OC drama: 'Todd knows us. We know Todd'

Ramon Foster doesn't need to watch "Hard Knocks" to gain a greater understanding of the Cleveland Browns or Todd Haley. He lived it, man.

For the past six seasons he played under Haley, the former Steelers offensive coordinator and now the new OC in Cleveland.

Foster’s seen the volatility, heard the profanity-laced tirades and, yes, he's also experienced a lot of winning.

But it's not every day that a highly-successful OC -- by almost any standard -- is canned after his unit ranked among the NFL's top three in three of the last four seasons and averaged 389.25 yards per game. The Steelers qualified for postseason play in Haley's final four seasons and even put up a 42-spot on Jacksonville in his last game. But, ultimately, the Steelers never reached their goal of a seventh Super Bowl victory.

And now here we are.

Sunday, Foster and Co. will face Haley with his new team for the first time when the Browns host the Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Steelers know what to expect from one of the game's better offensive minds and he probably knows a little something about what to expect from them.

"Everything is all fine and dandy until you get punched in the mouth," Foster, paraphrasing Mike Tyson, said to DKPittsburghSports.com on Wednesday. "Everyone has a plan until that plan doesn't work. Todd knows us. We know Todd. That works both ways. Nobody's stressing over it."

Mike Tomlin, for one, isn't overthinking it.

"You can play that ‘he knows, that I know, that he knows, that I know’ games," the head coach was saying. "Hopefully, he plays that all week. I am just going to get ready to play a football game."

However, the cloak-and-dagger games played Monday through Saturday are as much a part of football as the actual Sunday games.

While Tomlin was lamenting the number of camera angles and mics in stadiums, which can pick up his team's every move and almost any sound uttered on the field, everything is shrouded in secrecy at the Rooney Complex, including the practice field which now has a giant curtain that blocks the view from an adjacent office building.

This week, some adjustments will have to be made given Haley's intimate knowledge of the Steelers’ playbook. It's commonplace for players or coaches to divulge information on their former team, even if they're not quite state secrets.

Joe Haden was in a similar situation last season when he came over from Cleveland two weeks before last year's season opener against the Browns. He was more than happy to dish, he says.

"We were playing against them, it's all hands on deck," the veteran cornerback told me. "It's whatever I could do to help. But at the same time they have so much, do so much study and have so much tape, it's more of you telling them 'Yeah, they like to do stuff like that.'"

Better than almost anyone, Haley knows every Steelers' tendencies, strengths and deficiencies. And new OC Randy Fichtner's offense isn't all that different from the one Haley implemented the previous six seasons. The personnel is largely the same.

Hand signals, used extensively in road games to combat crowd noise when running no-huddle, Ben Roethlisberger's preferred method of offense, all have changed.

"We'll have to find a way to disguise things," Roethlisberger said. "Change some calls and just see how this chess match is going to unfold."

How much Haley's knowledge of the Steelers actually helps the Browns remains to be seen. As Foster said, it works both ways.

Besides, Haley has had his hands full with his new team, as seen on HBO:

The 51-year-old, who was pushed out the door due in large part to his rocky relationship with Roethlisberger, is going from one of the NFL's premiere offenses with perhaps the best trio at the skill positions (at least when the starting running back reports), to an offense that ranked 24th last season.

"They are getting a passionate coordinator, a guy that is passionate about his craft and his skill and getting guys ready to play, so I'm sure he will enjoy that," a contrite Roethlisberger said.

In addition to a new coordinator, the Browns have a new quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, who is keeping the seat warm for first overall pick Baker Mayfield. They have a new No. 1 receiver in Jarvis Landry and a new running back in Carlos Hyde.

While it's doubtful that Haley will put up the point totals he did in Pittsburgh, the Browns averaged a league-low 14.6 points per game last season, Haden expects the Browns' offense to be, well, a Todd Haley offense.

"He likes to get the ball to certain guys, likes to exploit matchups," Haden was saying. "He's a smart offensive coordinator. A lot of the dudes don't do matchups. He likes to get the ball to certain players in certain situations at certain times and move guys around so they can go against people like linebackers or slots and stuff like that. Just trying to get them in situations where they have an advantage."

While some of that might seem like minor details, the difference between winning and losing in the NFL is far more minute than one might think.

On paper, the Steelers are clearly the better team and Vegas agrees, installing them as four-point road favorites this week in Cleveland. But this is also a Steelers team that was fortunate to squeak out a 21-18 win in last year's season opener against the Browns, thanks in large part to Antonio Brown's heroics.

The Steelers didn't lose that one, but Cam Heyward was part of two teams that did in his nine career games against the Browns. Despite going 1-31 over the previous two seasons, the Browns are expected to be improved and could be a playoff team in the not-too-distant future.

With an offensive coordinator who knows everything about his opponent and all of Pittsburgh driven to distraction by the continued absence of Le'Veon Bell, the stars would appear to be aligned for Haley and the Browns to pull off a Week 1 upset.

"I've always taken them seriously," Heyward said. "If you're not ready, you can lose. I was in the (2012) game where we turned over the ball eight times and we lost by six points to Cleveland. You've always got to be ready for them because they're ready to upset you if they can. They really don't care about the record, they're trying to win the game."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY