"Don't. Just don't. Not yet."
Uh, OK. I'd barely spat out the word 'Hello,' accompanied by something something Browns, and I was given the big stop sign from Stephon Tuitt.
"Not yet," he'd continue. "I'm saving it for Sunday."
Saving what?
"Nothing worth talking about. Wouldn't mean anything. Let's do it Sunday."
So ... just Tuitt, right?
Well, at least that brought a small smile.
That's fine. We'll catch up roughly three hours after kickoff. And maybe we'll do it after No. 91 gets circled on film reviews for a sequel to that season-opening series last September in Cleveland.
This was the Browns' first snap:
This was the Browns' second snap:
And that's where the film is best cut off. Because on third down, Tuitt would tear a tendon in his triceps, one that eventually cost him a quarter of the regular season and probably about half his peak form against the Jaguars in the playoffs.
Just like that. From beast to burden.
He's the variable for me. He's the wild card, the swing vote, the purple state, however anyone would want to term it. Because for the Steelers to claim that seventh Lombardi Trophy, they're going to need someone on defense to rise to the level of a legit star. Cam Heyward breathes that air, of course, but I'm thinking higher.
Tuitt can, in fact, do it. He's still only 25 and, even with the bum wing last season, he had three sacks, 25 tackles and, getting into more advanced analytics, graded out by Pro Football Focus as the fourth-most proficient pass rusher -- pressures, hurries, etc. -- of any 3-4 end in the NFL:
Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt lived in the backfield last season! ? pic.twitter.com/0ghL6aXMd9
— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) May 16, 2018
Decent company up there for damaged goods.
And although Tuitt's been loath to discuss much of anything this summer beyond that day's preparation, it couldn't be clearer that he's shown up breathing fire for this season:
That was a sack of the Titans' Marcus Mariota a couple weeks back at Heinz Field, the Steelers' dress rehearsal. In the 12 pass-rush snaps Tuitt took, he had three pressures -- the sack, a hit and a hurry. That's not ordinary.
Heyward has told me for years he waits for the day Tuitt will burst, almost as if the defensive captain himself wouldn't mind seeing his partner pass him.
This would be a fine time for that.
• Public blowback in the football world seemed to mount yesterday against Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey and the rest of the Steelers' offensive linemen who were openly critical of Le'Veon Bell's idiotic holdout, and it also seemed to originate, curiously, with national football media.
To which I've got three responses:
1. If any of these national media members can walk into the Steelers' room without being recognized by Pouncey, Foster or any of these guys -- and they can -- they shouldn't presume to judge those players' personalities or intent. I sure wouldn't feel comfortable describing the tone of a locker room in New York or Philadelphia or Jacksonville.
2. If any of these national media members feel inclined to compare this situation within melodramatic contexts -- 'I've never seen a locker room turn on a teammate like this,' one of them tweeted -- they'd do well to demonstrate that they were, in fact, in this room, not to mention any others to which they're comparing.
3. If any of these national media members has, at any point in this discussion, referred to the Steelers and Bell as needing to work out a long-term agreement -- and a bunch of these folks have spoken or written this, including two on an NFL Network panel just yesterday -- it's time to look into another line of work. Because the official deadline to negotiate an extension passed months ago, and urging the parties to do that is roughly as idiotic as the holdout itself.
And no, there's no need to name names, if only because there have been far too many examples.
• These players are constantly in touch with each other, and a few of them have been in touch with Bell. Anyone who wants to understand what infuriated Foster, Pouncey and the rest, they'd first need to grasp that his cohorts have had real cause to expect Bell to report this week.
That's it. It's a breach of trust. Between people. Between teammates.
It's not about how much more Bell will make, which Foster emotionally brought up in the moment and probably shouldn't have. It's not about how much the line is responsible for giving Bell room to run, because he'd have blockers anywhere he'd play (except Cleveland). And it's definitely not about these guys violating some sort of locker room code or protocol, if only because this specific situation is arguably unprecedented.
They're mad at someone they thought would be with them working toward a common goal.
• Leave it to Antonio Brown to swim the other way, this late Thursday night:
We all we got, we all we need. Ready to roll whenever you get back with us, family ✊? @LeVeonBell pic.twitter.com/ukPRUdoqe4
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) September 7, 2018
(Sigh)
• Tomlin was asked yesterday if he thought some players criticizing Bell's absence could affect the team Sunday, and his response was spectacular: “I think it can. Whether it’s negative or positive is up to the team.”
He had that one ready. And it was worth it.
That's classic Tomlin, actually, playing the deck he's been handed rather than operating in denial. He knows who was ripping Bell -- almost entirely offensive linemen -- and he knows how determined they'll be to blow open holes the size of Lake Erie for James Conner as a result. And he knows he's got absolutely nothing to gain by trying to take that away.
• Yeah, I'm sick of this, too. Let's talk baseball: How to explain the 2018 Pirates' collapse?
Well, let's start with this: There wasn't one.
From the first pitch in Detroit through tonight's game at PNC Park against the Marlins, the one consistent trait of this team has been its all-over-creation inconsistency. They had the worst starting pitching, then the best. They had the worst bullpen, then the best. They hit like crazy, then nothing, then led the majors in home runs in July, then nothing.
Same applies to the standings: Hopes were falsely wound up by the 11-game winning streak July 11-24, combined with the hype of acquiring Chris Archer at the trade deadline. Since then, they've gone 16-22, and Archer has taken a while to find his footing. That's deflating. That's disappointing. But that's not a collapse.
No, they are what they've been the whole way. It just depends where you drop the dividing bar. On June 19, a purely random date, they were 36-37. Since then, they've gone 33-34. In May, they achieved a season-best nine games over .500. In July, they achieved a season-low eight games under .500.
That's mediocrity, nothing more, nothing less.
• Don't presume that the payroll dump this winter will include Francisco Cervelli. Sure, he'll be the highest-paid player on the roster at $10.5 million once Josh Harrison's club option is bought out, but that comes with value even beyond the outstanding offense he's brought because of his extraordinary work with the starting pitchers.
I keep writing this, but nothing, nothing, nothing has come with more meaning this summer for this franchise than the maturation of Jameson Taillon and Joe Musgrove, coupled with whatever superlatives anyone can summon for what's become of Trevor Williams:
Elias Diaz deserves his share of the catching credit in that regard, but the one the pitchers cite in song and verse is Cervelli.
• On that note, if we're going to bury Ray Searage over Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton, it's fair to mention all of the above. Rewinding to July 7, the Pirates' overall pitching has a 3.19 ERA, second in the majors in that span to the billion-dollar Dodgers' 3.16.
• A week away from the opening of the Penguins' training camp, the center depth chart stands at seven. When I mentioned this to Matt Cullen, he came back, "You can never have too many centers." And when I raised one eyebrow to that, he responded, "OK, seven's a lot."
It sure is. Some spoken words, including a few from my talk with Derick Brassard:
• Heading over to the Hounds' match tonight against Bethlehem. If you're inside Highmark Stadium, feel free to swing by our offices near the river's edge of the HQ building. I'd welcome a chance to say hello and thank you, always.
• Bring on the NFL. I know the league's got its issues, on and off the field, but there's still nothing that brings out the child in me like a Sunday 1 p.m. kickoff.