LATROBE, Pa. -- Act like you've been there, remember?
The mid-afternoon sun was mercilessly baking the hillside atop the Saint Vincent College campus by the time nearly all of the Steelers reported for training camp Thursday. Most had rolled up to the housing quarters in the requisite sweet rides, Joe Haden doing so in an actual Rolls while sporting an even-richer-looking authentic Sidney Crosby sweater. James Conner and Bud Dupree swooped onto the scene on scooters. Big Dan McCullers parked a monster truck that still somehow seemed right-sized. Maurkice Pouncey and the O-line made multiple trips up and down the stairs to carry multiple layers of bedding supplies.
That was it, really. As theatrics go, within the context of recent history -- read: helicopter landings -- this was a colossal bore.
Only Eli Rogers, of all people, entered with any fanfare, popping from his shotgun seat on a semi and sporting a fireman's suit with, um, a barbell:
MATT SUNDAY / DKPS(I'm convinced the Eli affair was a conspiracy, by the way, and will explain shortly.)
Once the media availability period was done and I was headed back to my own -- infinitely more modest -- vehicle, Mark Barron passed by. He'd been out in the same lot, just back from a brief shopping run to Target and Dick's, looking a little like the hired help in a plain, white T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops, and toting a couple of dime-store bags. And, as he'd done once earlier in the day, upon spotting the dozens of cameras and microphones lingering near the dorm entrance, he deftly sidestepped down a different hill.
See, while most of these Steelers were watching the 2018 NFL playoffs on their mega-flatscreens, Barron was the Rams' starting inside linebacker in Super Bowl LIII.
The man's been there, as Chuck Noll once famously admonished, and he was acting like it.
I loved it.
Not that Barron's antisocial or anything. I found him to be both accommodating and richly insightful through OTAs and minicamp. But the scene still struck a chord in the sense that something mattered to someone more than speaking up. More than being seen. More than stirring up nonsense that isn't remotely related to football.
These guys, staying in the same spirit they'd demonstrated all summer, focused on football. And, because people like me hadn't been handed any low-hanging fruit for questions about social media spats and all that -- seriously, not a meaningful peep for months now -- we also didn't have anything to ask beyond football.
So, Cam Heyward, how big will takeaways be this season?
Hey, Ryan Switzer, think you can cling to the slot receiver job?
And so it went.
Those who did get questions about moving past all the Antonio Brown/Le'Veon Bell messes handled them with the expected aplomb.
"It's everybody being on the same page," Ramon Foster, a leader of this group in more ways than one, piped up as professionally as he always does. "I hope when you guys come up here and watch in the preseason, you'll see everyone practicing and playing as a team. It's the defense playing the way they should and the offense moving up and down the field the way we should. It's team ball, special teams included. That's what this camp should be about. Guys realize, it's not one or two guys or a group of guys that win a championship. It's a full team. That's what we need to accomplish moving forward."
Team minus two ... and counting upward.
• The Eli thing ... wow, sorry, there's just no way a guy that far out on the roster bubble is pulling that stunt without something else in play. And I'm semi-sure there was, because Rogers' arrival came in the final few minutes of the media availability period, when everyone was awaiting whatever JuJu Smith-Schuster might do.
Well, call it a coincidence, but just as Rogers bounced down from the big cab -- with several reporters, including ours, expressing surprise it was him -- I noticed a handful of team employees whispering and pointing toward another section of the hillside. That's where JuJu quietly walked toward a side entrance virtually unnoticed.
If that's orchestrated, that's pretty funny. If it wasn't, Rogers might go down as having made the wildest camp arrival in franchise history ... for a cut.
• Mike Tomlin's always gotten two-year extensions. The one Thursday was a one-year extension.
Anything to that?
“Nothing,” Tomlin replied to that question later in the day. "I really don’t think a lot about it, to be quite honest with you. I’ll focus on the task at hand and, if you do that, contractual things take care of themselves.”
This will be the subject of endless speculation, especially after the Steelers lose a game. It probably shouldn't be. Tomlin's 47. For one, this will be his 12th season as an NFL head coach, and there can't be many higher profile, higher-pressure jobs in our society. For another, he already was under contract for two more years at $7 million per, so it's not as if he'd held lame-duck status.
• Anyone debating the merits of this extension, consider this: The man's never had a losing season. And he won't have one this coming season, either. And that'll make him among the most accomplished coaches in league history over the first dozen years in that job.
Next, consider this: Who's better?
I count exactly one, and that guy's not available.
• Really, I'm always open-minded about Tomlin's strengths and shortcomings, but these are undeniable: One Super Bowl, three AFC championship games, six AFC North titles ... Average finish within the division is 1.7, tied for third-best in NFL history for any head coach with a minimum 10 seasons ... .654 winning percentage, 10th-best in NFL history for any head coach with a minimum 10 seasons ... Never had a losing season ... Only once was eliminated from the playoffs prior to Week 17, that happening in 2012.
He isn't perfect, but all of the above is true. Clip and save.
• There was no wavering on this, by the way, according to Art Rooney II. He told Steelers Nation Radio after the contract was signed, "That was one of our offseason goals, I'm glad we got it done, and I'm happy we have Coach for at least three more seasons. It was a good piece of the puzzle to get done before we get into camp here."
And on why Tomlin was deserving, "Mike's track record speaks for itself. He's one of the best coaches in the league. I'm happy he's on our side of the field."
Not much there in the way of threats, veiled or otherwise.
Yes, please. What he does can't be taught, and this team isn't in a position to hope at starting corner. Not this year. Not next year.
If not, and the Penguins are still seeking speed and skill on Sid's right wing:
MATT SUNDAY / DKPS• The worst thing that can happen to an NFL player in the run test is the Casey Hampton thing. Second-worst is a hamstring injury, if only because those are seen within all sports as being preventable.
T.J. Watt was placed on the PUP list after the run test Thursday. No one anywhere would question his dedication, and no one should.
If this had been the other outside linebacker, Bud Dupree, all hell would've come raining down on him.
Just saying.
• Bud told me he's getting 15 sacks. I mean that. So did he, apparently.
• There won't be any holdouts from camp, either, with Mike Hilton trusting the team and the process enough to sign his one-year exclusive-rights tender worth $645,000, ensuring he can participate in practices here. He's hoping for a better term than that, but he also accepts -- and he's been open with me about this all summer -- that he's got to be markedly better than he was in the second half of 2018.
"That's Coach's call," Hilton said, referring to Tomlin. "All I can do is go out there and do my best."
That means tackling, above all. Tomlin and Keith Butler can live with Hilton being undersized, but he made this roster by flying to the ball and finishing plays. If he can do that, no matter how much Tomlin and Butler pump up Cam Sutton -- in whom I still have scant confidence -- Hilton will be their choice.
• The darling of camp, beyond a doubt, will be Benny Snell. He's got that Pittsburgh style where he'll bowl people over rather than run around them, he's all kinds of talented aside from that and, maybe most important, no one gets more touches in camp and the preseason than the No. 3 back. Because the starters have to be preserved. Perfect storm for Benny-mania.
Just remember how far we all got with Baron Batch-mania, and the perspective will stay healthy.
• To share ...
Love, love, love this place. Always have. #DKPS #Steelers pic.twitter.com/lOXgecct6t
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) July 25, 2019
• There's being all-business, and then there's being James Conner. For all he achieved last season to break through as an impact back -- literally when one weighs all the broken tackles -- this was his assessment of that Thursday: "
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers reporting day, Latrobe, Pa., July 25, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS