Steelers' offense shows new look, but Green Bay comes back to win
excerpt:
The Steelers unveiled a little more of their offense last night and, although it did not produce any points, it provided more evidence they will open things up.
The no-huddle appeared for the first time this year in the Steelers' 13-9 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Heinz Field last night. It was Mike Tomlin's first loss as an NFL coach after he won his first game last Sunday, and he was not particularly happy about it.
"Obviously, it wasn't successful tonight," Tomlin said of the no-huddle. "We could have handled it better."
Ben Roethlisberger hung around for only two series -- one more than last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints in Canton, Ohio -- and he ran the no-huddle on both of them. He completed both his passes for 14 yards. A sack and his fumble ended one series, however, and another ended when Najeh Davenport was stopped on third-and-1.
"We did a bunch of no-huddle stuff, but we didn't really get into a rhythm," said Roethlisberger, who was on the field for nine official plays and got one first down. "That's kind of tough when you're only playing two series. We weren't out there as much as we'd normally like, but we were at the point where we had to come out."
Roethlisberger played only one series in the first preseason game, and that included six plays and a touchdown.
"We didn't do bad, but we turned the ball over," receiver Hines Ward said. "A turnover -- you definitely don't want that to happen.
"We tried to do our hurry-up offense, and we could have been a little stronger. But we like where we're going."
Roethlisberger was hit by defensive end Cullen Jenkins as he cocked to throw on third-and-5 from the Green Bay 36. He fumbled, and the Packers recovered. It came on the third consecutive play in the no-huddle offense.
"We were experimenting with our hurry-up offense," Ward said. "We drove the ball, but we stalled it out with a turnover. That's something that we've got to do -- take control of the ball and make sure we don't turn it over."
The Packers, trailing, 9-0, took a 13-9 lead in the third quarter and hung on.
The second teams scored all the points with backup quarterbacks Charlie Batch of the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers of the Packers each throwing a touchdown pass. Only Roethlisberger, though, ran the no-huddle for the Steelers.