Kovacevic: Having dodged a handful of bullets ... the hard work's ahead taken on the South Side (DK's 10 Takes)

ABIGAIL DEAN / STEELERS

Zach Gentry runs through a drill in which Alfredo Roberts, the tight ends coach, tries to swat the ball away with a boxing glove Wednesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

Even T.J. Watt was here.

Sure, the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year had his torn left pec heavily bandaged, exposed under a cutoff yellow practice jersey, but he had to love what he was witnessing on this sunsplashed Wednesday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, where every other member of the Steelers who'd been hurt in Cincinnati -- Najee Harris, Mason Cole, Levi Wallace and Robert Spillane -- was participating in the walkthrough at hand.

"Nice. Really nice," Kevin Dotson would tell me later at his locker stall. "Shows you the commitment our guys have."

Shows a whole lotta luck, too.

The official injury report, released shortly before 4 p.m., showed Harris, Cole and Wallace as limited participants, Spillane as a full participant:

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STEELERS

Imagine. After all that.

Taking them one at a time: Harris told me he felt "fine" after confirmed he'd practiced, though he downplayed, "It was just a walkthrough." Cole also told me he was "fine." Wallace told me he was "good to go." And Spillane, whose left eye was deeply reddened to one side, told me he'd have no issue, adding that he'd grafted a visor onto his helmet.

And heck, Watt's mere presence had to be uplifting after it'd been reasonably feared that he'd be lost for the season. His MRI Monday resulted in three opinions, two of those delivered Tuesday, that he wouldn't need surgery. Though no one associated with the team's put forth a timetable yet, a non-surgical recovery for his injury is presumed to be in the range of six weeks. And if he were to miss seven games, he'd gain an additional half-month through the by week in returning Nov. 13 against the Saints at Acrisure Stadium.

Once more: Count the blessings.

• High marks to Mike Tomlin for eschewing pads. It couldn't have been clearer, especially for the defensive guys fresh off their 100 snaps Sunday, that it was a welcome move.

Being 'a players' coach' often comes with a negative connotation. It shouldn't. Every winning team I've covered in this city had one of those.

Malik Reed confirmed that he ran with the first-team defense in practice as the left outside linebacker replacing Watt.

“I believe in who I am and what I can do, and I believe it'll be more than enough," he'd say afterward. "T.J. is a great player, and he does great things. I’m going to be the best version of Malik I can be and run with that.”

If that doesn't sound like it'll be more than enough, and if his total of 13 sacks over the past two seasons in Denver doesn't sound good enough, then it's fair to weigh, I'd say, that the position doesn't plunge to a zero value without T.J. If he's a 100 -- and he might be a 101 -- then if the guy taking his place is ... 75 or so, that's not the apocalypse. Provided everyone else performs as they did Cincinnati.

And that absolutely includes the offense.

• Beginning with the running game.

Tough as I've been on Mitch Trubisky, it can't be omitted that the running game was putrid. Nor can it be omitted that the offensive line isn't the only explanation for that.

Note the wording there, please: The offensive line wasn't great. But, as I'd confirm on this day, the Steelers' own film studies showed that there were holes that just weren't getting hit, whether by Najee or by Jaylen Warren. And that's got to happen.

I asked Najee what it'll take:

"   "

"We're improving every game," he replied. "We've still got to improve on stuff, obviously. Just as a whole. As an offense."

He couldn't be more right. There's a reflex anymore among the fan base, I sense, to lay it all on the line. But again, that flat-out wasn't the case in Cincinnati. There's got to be better blocking. There's got to be more throwing downfield to back the opponents out of the box. And yeah, there's got to be better running.

• Quality feedback today from Trubisky on timing his passes, as covered by our Corey Crisan.

• By the way, Najee rejected that the foot issue was a recurrence or aggravation of the Lisfranc injury that slowed him through training camp: "It’s good. Football happened. Stuff happens. I’m good. It’s part of the sport. It’s a little injury. I got hurt plenty of times. It’s good."

It didn't come across as all that convincing, but hey.

Minkah Fitzpatrick was named the AFC's Defensive Player of the Week in what had to rate among the easiest selections in the award's history.

Or ... not?

Never, ever take Pro Football Focus seriously:

In fact, it's high time someone stacked up some competition for what they do. Because they're the worst at it and the only ones of prominence doing it, which makes for a bad mix.

• Want to know who had Minkah's brilliant performance graded properly?

Try Ja'Marr Chase:

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EMILEE CHINN / GETTY

The Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase gives Minkah Fitzpatrick the double-bird after a catch Sunday in Cincinnati.

That pic, snapped by Getty's Emilee Chinn but never put on the wire, instead wound up on her Instagram account today and, as one might expect, went viral.

Came in conversation in Cincinnati, too:

Hey, at least Chase knows his football.

• Tomlin: "How you doin'?"

Me: "Well, I'm not urinating down my leg."

Tomlin: "Good. Don't do that."

I definitely have the world's best job.

• Thanks for reading my football coverage.

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