Le’Veon Bell Claims Ben Roethlisberger Didn’t Like Todd Haley’s Third Down Calls

We’ve known for some time that Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley didn’t get along. Now Le’Veon Bell is offering some specifics, Adam Bittner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The running back did a radio hit with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis, and he said he thinks Haley’s departure will help the Steelers because the former offensive coordinator often wasn’t on the same page with his quarterback in critical situations.

“I feel like it was a lot of third downs Todd would maybe call something that Ben didn’t like,” Bell said. “There’s certain plays that Ben didn’t like. As a player, you’ve always got plays that you like, plays you dislike. It would be a big situation and Todd would call a play that Ben don’t necessarily like, and he tried to go out there and just execute it because the play is called.”

Bell also said he expects that dynamic to be different under Randy Fichtner, the new coordinator who established a good relationship with Roethlisberger as quarterbacks coach.

“Randy’s only kind of going to give Ben what he wants, you know, make him comfortable,” Bell said. “Because third downs, that’s the biggest thing, that was our Achilles’ heel was third downs and red zone.”