Kovacevic: If Haskins keeps making passes that others can't, he'll win big

Dwayne Haskins took charge, then took it home.

But wait, there's tons more to the tale.

There were no pads, no angry opponents, not even any fans for this Sunday session of the Steelers' training camp at Heinz Field, so the closing two-minute drill promised to be as good as it gets. Particularly with Haskins aligned with the first-team offense for the first time -- finally, right? -- and Mason Rudolph relegated to the riff-raff.

The ball was spotted at what'd be the Pittsburgh 45-yard line, the clock showed 1:48 left, one timeout was available, and the defensive package was a dime.

At which point, in order, Haskins:

• Threw incomplete to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

• Was nearly picked off over the middle by Cam Sutton, but the ball bounced off his hands, then off Arthur Maulet's hands ... and somehow into those of the intended target, Pat Freiermuth, for a 10-yard gain.

• Hit JuJu for 20 yards.

• Hit Diontae Johnson for 16 more, down to the 9.

• Hit Freiermuth for 4.

• Rolled to his right to escape pressure, spotted JuJu wide open at the goal line, threw back against his body ... but way high.

• Missed JuJu low down the seam on a slant.

• Found Chase Claypool at the back of the end zone, artfully placing the ball just high enough where only that athletic freak could reach it:

Rudolph?

Yeah, he got a touchdown, too, to Anthony Johnson with a dozen seconds left, which might or might not have counted based on whether or not he'd actually run out of time or would've been sacked or whatever. But no one cares about that, anyway.

Look, I get it. I'm with everyone who feels Haskins has been the better quarterback. He's out-performed, out-poised, out-everything-ed Rudolph in every conceivable way. And he undeniably deserves to be Ben Roethlisberger's backup in Buffalo a month from now.

I don't believe that he will be Ben's backup, but I believe he deserves it.

Beyond that, what I believe most firmly on this front is that this doesn't matter. This whole quarterback competition. Whoever wins it.

Here's what does matter: Haskins once again has a future. Maybe a fantastic one. And maybe right here.

Really, from this angle, too much of all this theater's been focused on that backup-in-Buffalo outcome. I'm not feeling that. Mike Tomlin will decide No. 2 based on nothing more than who'd be best equipped to take that team to victory that day in the event Ben goes down. And anyone who knows football coaches knows they value familiarity above all. Rudolph's been part of this longer, he's thrown a zillion more passes to these wide receivers in practices, and that might be all it takes.

What matters way, way more is that Haskins has put himself into position, first and foremost, to survive a cut no one could've guaranteed would be the case beforehand and, second, to set himself up for the real prize in this scenario.

You know, the one in 2022.

Haskins is making throws no one else in this camp can make, including Ben at 39 years old. Haskins is exhibiting a confidence no one other than Ben's matching here. Haskins is looking very much like what a 15th overall draft pick out of Ohio State should look like ... once he's gotten the needed seasoning.

Maybe he's there already. Maybe he isn't.

Maybe he's the guy who fed Claypool. Maybe he's the one who was nearly picked off.

But the goal, after all this, can't be and shouldn't be getting to hold a clipboard for Ben this fall. It should be succeeding him next fall. 

• Joe Schobert's a welcome addition, to put it mildly. 

I'd been pounding the Robert Spillane hammer for more than a year, and not in a good way. He was never going to be able to cover. Not receivers. Not tight ends. And maybe most important, not the ground that's needed from an NFL inside linebacker in 2021. The latter's what Devin Bush has always done best, nullifying quick slants, screens and the like, and Schobert's been very good at this through five professional seasons. But to have Bush trying this alone ... no.

Be sure that this was a need, not a want.

Good on Kevin Colbert for acquiring a 27-year-old player with a Pro Bowl pedigree for a song -- sixth-round draft pick, plus the Jaguars picked up $3.65 million of Schobert's $7 million salary -- and good on management as a whole for recognizing that this was important, to the extent that Schobert was tossed right in with the 1s here yesterday.

• No fans were allowed into this session, so it was that much easier to Matt Canada's voice bouncing throughout the big yellow bowl.

Not that it's ever tough.

Anyone wondering who's in charge of this offense wouldn't wonder after about five seconds of watching Canada coach. He's loud, authoritative, demonstrative, and he'll make sure his players surround him in a semi-circle for full eye contact. Yes, including you-know-who.

I'd prefer not to make a habit of burying Randy Fichtner, a super-swell guy, but this is the single most night-and-day facet visible in this camp. These past two offensive coordinators have nothing in common.

• Kevin Dotson was back with the first-team offensive line over the weekend, though Tomlin warned with his second shot at Dotson in a matter of days, "Don't anoint him just yet."

Fair enough. This head coach has his ways, something seemingly different for every player.

But it's reasonable, I'd say, to feel a little more upbeat about the group now that they're finally getting onto the field ... almost together. Yesterday here, Chuks Okorafor and Zach Banner were at the tackle spots, Dotson and Trai Turner at the guard spots, and Kendrick Green was the only expected starter still out with an excused absence. The center was J.C. Hassenauer.

Ideally, all five will line up in front of Ben this Saturday, and this will really get going.

• Want to know who isn't worried about the O-line?

Press play for the priceless answer from Okorafor when I asked his thoughts on any doubters:

Yeah, but does he care?

• My goodness, the local baseball team's getting tougher and tougher to watch, huh?

