Not that anyone will point fingers, but maybe Foxborough left more of a foul taste with the Steelers' front office than they'd publicly accept.
Specifically, of course, related to the secondary.
Ross Cockrell?
Gone. Replaced by Joe Haden.
Robert Golden?
Not good enough as depth. Replaced by J.J. Wilcox.
And now William Gay?
Whoa.
I've loved everything I've seen about Mike Hilton, from Latrobe through the preseason, and I haven't exactly held back. All he's done is bounce all over the field and make big play after big play, sniffing out the football like a famished hound after a steak.
Not just in dropping back, either:
He's faster and far more athletic at this natal stage of his NFL career than Gay, one of the league's oldest corners at 32. That's a given. But what the Steelers gain in speed and man-cover capability, they might well sacrifice in savvy and experience. I mean, Hilton went undrafted a year ago, then was cut by the Jaguars and the Patriots. His next NFL snap will be his first.
If that alone doesn't demonstrate the mindset of Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and all concerned, I can't imagine what does.
No, they aren't building up for a single opponent. That's social-media and talk-show claptrap, and the Steelers are smart to avoid that kind of thinking until it's outright necessary. But they are, quite clearly, following through on the hardest of lessons learned from the AFC Championship Game, which is that they need to be able to cover wide receivers with something more ambitious and aggressive than a passive zone. Especially against the Patriots, but not exclusive to them.
Somebody kick the ball already. This is going to be a blast watching all this blossom.
• Anyone reading excessively into Le'Veon Bell's words, never mind his raps, might as well be wagging a finger at a toddler for spilling milk.
He's an overgrown, harmless child. And I actually offer that in the kindest way possible.
Tomlin, to his credit, picked up on this immediately upon Bell's arrival out of the draft. As he'd walk through the locker room, as this coach often does unlike his peers, he'd vocally, playfully admonish Bell for this or that. Maybe it was about being way too friendly to all the reporters around him. Maybe it was for some silly expression he might have had at the moment. But he found a way then, and he'll still do it now, to make the most of that personality.
That's how Tomlin rolls. He could fight Antonio Brown every hour of every day. Or he could embrace him, manage him and get the most of him on Sunday afternoons.
Bell's just a big kid. He occasionally says stupid stuff, like kids do.
Never to be taken too seriously.
• Whether or not media outlets are denied access to Pitt's football players and assistant coaches in advance of playing Penn State, as Pat Narduzzi has again decreed this year, makes less difference to us than you can imagine. Lance Lysowski will work just as hard to produce the same scope of content for our Pitt readers.
But consider this a rather sizable strike against new athletic director Heather Lyke, who spoke passionately this summer about improving Pitt's visibility in the local media. Between this and the decreasing access to basketball players since Kevin Stallings' arrival, she's doing nothing to back up that sentiment.
Again, personally, I couldn't care less. Even from a business standpoint, I couldn't care less.
But I do think the university's athletic department will someday become a lot healthier once it comes to grips with its real ranking among local sports fans. Because wherever they currently think it is, it sure isn't at the stage where they can pull pointless stunts like this.
• James Franklin will stand at his podium this afternoon in State College and tell reporters -- perhaps repeatedly, depending on how often it's asked -- that Penn State doesn't consider Pitt a rival. Be very sure he'll strike a very different tone with his assistant coaches, who do the bulk of his recruiting, and his players. In-state means in-state, but especially when it comes to commanding the high schools.
• It's beyond unfathomable to me that the Penguins open training camp in 10 days. It feels like yesterday ... no, earlier today ... that we were all in Nashville.
But that's OK. What's life without hockey, right?
WHAT'S BREWING
• Our new, live DK Sports Radio venture has begun! Here's the LIVE player!
• Our Steelers preview week is about to crank up, beginning tomorrow with Adam Flango's amazing piece he's been building for a couple weeks now, including a flight down to Georgia to dig deep.
• If you missed it yesterday, this was my hit on ESPN's national radio on the sorry state of the Pirates' front office:
• Location:
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