Took a little stroll around Heinz Field on this sunny Sunday afternoon, right around the time a football will be setting sail sometime soon.
No, I wasn't sneaking around for a sniff of the Steelers' training camp inside. It's a preferred path for our family, beginning and ending at the Mr. Rogers statue on the old Manchester Bridge pier, a pleasant open-air feel that's brought an escape all through this pandemic.
I won't be inside Monday, either, even though that's the first day the NFL's allowing media into camps. The procedures are as stiff as those of other professional sports, and only one person per outlet will be permitted at each practice. That'll be our beat writer, Dale Lolley, today and most days. I'll take a turn Tuesday.
Can't wait.
No drama, I swear. I really can't wait to hear Mike Tomlin's voice booming through the place and to lay unfiltered eyes on scenes like these from Sunday:
For all the gloom that's engulfed us globally the past few months, I've found a singular solace in the return of football, above all else. It's the NFL that led the way with that virtual draft, one that seems even more surreal in hindsight than at the time, given the circumstances. It's the NFL that's forged ahead, stubbornly but also smartly and safely, as seen by the protocols in place but also the agreement with players to punt on the entire preseason. It's the NFL that's never once flinched at conducting a full 16-game schedule. Heck, it's the NFL that still, still won't fully concede that fans won't be able to attend.
I've found hope in that, simple and naive as that might come across.
Now, sprinkle on top that these Steelers, in a summer of bonus sporting gloom for our city's other two teams, appear set for legit contention, and it only adds to the anticipation.
In that spirit, then, here are 20 things I think they'll need to have happen to reach Super Bowl LV, Feb. 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla.:
• Ben Roethlisberger stays healthy.
Just thought I'd kill the suspense on No. 1 and, thus, avoid any need to go numerically.
No, really, it'll be a joy seeing one of the great athletes in our city's history back in action and, to hear him tell it, in better shape than he's known in some time. No way that won't make a difference, physically and mentally.
Enjoy him while he's here, right?
• Matt Canada's allowed to create.
Sorry, but I'll die on the hill that the only non-health thing that'll hold this offense back is Randy Fichtner's outdated, inflexible playcalling ... if he's, in fact, the one doing it. I'm not sure he will, aside from holding the card on Sundays.
The Steelers needed a new quarterbacks coach like they needed more numbers to retire. It couldn't be more transparent that the principal motivation behind Canada's hiring was his history -- including his time at Pitt -- of designing intelligent, imaginative offensive schemes, with an emphasis on misdirection. You know, as opposed to lighting up neon signs atop Mount Washington as to when it'll be a run or a pass.
Canada contorted like crazy in a conference call with us last week when the subject of play design was broached, but it couldn't be clearer that he'll have input. Which is wonderful.
• James Conner stays healthy.
Captain Obvious, Part II, I realize. But it's the truth.
Don't get duped into thinking Benny Snell's close to his equal. He isn't. Conner's exasperating with all his injuries, but his 2018 Pro Bowl season still underscores that he's an impact talent when he participates. A versatile one, too, in that he can catch out of the backfield, in addition to running with ferocity and hitting the edge.
I'll take it all back the first time he limps off, but not right now. Remember, we're talking Super Bowl. He's not optional.
• Terrell Edmunds learns center field.
No, not the way Cole Tucker's learning center field down the street. But rather, the way a starting NFL safety is expected to defend the deep pass. Which Edmunds hasn't done well at all.
He was targeted only 50 times in 2019, which a supporter would suggest is a sign of strong coverage but a cynic -- count me in this category -- would suggest was a byproduct of playing behind a fierce pass rush. Worse, of those 50 targets, an outrageous 36 resulted in completions. That points to a continuing inability to make plays on the ball, a bugaboo since his arrival, and it's shown scant improvement since he was a first-round pick in 2018.
I'm not burying the kid. He's hyper-athletic, he's sharp, and he makes plays at or near the line of scrimmage. But to keep repeating, we're talking Super Bowl. And if the Steelers are going to free up Minkah to be more of a Troy Polamalu rover, Edmunds has to do his part on the back line.