 If not for that 14-4 rout of the Brewers over the weekend, the Pirates would currently be in an 11-game losing streak and, again exempting that rout, they've scored 19 runs in the 10 actual losses. Going back to the day Adam Frazier was traded in San Francisco, they're 4-16, with the offense a non-factor throughout.

Accountability's not easily achieved in a setting like this. Payroll's low. Talent level's low. Prospects are still miles away.

But answer this: Which hitter has Rick Eckstein made better?

Frazier? Arguably.

Bryan Reynolds? Nope. He fell out of the womb hitting baseballs.

Anyone else?

Right, now answer this: Why would anyone have faith he'd fare any differently once the next generation of hitters do get here?

• Reynolds won't be the National League MVP, and there are three reasons for that, none of which have to do with his worthiness:

1. He plays for the Pirates. 

As in the last-place Pirates. And though voters have begun to get away from that stigma -- nothing in the voting criteria stipulates anything related to the team, unlike, say, the NHL's Hart Trophy -- it's still very much there. Ask a certain slugger in Anaheim about having won only three American League MVPs.

2. He plays for the Pirates.

As in the Pirates that hardly any baseball writers outside Pittsburgh acknowledge exist. When some of these writers were forced to find their way to PNC Park in 2013-15, the only names they knew were those of Andrew McCutchen and any former Yankees.

3. That other guy's back.

As in this guy:

Fernando Tatis Jr. rejoined the Padres last night in Phoenix after missing two weeks to a dislocated shoulder that'd been initially feared to be season-ending, and all he contributed were two home runs, two other hits, four RBIs and all the requisite oohs and ahhs from all who witnessed it.

By evening's end, Tatis raised his WAR -- wins above replacement player, the ultimate catch-all stat one now routinely utilized by MVP voters -- to 5.0. Reynolds is at 4.7. The Nationals' Juan Soto's at 4.6, the Giants' Brandon Crawford at 4.5.

Could Reynolds catch Tatis?

Sure, the math's plausible.

But doing that and overcoming those other two factors is asking way too much with six weeks left.

• Stick a regular-season game in a cornfield, near the original 'Field Of Dreams' site, invite teams from New York and Chicago, insert Kevin Costner for extra drama, and deliver 5.9 million TV viewers for baseball's highest-rated game in 16 years.

Also, not as many viewers as the 7.3 million the Steelers' and Cowboys' third-stringers got a week earlier for the completely meaningless, cornfield-free, Costner-free Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.

Major League Baseball's dying. The NFL is thriving. It's almost as if one of these two takes care of all of its markets and all of its fans by ensuring a level playing field. 

• This is a terribly dry time of year on the hockey front, so I'll limit that component today to a single observation: The Penguins sure will have a ton of fourth-line options in the coming camp.

My projected top three:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn

Now, I'm on thin ice with that third line, I know. Mostly because both Brock McGinn and Zach Aston-Reese are lefties, and neither would easily move to his off-wing, though McGinn's done so more often. But I'll presume that Ron Hextall didn't add McGinn -- a free agent for four years, $11 million -- for nothing, the same way they didn't keep Aston-Reese and Teddy Blueger at the expense of others for nothing. So it's safe to say they're all top-nine.

Which leaves, by my count, no fewer than seven candidates for the fourth line who spent time in the NHL last season: Evan Rodrigues, Danton Heinen, Dominik Simon, Radim Zohorna, Anthony Angello, Drew O'Connor and Sam Lafferty. Rodrigues and Heinen are the best bets, and one learns never to underestimate Mike Sullivan's -- very fair -- respect for what Simon brings. But the rest are reasonably right there in the mix, too.

And that's to say nothing of youngsters maybe breaking through, notably Samuel Poulin, Nathan Legare, Filip Hallander and/or Kasper Bjorkqvist.

Or the Evgeni Malkin impact once he returns.

My point: There's lots and lots and lots of depth up front ... enough that it remains completely incomprehensible to me that any all of the precious salary cap space that was allotted to this group couldn't have been allotted to either upgrading the goaltending or keeping Cody Ceci.

Oh, come on, it couldn't have been more obvious where I was headed with this, right?

Sorry, but entering an offseason with clear needs, as the Penguins did, and addressing everything but those needs remains nonsensical to me. At least they'll have an awesome sixth line.

• Wait, I lied, I've got one more on hockey: Here's hoping the NHL doesn't go to Beijing.

Take that from someone who's covered five Olympics, including the Winter Games in Vancouver and Sochi that produced some of the most spectacular hockey our planet's ever seen. I've advocated forever for the NHL to partake and, infinitely more important, so have the players, who beautifully prioritize representing their country. It's a tremendous thing for all concerned.

Usually.

But the Chinese have already made known that these Games, which begin in February, will make Tokyo's restrictions look like nothing. The athletes will be more cut off, from each other and the event. Attendance will be sparse or nonexistent. All the passion, all the pageantry, all the brilliant scenes such as T.J. Oshie staring down Vladimir Putin and all of Russia with his shootout barrage, will be muted.

Who wants that?

Will the players, no matter their loyalty, really want to abandon full North American arenas -- which will be the case if the rest of the NHL follows Winnipeg's excellent lead in requiring vaccinations -- and a fairly normal lifestyle over here ... for a monthlong bubble?

Ugh.

A decision's expected on this by the end of the month, jointly from the NHL and NHLPA. Here's hoping common sense prevails.