Kovacevic: Camp Kumbaya, worst rainout ever, trusting J.R. on Phil ☕️ taken at Rooney Complex (DK'S GRIND)

Ryan Switzer makes a catch Tuesday at minicamp. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

The Steelers haven't achieved a thing. As Mike Tomlin wonderfully worded it Tuesday at the Rooney Complex upon the opening of minicamp, "We're all undefeated, untied, un-scored-upon this time of year. It's the journey that'll define us."

I hear people deride Tomlin as 'Coach Cliché,' but he's actually the antithesis of clichéd. That up there is an original thought, originally expressed. The man even found a way to sneak the Cleveland tie into the sentiment, for anyone paying close attention.

The sentiment was also correct, of course. To an extent.

Nothing matters until kickoff at Foxborough. That's indisputable. No incredible catches or injury rehabs. No rookie with two picks in a day. No hype for new veteran arrivals. Nothing Chris Boswell boots or bungles. Not even Ben Roethlisberger defiantly stating "We're still the Pittsburgh Steelers," when Hunter Homistek asked Tuesday how he felt about the team being defined as an underdog.

Here's what does count: The slate's clean.

Again, we're talkin' 'bout practice here. OTAs. Now minicamp, but still football in shorts. But as I wrote way back at the end of December, with the end of a season that left so many feeling so cold -- and justifiably -- about the state of this franchise, nothing was going to matter more than addressing any and all intangibles internally.

They've done so. I've talked with these guys a ton. Did so with one of them the other night, well before this camp got going. I'm sold. Completely convinced.

Those conversations can't be shared, but it hasn't exactly required confidentiality. It's visible in the all-business yet buoyant interaction in drills. It's audible in the support and guidance players are showing each other, maybe most notably in the older linebackers going out of their way to build up baby-faced Devin Bush to possibly take their jobs. And off the field, when pressed on this topic, the responses have come with a near-universal tone.

“I think things have changed pretty well around here,” David DeCastro was saying Tuesday, and he's one of those to trust. “Just coming back and seeing it and talking to people, I’m excited, I really am, to just play football.”

To just play football.

“I think everyone is on the same page, more team oriented, and that’s the first step.”

Again, it's nothing more. But it's essential.

Here's a list of all the controversial comments made through OTAs and now minicamp:

Here's a list of all the documented cases of inappropriate or unusual behavior:

Here's a list of all the players who didn't attend the voluntary OTAs, other than DeCastro, whose wife Bonnie was having the couple's second child:

Here's a list of who was missing Tuesday:

Here are all the video clips of wide receivers pouting when a pass didn't go their way:

Easiest lists I've ever typed up.

It's a good group. It always was a good group but for two bad seeds, then just the one last season. So the adjustment was never going to be about much more than the vital subtractions of Le'Veon Bell, then Antonio Brown. But it still needed to take place. And to the credit of all concerned, chiefly Tomlin, Roethlisberger, Ramon Foster and Cam Heyward, it absolutely has.

That journey doubtless will still have detours. Just not as many.

• Not to downplay Roethlisberger's riveting remark about still being the Steelers. Loved it. Might be the most authoritative statement anyone's made about the franchise in some time.

• On a similar note, his equally authoritative statement about what Donte Moncrief's shown should raise eyebrows. In the good sense. When Ben finds a receiver he trusts, that guy's going to get the ball. And not just in prescribed settings.

I asked Darryl Drake, the wide receivers coach, if Moncrief's capable of more than the straight-line routes he's mostly run through his NFL career. Because if he isn't, that's got one-trick-pony limitations written all over it. Ben needs more than that.

"He's truly versatile," Drake came right back. "Yeah, he's got some gifts. He does things other people can't do."

That was a clear reference to his 4.40 speed.

"But the way he's catching the football, the way he's getting out of a break, his run-after-catch ... those things are not normal. That's what's going to make him a special player. He's young still. He's 26. He's still learning. I told him I've got patience -- not a lot of patience -- but he can still grow. As he grows and matures, the sky's the limit for him."

• Well-worth-the-listen viewpoint from Drake on the off-field spirit of JuJu Smith-Schuster:

See those couple players in the video background lingering on the field long after practice?

One of those in white is wearing No. 19.

• There won't be a wilder statistic all summer for the Pirates than Chris Archer conceding 25 of his 40 charged runs by way of home run. Including the five last night in Atlanta.