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Stephon Tuitt runs through drills Sunday at Heinz Field. - STEELERS[/caption]
• Stephon Tuitt stays healthy.
The Captain Obvious train makes its final stop. But this is so much bigger than most seem to grasp.
Through the six games he did play in 2019 before yet another season-ending injury, even though the defense was benefiting from the very best versions of T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cam Heyward, it was Tuitt who graded the highest, per not one but two scouting/analytical services. That's how good he was. The way Heyward, the D-line rotation and others compensated for Tuitt's absence was commendable, but it was still felt.
The loss of Javon Hargrave to the Eagles via free agency will be felt, too, but not nearly as much if Tuitt sticks.
• James Washington sees the ball.
The rest of the receivers each represents a threat of a different scope, but Washington and spare part Deon Cain are the only two capable of stretching the field. Ben loves that, but Ben and Washington have never really had much chance to connect. That's got to change.
Washington was targeted deep 26 times all of last season, and a hilarious total of nine were deemed catchable. Of those, still, he still somehow came down with eight and amassed 335 yards off those. He was a wasted asset every way.
Imagine the options he opens up underneath if he can blow off the top.
• Diontae Johnson sees the ball ... more than anyone.
Make you a deal: If you don't shy away from the Antonio Brown parallels -- in style, if not Canton-level brilliance -- then I won't, either. And as such, he's precisely what should line up beautifully with Ben once they finally have their own chance to connect.
Not to mention ...
• Two tight ends! Simultaneously!
If there's any one visual more tantalizing this fall than Ben having his choice of Eric Ebron or Vance McDonald on the same snap, it's ... it's ... having one available to replace the other when they get hurt!
(Sorry!)
• Zach Banner takes a stranglehold on right tackle.
This isn't to knock Chuks Okorafor. He's not Mr. Twitter or Mr. Tackle Eligible like Banner, but I've always sensed the same fire, the same determination from both. Okorafor has the size, the strength, the pedigree.
But I can't wipe away that, in a pandemic year, with the Steelers having lost untold hundreds of practice snaps and now five preseason games, the player with the most real-game snaps needs to play. Fair or not, Banner was that guy late in the 2019 season, out there ahead of Okorafor, and nothing could be more illustrative of how the coaching staff feels.
Set up Okorafor to back up at both tackle positions, and fortify another area in Alejandro Villanueva lacking a backup.
• The Ravens will step back.
Taking a break from the local team, the one that ran off with the AFC North at 14-2 last season matters almost as much. Setting aside the historical challenge of the math involved in a 14-win regular season -- no one's done it back-to-back since the 2003 and 2004 Patriots, both of those resulting in Super Bowl championships -- Baltimore's early schedule is brutal and not at all conducive to hitting cruise control.
Add to that Lamar Jackson being without perennial All-Pro guard Marshal Yanda on his line for the first time, Yanda having retired after 13 seasons, and John Harbaugh's 'unstoppable' offense might be stoppable by more teams than just the Titans.
• The Browns will still stink.
I'm tired of being right about this. Almost.
But combine the Ravens' regression with the expected fate of the Browns and Bengals, and there's zero reason for the Steelers to be shooting for anything less than running the North anew. I'm not making a prediction here, but the expectation, the bar has to be there.
• Aliens abduct Patrick Mahomes.
The road through the AFC absolutely runs through Kansas City, and not just because the Chiefs won the championship. Their talent is largely young, and I just love their first-round selection of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, a dual-threat running back out of LSU who'll make that offense that much more dangerous. (Loved him for the Steelers, by the way.)
For the first time in forever, the road isn't through Foxborough, but that doesn't make it any less daunting.
• The kids play ... at least a little?
The Steelers are young enough that a joint analysis between ESPN and Football Outsiders this past week showed they've got the sixth-best talent in the NFL among players 24 or younger.
Look, I get the challenge. Asking Chase Claypool to line up within an NFL offense when he's yet to line up for a single snap in anger, that's too much. Same applies to all of the rookies. If they're lucky, Claypool and Alex Highsmith will earn prominent places on special teams and pick up the rest along the way.
