers played in and won the last Bay Area Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see something similar happen in 2016.

Now that the Bay Area is once again a player when it comes to Super Bowl bidding, the NFL appears to have more options than ever moving forward. Even cold-weather cities are in the running now, as Super Bowl XLVIII will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., to close the upcoming season.  

Earning the right to host the Super Bowl is always a huge accomplishment and a major coup, but it seems extra special for the Bay Area as its residents have been waiting a very long time for the Super Bowl to make its return.

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Sports bettors will find that the Patriots are 6.5-point favorites in the pro football odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), while the total sits at 53 in the market.

Let’s take a closer look at this AFC East matchup from a betting perspective, while offering up a prediction on the total along the way.

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