May 28, 2013 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Steelers’ leader in receptions last season is standing on the sidelines, watching while he recovers from knee surgery.

The Steelers leader in receiving yardage last season is now a member of the Miami Dolphins.

So why aren’t the Steelers panicking about their offense as they head into the second week of their OTAs at the training facility on the South Side?

“We have all the pieces in place that we need,” said Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. “We’re not going to focus on what anyone is saying about what is not here and what is there.”

What is there while tight end Heath Miller is recovering from a January surgery to repair a torn ACL and PCL in his right knee and Mike Wallace is in Miami after signing with the Dolphins as a free agent is a mix of Brown and a lot of question marks.

Brown made the Pro Bowl in his second season in 2011, but missed three games last season, resulting in him catching just 66 passes for 787 yards and five scores.

Behind him are Emmanuel Sanders, a pair of 30-plus-year-olds in Jerricho Cotchery and Plaxico Burress and rookies Markus Wheaton and Justin Brown, who were selected in the third and sixth rounds of this year’s draft, respectively.

Also gone is running back Rashard Mendenhall, who could be replaced by second-round pick Le’Veon Bell.

But there’s also a fresh approach.

The Steelers spent the 2012 offseason learning a new vernacular. This offseason is more about fine tuning what they learned a year ago. Now that offensive coordinator Todd Haley has spent a season with the Steelers, learning players’ strengths and weaknesses, he’s tweaked some things.

“There’s a little more comfort,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “There have been some changes this offseason in some of the offensive philosophies, playbook and some things that I think are good. It’s some compromise from all different position coaches, running back coaches, line, quarterback coaches. I think we’ve taken a little bit of everything and made it a lot better.”

Nobody on the roster has Wallace’s sprinter’s speed, though Wheaton probably comes the closest after running in the 4.3s at the NFL Draft Combine.

Then again, the Steelers aren’t concerned with replicating Wallace’s ability.

“You don’t attempt to try and replace it,” said Sanders, who caught a career-high 44 passes for 626 yards last season. “Why would you try to replace one of the fastest guys in the NFL? Me, Antonio, Plaxico and Jerricho, the whole receiving corps, we have speed. We have guys who can make plays. We’re going to work with what we’ve got, and what we’ve got is pretty good, I think.”

The Steelers are hopeful that Miller, who was named the team’s MVP last season, will be ready to play in time for their September opener against Tennessee.

In the meantime, the receivers are spending time working with Roethlisberger to hammer out the kinks.

Haley took over for Bruce Arians last season as the Steelers offensive coordinator and implemented more of a ball-control passing attack. It was a shift from Arians’ downfield passing game that was enacted in an attempt to limit the hits on Roethlisberger.

“I think our quarterback is as good as anybody’s,” Haley told Steelers.com. “We just need to do a better job of protecting him and him of protecting himself. And we need to run the ball more efficiently, because I think we’ll be able to throw it with anybody.”

To that end, the new offensive philosophy will include more zone blocking in the running game in an effort to boost a rushing attack that averaged just 96.1 yards per game in 2012.

“I think it’s an evolution,” Haley said. “There are some changes, but it’s an evolution that I think would happen whenever you’re in a situation where you’re in Year 2 and already have a year under your belt. You naturally know your players better. It’s a natural progression/evolution.”

Wheaton still cannot attend the OTAs per NFL rules until his class graduates at Oregon State. … Also missing Tuesday were cornerback Ike Taylor and safeties Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark. … ESPN Radio has signed individual multi-year agreements with six teams, including the Steelers, for out-of-market Sunday afternoon syndication rights beginning this season, meaning some Sunday afternoon games will be broadcast nationally as well as locally. Other teams in the agreement include the Giants, Jets, Patriots and Dolphins.