And yet ... Anthony McFarland, the fourth-round running back out of Maryland, offers breakaway, big-play speed the Steelers haven't had at the position on any consistent basis since ... wow, Willie Parker?
Don't leave that standing on the sideline. Keep it simple, get him the ball.
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JuJu Smith-Schuster makes a catch Sunday at Heinz Field. - STEELERS[/caption]
• JuJu Smith-Schuster, a pending free agent, plays for the money.
Or the fame.
Or whatever it is that motivates him, which isn't to discount that it might just be being good -- no, great -- at football.
Anyone who witnessed his entry into the NFL will attest that greatness is at least on the menu. The potential's there. The size, the speed, the grace in the open field, the gift for pulling away. But then, anyone who witnessed whatever went wrong for him in 2019, while also seeing how much more seriously he seemed to take social media and other silliness ... yeah.
I'm not picking at scabs here. I'm pointing out the obvious. He needs to be a player -- and I mean player -- for the Steelers to get to the Super Bowl.
• Devin Bush has his Minkah emergence.
A special move up in the draft is made for a special player. The second year is the biggest for an NFL player to mature.
As they say, here we go.
• T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree stay healthy.
OK, so this has something of a Captain Obvious quality, except that it's not just in the sense that they're the NFL's best edge-rushing bookends. It's that much more worrisome that, if one or the other goes down, the replacement plunges down the depth chart to preseason folk heroes Ola Adeniyi and Tuzar Skipper, or right-out-of-the-classroom Highsmith.
Heck, I'm worried about the depth here even if T.J. and Bud never miss a game, since they were spelled quite a bit in 2019 to keep both fresh.
• Cam signs for the long term.
This'll be the lone non-football entry, but I'd like to think it's relevant. Heyward's meant too much to this franchise, to this community to ever spend a day in another uniform, and time remains before the season's start to get him done. Doesn't have to be a billion dollars over a decade, but enough to get him done.
• No one will ever find out how good Steve Nelson, Cam Sutton and Mike Hilton have been, and they'll just keep focusing on Minkah and Joe Haden.
Under the radar's exactly where a good defensive back prefers to be, only hiking the likelihood a quarterback will want to test him.
Between us, though, even if this defense doesn't match or exceed its NFL-leading 38 takeaways -- the unpredictable bounces of that oblong ball might have something to say about it -- the strength of this group will remain its broad swath of excellence, both frustrating and limiting opposing offenses. Not to mention, they represent vital depth should someone else go down.
• Each facet feeds off the other.
You know, wholly unlike 2019.
Listen to Nelson describing in the past week what it might be like feeding off, rather than carrying the offense: "I think it would be a tremendous change. I think we can build on that and get a lot better. The other team will feel like they will have to put the ball in the air or whatever that may be. It gets our big guys up front to rush, to get sacks and strip-sacks. On the back end, we'll be able to get interceptions. I think it'll work hand-in-hand for us."
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Mike Tomlin walks through his players Sunday at Heinz Field. - STEELERS[/caption]
• Tomlin doesn't screw it all up.
Ha!
Come on, you know that every single loss they incur will be his fault in the Nation's eyes, just as his name will scarcely be cited when they win. That's how we roll in Pittsburgh, and it's certainly that way with this particular head coach.
But for real, it's time for him to step up, too. Two straight playoff misses were preceded by the Jacksonville debacle. That's not much of a standard. Neither are three total playoff victories in nine years.
Camp ramps up urgency Monday. First of 14 padded practices. Less than a month till the Sept. 14 opener against the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J. No one's got a split-second to slow down or to worry about what might go awry in the interim. As Tomlin himself has stated of the coronavirus environment, "The circumstances are what they are, guys."
Yep. Standard's the standard 'n' at.
As I type this, the Steelers are a good football team. As they figuratively check off those boxes above, they can be so much more.
MORE AT STEELERS CAMP
• Lolley: Excitement abounds
• Tomlin walks line on hitting
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