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Receiver Antonio Brown carries in the first quarter against the Saints Friday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
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Steelers offense shot out of a BB Gun?

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Steelers offense shot out of a BB Gun?

The groove Ben Roethlisberger found himself operating Friday night in New Orleans was Lorin Maazel-like, only he led the Steelers and not the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Like the late, great conductor, Roethlisberger was in command, directing his offense in rhythmic beats that had Steelers fans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome crowd stomping their feet.

And then . . . and then, someone stood up and shouted “Time out!”

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“We have a play called, we’re in the no-huddle mode,’’ said Rothlisberger, describing the perfect harmony that had already carried the Steelers to a 7-0 lead over the New Orleans Saints.

But Todd Haley interrupted this performance. It was third down, 3 yards to go at the Steelers 43. The boss offered a suggestion after watching from the sideline, his offensive orchestra doing it mostly on its own.

“That’s one of those instances where Todd wanted to call the play,’’ Roethlisberger said. “We had to switch personnel, and we didn’t get the personnel on in time. So rather than try and rush the play, we might as well call the timeout, be smart, be safe. We stuck with the play and AB did the rest.”

Antonio Brown, the leading first violinist of the Steelers’ music-makers, did as Haley instructed. He ran down the left side. Roethlisberger, also following Haley’s play call, threw him the football. Brown, illegally bumped by rookie cornerback De’Vante Harris, never missed stride, caught the pass around the New Orleans 40 and beat it unimpeded to the end zone.

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It was 14-0 Steelers, there were still nearly 52 minutes left in the performance but Haley and the rest had seen enough. The understudies could take over from here.

What that brief, near perfect 2016 debut for Roethlisberger, Brown and Co. showed in this third warm-up game is what they believe they can do once the curtains go up on the season that counts Sept. 12 against the Washington Redskins.

There will be plenty of no-huddle, just as there was Friday night when Roethlisberger performed out of that or the “muddle” 14 of the 15 plays in which he worked. There might be even more of it than was seen in 2015 or 2013 and 2014, the years Haley really cut loose Roethlisberger to run the offense and call his own plays.

The no-huddle might be the norm in 2016.

“I think so,’’ Roethlisberger said. “I think our base offense is going to be up-tempo.”

With veterans most everywhere at wide receiver, running back and offensive line and with the faith in them from Haley to run it, there is no reason not to do it often, the way Peyton Manning once did for the Indianapolis Colts, only without the pre-snap theatrics.

“I think it’s just getting into the flow of the game,” Roethlisberger said of the advantages, “being able to see what the defense is giving us, changing plays, calling plays.

“When you’re up-tempo like that, you can slow a defense down. They can’t always get their calls in, they can’t always do the things they want to do. The linemen love it, and when they’re having success, then we’re all having success.”

As guard Ramon Foster put it, “You live with blocking for Ben.”

“It was good to see we actually executed it,’’ Foster said, mentioning the season debuts on offense of Roethlisberger, Brown and halfbacks Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams. “We didn’t have those guys for the first two games and this was a dress rehearsal. Ben came out and did his thing. It was exciting to see us do that with everybody out there.”

They haven’t had “everybody” since November, when Bell was lost (knee injury). He also will miss the first three games (suspension). Nevertheless, he looks ready and over his injury, and the offense that has been together for just two series looked in mid-season form. The no-huddle, known as the K-Gun when Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills perfected it, is ready to advance. The BB (Big Ben) Gun?

“We have lots of different speeds,’’ Roethlisberger said of his no-huddle. “We have two minutes, which is as fast as you can go. We have no-huddle, which is moving it pretty quick. We have a muddle which is I’m calling it to the line and turning around and calling it to the receivers.

“So we have a lot of different speeds, which we wanted to practice [Friday night]. Most of it was no-huddle, and we did do some muddle.”

Maestro, please.

Some other notables from Friday night:

• Cam Heyward (high ankle sprain) predicted he would be ready to go for the Sept. 12 opener, and coach Mike Tomlin said Marcus Gilbert (elbow) was not seriously hurt. Both are starters who left the game with the injuries.

• Two of the Steelers’ first three draft choices could start in that opener against the Redskins. Sean Davis will start if, as it did Friday, the defense opens in the nickel, where Davis plays slot cornerback. Javon Hargrave played at nose tackle when it was in its base because Daniel McCullers is hurt. Hargrave, who recorded his first sacks, played well and might be ready to officially overtake McCullers.

• Vince Williams, celebrating his new contract, led the team with eight tackles and also forced a fumble.

• It might be time for the Steelers to no longer use Lawrence Timmons to cover tight ends deep. He remains a good, quick linebacker around the line of scrimmage but covering deep passes down the middle should no longer be his assignment after he got beat several times Friday night.

Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com.

First Published: August 28, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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