DK'S GRIND FEED

Listen, I love the first fully padded day of training camp as much as the next sunscreened yinzer on the hillsides of Saint Vincent. And I'm as aware as anyone that the Steelers' offense lags well behind the defense in the very early going out here.

But hear me out on a handful of related observations I've had ...

• I'm looking less for results and more for minutiae that matter. Within that, then, I'm looking a lot more at Aaron Rodgers and a lot less at everyone else, since he's kinda pivotal to this whole process. And what I've seen so far is a strong, healthy, accurate and dynamic arm in almost every instance. There was one brutal pass against several beauties today, to be somewhat more specific, none prettier than a touchdown to DK Metcalf in the back corner of the end zone that might as well have been gift-wrapped in mid-air:

ALYSA RUBIN / STEELERS

I also saw Rodgers make one authoritative rollout to his left and, while he misfired that particular semi-deep ball, I'd take no issue with the legwork involved. He had pursuit. He made his own time.

• Metcalf arrives with a reputation, deserved or not, as being a less-than-precise route runner. And I get that. Anyone who's built like him, it'd be easy to think routes are overrated as compared to ... oh, you know, just standing there and being massive. But to date, and here again today with one exception, his routes have been razor-sharp. Doubly so on the end-zone drills where maybe the appetite multiplies a bit.

• Protections were botched from left to right, near and far. Now, I'd like to think protections can be addressed, especially when a lot of what was missed was ... unconventional. Not to be that guy but, when Joey Porter's banging bodies in your backfield -- and he had two booming TFL's, as he'd let the whole campus know -- you're seeing something nobody walked onto that field anticipating. As such, gauging a lot of these attempted plays was a challenge, to say the least, since so many never got off the ground.

• The clearest running paths were right down the middle, and this applied to both Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson. Now, Cam Heyward wasn't participating, so that's a factor. But I'm further inclined to feel that Zach Frazier remains a very factor on the plus side.

• On one run up the middle, Johnson fell forward for 5 yards, Eddie George-style. Like, he was wrapped up, and just went thud ... but forward. Loved it. Le'Veon Bell used to do a fair amount of that, as well. Been a while. It'll be most welcome on first downs.

• Calvin Austin was in the thick of everything, it seemed, including some extracurricular fare with Porter, Jalen Ramsey and a couple others. Good for him. It's a fight for him, always, and he accepted that forever ago. In this context, it's a fight to become a fixture on this offense.

• Before anyone assumes that all or even most of the defensive pressure came because the entire left side of the offensive line is out -- Broderick Jones and Isaac Seumalo are hurt -- know that it was coming more from the outside ... and the outside off to the right of Troy Fautanu, who showed quite well on his own.

• I enjoy watching Darnell Washington mingle with the mortals. That is all.

• Backs-on-backers, like a lot in football, isn't what it once was. Largely because neither backs nor backers are what they once were. Gone are the Bus types and, even more so, the Bus Driver types. There aren't many Jerome Bettis bangers, and there were even fewer Dan Kreider or Rosie Nix fullbacks. And on the other side, Lawrence Timmons and James Harrison have given way to a slew of safety-build coverage types. But that said, Warren acquitted himself well, which is relevant, and Johnson did, too, even though Malik Harrison got the better of him in all three confrontations. ... Big whoop, basically.

• I'm a long, long, long, long way from judging this offense. That's what I'm trying to say. Let's see how they look once they get a little more set.