Bruce Arians to Return on Opposing Sideline
By Matt Shetler
For former Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, it may be forgivable if he heads into Heinz Field and goes directly into the Steelers locker room.
Old habits are hard to break.
However when the Indianapolis Colts visit Heinz Field for Sunday night’s preseason game, Arians will be entering uncharted territory- the visiting locker room.
Arians was the only Steelers’ offensive coordinator in the Mike Tomlin era and during his time as coordinator; he successfully turned the Steelers from a run-first team to a pass-heavy one to better suit franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Under Arians, the Steelers ranked as one of the better offensive teams in the NFL from 2008-10, but finished only 12th in the NFL a season ago.
That led to Arians dismissal and Todd Haley being brought in to take his place, which was probably the right move for all parties involved as the Steelers needed a fresh look.
Now Arians enters as a member of the Colts and moves from one great quarterback in Roethlisberger to a potentially great one in No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck.
When asked about his new project in Luck, Arians had nothing but good things to say and pointed out what makes Luck the type of quarterback that could potentially be special.
“His poise, his excitement for the game,” Arians said. “Nothing surprises me about him anymore. I kind of expect it now.”
However, Arians knows that Luck will receive a stiff test from the Steelers defense Sunday night, which could turn out to be a great learning experience for the rookie signal caller.
You have to have a great quarterback to be successful in today’s NFL and Arians had that for five years with Roethlisberger. For his sake, if Luck turns out to be half as good then Arians will be in pretty good shape.
While in Pittsburgh, Arians was a lightning rod for criticism and finger pointing. Some of it was well deserved and some wasn’t, but that’s part of the job. However it would be foolish to think Arians didn’t play a huge role in Steelers success the past five years. He did a lot more than he’s often given credit for.
However while there may be some pleasantries between Arians and Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and other Steelers players, that all ends at 8:00 p.m. Sunday night as Arians heads into Pittsburgh wearing the opposing teams colors.
Hopefully he makes it into the right locker room.