Not to pile on, but this bears repeating: It doesn't matter what you thought about the Archer trade when it happened. It doesn't matter what I thought about it or anyone else thought about it. Because we don't have access to a fraction of the information that the Pirates' front office is responsible for having. They're the ones with that responsibility, with that burden.

John Schuerholz, architect of the Braves' great teams of a couple decades ago, once wrote that the most important talent any sports executive must evaluate is his own. I share that a lot, and it's because it so beautifully applies to so many scenarios involving these Pirates, who constantly watch players emerge elsewhere. That blame ultimately is on baseball ops. It began with Jose Bautista, and it's continued with a whole lot of Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and now the treasure they shipped out for Archer.

Few in the fan base minded when Bautista was dumped for a third-string catcher, either. Didn't matter. They weren't the ones who needed to recognize what was right under their roof.

The evaluation of Archer himself is another debate for another day, but it wouldn't have hurt to get that right, as well.

Chris Archer reacts after Brian McCann's three-run home run Tuesday night in Atlanta. - AP

• Of the five outfielders, the one to trade, from this perspective, is Corey Dickerson. He's fresh off a career peak, he's a free agent after the season, and he can't slide over to center. Theoretically, with a high-point value, he could bring a real baseball return.

Theoretically.

• The ejection of Joe Musgrove two nights ago in Atlanta isn't close to being as scandalous as the umpires' decision to rain out the game there last night. The Pirates were down by two runs through eight full innings, the rain had almost completely subsided after a delay, and that's when the plug was pulled.

That's a blatant show of disrespect from the umpires and, if it goes without consequence, from Major League Baseball itself.

Repeating here: The Pirates were down two bleeping runs. Bloop and a blast, and it's tied.

There's cause for a loud, legitimate complaint from the very top, but I wouldn't bank on it. Imagine how hard the brass would bite back if someone were taking their money.

Jim Rutherford. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

• I trust Jim Rutherford implicitly, but I don't believe everything he tells me.

And yes, both things can be possible in the professional context.

For anyone who might have missed it, here's what I wrote, verbatim, in last week's Friday Insider pertaining to Phil Kessel's future in Pittsburgh:

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If Kessel's a goner, as I’ve been writing since the beginning of May, the current quantification of that probability is at 95 percent, I’m told. And if that comes across as 5 percent less than I’ve been reporting, so be it. The current vibe from the team is that Rutherford won’t just give away an asset of this scope and he’d prefer not to have Kessel’s trade simply result in cap relief. He’d like a real, help-right-away hockey return. That said, Rutherford always puts out word like this to ensure he doesn’t look like he’s desperate to get rid of someone. Even did it with Derick Brassard.

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The Brassard precedent was a powerful one. The whole organization wanted him gone, and no one was shy in telling me precisely that. But when I reported it, then others did, then it grew additional legs, the pendulum had swung too far. Rutherford felt the perception had become that the Penguins were desperate to move Brassard and, thus, his value was being driven down. So, he began swinging in the other direction, speaking hopefully of Brassard's future in Pittsburgh and how he might fit in.

Next thing you know, Brassard was down in Sunrise, Rutherford having pulled off the heist of the winter in securing both Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad for two players, Brassard and Riley Sheahan, he positively knew he didn't want to keep.

The same has applied in other cases, and the same will apply for Kessel.

There was resistance from Kessel to waiving his limited no-trade clause, and the pendulum had swung too far in terms of the perception that Kessel had to be traded, and the Penguins were giving off the vibe that they were backing away. All three were noted in last week's Insider. All three still apply. So heading to Vancouver and the NHL Draft next week, with all those fellow execs on the floor, it's time for the pendulum to swing back.

When Rutherford speaks with me, no matter how candid, I always remember he's a GM first.

• If Kessel's still with the Penguins by the time Dave Molinari and I fly out of Vancouver, I'll be surprised. Not as surprised as I would've been a couple weeks ago, but nonetheless surprised.

• It was neat to see and spend a little time with Mike Sullivan and his entire coaching staff at the Steelers' complex. It's always neat anytime our three teams interact in this way, which they do a lot but especially between the Steelers and Penguins.

I asked Tomlin about this:

• I called Blues in seven before this Stanley Cup Final, and there's no reason to abandon it on the morning of Game 7. They seem to find their inner street-fight on the road, maybe better than anyone in the NHL. If Jordan Binnington doesn't blow it, they'll break the franchise curse tonight in Boston.

More on this in my now-daily Drive to the Net.

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