Steelers Likely to Showcase No-huddle Offense Today

Steelers likely to showcase no-huddle offense today
By Alan Robinson
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/...#axzz3CSal2mjG

So one of the biggest questions as the Steelers open their season Sunday is whether there's a lot of muddle about the no-huddle.
It's been evident since the start of off-season workouts that the no-huddle is going to be an emphasis this season – after all, teams usually don't devote many of their May workouts to something they don't plan to use in September and beyond.
But while the Steelers used the no-huddle extensively in the second preseason game against the Bills, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing two touchdown passes in the first quarter, they abandoned it after one series in Philadelphia on Aug. 21. That means there's been no in-game honing of the no-huddle for 2 ½ weeks.
It's likely the Steelers will use the no-huddle quite a bit against the Browns' No. 9-ranked defense of last season, if only to limit substituting and to increase the tempo. But, as running back Le'Veon Bell pointed out this week, the no-huddle isn't always a very-fast, push-the-pace, high-speed offense. Sometimes an offense can be just as disruptive in the no-huddle by taking its time – not huddling, but getting up to the line of scrimmage, shifting and putting the running back, tight end or wide receiver in motion.
Last year, the Steelers used the no-huddle about 23 percent of the time – one of the highest percentages in the league. And while Dan Fouts of CBS Sports predicted this week that they could use the no-huddle about 50 percent of the time last season, only one team – the Philadelphia Eagles – used the no-huddle that extensively last season.
According to multiple websites that track such data, the Eagles ran the no-huddle – a key component of coach Chip Kelly's run-a-lot-of-plays offense – about 70 percent of the time in 2013. Only one other team, the Denver Broncos, was even close to 50 percent (they were at 49 percent). The Steelers were in the top six in the league at 23 percent.
So look for the no-huddle. Just don't look for it in every quarter of every game.
The Steelers, trying for their first season-opening win since 2010, deactivated the following players on a sunny September Sunday for the Browns: quarterback Landry Jones, wide receivers Martavis Bryant (shoulder) and Lance Moore (groin), cornerback Brice McCain (groin), rookie offensive lineman Wesley Johnson and defensive lineman Daniel McCullers, and guard Chris Hubbard. That means the Steelers have only seven offensive linemen in uniform.
The Browns, trying for their first season-opening win since 2004 and their first in Pittsburgh since 2003, deactivated the following players: defensive backs Pierre Desir and Robert Nelson, running back Glenn Winston, linebacker Eric Martin, offensive lineman Paul McQuistan and defensive linemen Desmond Bryant and John Hughes.