INDIANAPOLIS -- There are two ways to tell Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley didn't see eye to eye during one critical sequence Sunday in which the Steelers had made a massive mess of what should have been a simple two-point conversion attempt.
One way is that Roethlisberger flat-out stated as much following the 20-17 victory over the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The other is that Haley was caught on camera shouting this in the direction of his quarterback:
For anyone not versed in basic lip-reading, Haley appears -- OK, more than appears -- to be barking, "Shut the f--- up, Ben! Shut the f--- ... " after which the broadcast switched scenes.
Our site wasn't aware of this video clip until well after the game and, thus, well after locker room access. Otherwise, we'd have asked Roethlisberger about it. As it turned out, no one did. Haley isn't available to the media after games. He speaks once a week, almost always on Thursdays, but this week that will be Tuesday because the next game is Thursday night against the Titans at Heinz Field.
Let's try to tell the whole tale.
With 11:52 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday, Roethlisberger threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Vance McDonald to cut the Colts' lead to 17-15:
The obvious next move was to go for the two-point conversion for the tie, so the Steelers lined up ... and called a timeout. The alignment wasn't to the liking of Roethlisberger or Le'Veon Bell, the only two in the backfield with a clear view.
"We just couldn't get guys lined up," Roethlisberger explained. "It's kind of a new play that we put in, new formation, guys in all different kinds of places, and we just couldn't get in the proper location. We were trying to run some motions, and Martavis was on the backside not even on the ball and just ... things weren't ... and it's not on him. I'm just saying on one of the times."
That meant Martavis Bryant, who was in motion.
"We called it in the huddle, we got to line up, and it was kind of awkward," Bell recalled. "We knew the play wasn't ... you know, me and Ben were kind of on the same page, like, 'This isn't the right way to run it.'"
After the timeout, the span in which Haley's aforementioned barking occurred, they lined up again.
"We tried to call the same play," Roethlisberger said.
"Same play," Bell said.
Same nonsense, too. Roethlisberger raised his arms briefly in visible frustration, swung around and, because he couldn't take another timeout without taking a snap, he allowed the play clock to elapse for a delay of game penalty.
Asked if there was any consideration given at that point, with the Steelers now back at the 7, to abandon the two-point conversion in favor of the point-after kick, Roethlisberger replied, "The only thing I heard was Todd was saying to kick it and Coach T was, like, 'No, let the offense go.' I didn't take a timeout the second time because I was figuring the same: Let's take the penalty here and give us some more room. So we called a play and made it happen."
Meaning a different play.
"We ended up on the third time calling a different play," Bell said. "We converted, so I'm happy we did that."
It was a Roethlisberger bullet to Bryant, who'd gained just enough separation from the Colts' Pierre Desir:
"Great pass by Ben," Bryant said. "Great call."
Eventually, sure. But here's betting the reverberations of those first two won't soon fade.