OF OFFENSIVE GUYS GETTING OFFENDED

By STEVE KING 

It’s the first of two Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers weeks for 2018 as the teams get ready to open the regular season against each other on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

And, guess what? It’s all about the offensive coordinators. That’s right. I’m talking about coordinators, as in plural, more than one.

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In addition, both are not just offensive coordinators. They are also offended coordinators.

I know it for a fact – more than you think I do. Trust me on that one.

We all know the story of Todd Haley. The first-year Browns offensive coordinator is offended – ticked off, vey much so, mad as an old wet hen, as they say – that the Steelers fired him as offensive coordinator at the end of last season. In essence, the Steelers made him the scapegoat for their disastrous postseason, when they were stunned at home by the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC divisional round.

But somebody needs to remind the deep thinkers in Pittsburgh that the score of that game was 45-42, which means it was the defense – not the offense — that messed up. Perhaps the Steelers should have instead fired defensive coordinator Keith Butler, the former Browns linebackers coach.

Somebody had to take the fall for the Steelers failing to make it to the AFC Championship Game after a 12-4 regular season, and, for whatever reason, they chose Haley to be the guy. But that’s their business.

The winner in all this was Randy Fichtner, who was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after having served as just quarterbacks coach since 2010. Before that, beginning in 2007, he was Pittsburgh’s wide receivers coach.

Despite that, though, Randy Fichtner is hopping mad. He’s offended. I know that because his dad, Ross Fitchner, told me so.

Ross Fichtner was a safety for the Browns for eight seasons (1960-67), the last five of which as a starter, including on the 1964 NFL champions. He was part of a Browns alumni group attending a team-sponsored function at what was then known as Cleveland Browns Stadium. I was the master of ceremonies for the event, and I introduced Ross by saying, half-kiddingly and jokingly, that he was the father of Randy, “who had the audacity to take a job with the hated Steelers!”

At that moment, Ross didn’t see me. Instead, he began to see wide receiver Raymond Berry coming across the middle in the 1964 title game, and he proceeded to do what he and his defensive teammates had done that day to Berry and the other Colts pass-catchers in Cleveland’s resounding 27-0 upset win. That is, he about took my head off.

“That’s because the Browns wouldn’t hire him!!!!,” screamed Ross, who had a wild-eyed, crazed look on his beet-red face.

Clearly, I had hit a nerve.

Memo to all media members for this week: Tread lightly when asking Todd Haley about what happened at the end of last season – and I’m not talking about the 28-24 victory over the Browns in the regular-season finale.