DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: The offensive pluses

DK’s Daily Shot of Steelers: The offensive pluses

[Music] Not here to make anybody feel better about anything, at least not by design. I do feel obligated to share some thoughts about the biggest point of concern early in training camp. Good morning to you. Good Tuesday morning. I’m Dan Kawach of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Steelers. It comes your way bright and early every weekday. If you’re into hockey and/or baseball, I also offer daily shots of Penguins and Pirates in the same place that you found this. Practice resumes today at St. Vincent College at 1:55 p.m. I’ll be out there covering it along with Chris Hock for the DK Pittsburgh Sports app and I’ll be looking just as I assume everybody else on campus will for signs of life from this offense. What I won’t be looking for are completed answers. There’s a long way to go in camp in preeason before the first game that matters. But you do want to see things start boomeranging back a little bit. I’m on record as pointing principally to the line as a problem to date, but there’s room for others to take a little heat as well. Most of these defensive rushes, as I’ve been stressing throughout, have come off the edges. And I mean the far edges, meaning beyond the tackles, meaning that they could, in some cases should be picked up by tight ends and wide receivers. If they aren’t, and they haven’t been, then everybody from Arthur Smith on down needs to adjust. Beyond that bigger picture, I’m going to try today to offer three reasons to smile about something related to the offense. Number one, and this actually is number one if I were to enumerate these, DK Metaf has been everything is advertised, everything you’d hope, and probably for the bar that I had for him, a little bit above. This is someone who arrived with a little bit, not too much, of a reputation from his time in Seattle of not being the most precise route runner, of not being necessarily all that super dedicated to being excellent at that. And he has been really, really good at that. I’d credit him for that. I’d credit Zack Azani for that, the wide receivers’s coach. I’d also credit Aaron Rogers for that because the two of them have forged a real relationship. And one of the things that happens when you do that is that whether it’s in football or in life, you feel more of a responsibility to that partner, to that significant other. So those two becoming close and even sweetmates, I feel like that’s got to at least enter an asterisk into this equation in a positive way. Metaf’s been very, very good. And by the way, he’s an upgrade over George Pickkins on the field, off the field. In any conceivable capacity, he is an upgrade over Pickins. Number two, as long as I’m comparing this year to last year, Caleb Johnson is going to bring more to this offense than Naji Harris ever did. And I know, listen, even as I say it out loud, I’m gonna be getting shots back about disrespecting Naji. And I know he built up his own segment of the fan base that supported him throughout any and all criticism that would come his way. Honestly, just telling it like it is here. I really don’t care. The traits that I see in Johnson already before he’s played a big league game in anger are significantly different than Harris’s. And as such, he’s going to be a guy who A hits the hole. B asks why he was asked to hit that hole only after he’s already hit it. and see once he is brought down, he’s going to be brought down with a fight and he’s going to be brought down falling down forward. The days of second and eight and second and nine have got to come to an end in Pittsburgh. Johnson is more equipped to bring that to an end than Harris ever was, except for those rare occasions when he would get motivated by watching Jaylen Warren hit holes and think to himself, “Hey, you know, if I hit those holes, anyway, you get the idea. Number three, yes, the line has been a shortcoming.” No, Troy Faanu hasn’t. If anything, Faultanu has more closely resembled what we saw from those precious 55 snaps that he had in Denver early last season than anything else. He’s not perfect. He’ll be the first to tell you that, but he knows he’s doing well. They know he’s doing well. And as such, he hasn’t been affected, and I really like this part of it, by things that have gone wrong around him. In other words, he’s not making the matters worse by trying to overcompensate. He’s saying, “This is my job. This is my assignment. I am 111th of what needs to go right here, and I’m going to get that 111th done.” This shouldn’t surprise anybody who’s familiar with Foul Town’s work in college or his reputation or for that matter how he showed a year ago at this time and then going into that game in Denver. So why am I leaving out everybody else at least for the time being? It’s not meant as a criticism. It’s just that everybody’s got a another tick up or two or three or four or five ticks up to their respective 111th of the process. I mentioned the tight ends. I’ll let that play out. I left out Calvin Austin again, not as a criticism, but because I know he’s going to be a big part of this and he needs to begin stamping that footprint, that exact footprint down right now, regardless of who’s been covering him. And boy, have they been covering him. And last, but not least, there’s the quarterbacks. Aaron Rogers hasn’t been perfect either, but I’ve seen more good than bad. And I’ve already had, and this has been most important in my mind, plenty of opportunities to scratch some significant concerns that I had off the list. Can he still throw? Yes. Is he healthy? Yes. Specifically, has he fully recovered both physically and mentally enough from the torn Achilles that he can move around a little bit? Also, yes. Will he give enough of a hoot to put what’s needed into this team? I But there’s a long way to go, but I’ve really liked what I’ve seen and heard so far. There are ticks up to be had there as well. It’s not all bad. It really isn’t. Just picture how much different your mindset might be at around say, oh, I don’t know, 11:00 p.m. Saturday after watching whatever unfolds in Jacksonville, Florida. When we come back, J1Q. [Music] This segment of Daily Shot is brought to you by our good friends at Mike’s Beer Bar. They’re located on Federal Street, directly across from PNC Park. Mike has more than 500 beers on tap, including from more than 50 local breweries. Stop in and say hello. Tell Mike we sent you. Mike’s Beer Bar. [Music] Today’s J1Q comes from Scotland Sharp in New Mexico who says, “DK, this isn’t too serious of a J1Q, but in the event that Brick Jones is too much a liability at left tackle, and the Steelers struggle to have solid depth, why not just utilize Darnell Washington as an emergency left tackle? I know. I know it’s not going to happen. It’s fun to imagine, isn’t it? You know, I’m going to try to lay this out from a couple of different perspectives. First off, and this matters, Darnell would do it in a snap. I mean, he has no issue with this whatsoever. He wouldn’t see it as any kind of demotion. He couldn’t see it as something that would cost him money, unless you want to go ahead and draw up your own comparison of what tight ends get paid to what left tackles get paid. And beyond all of that, he legit enjoys it. It’s probably true that we all love to do something that we’re really good at and better than other people at. Well, he really blocks. looking at him in one-on-one drills and the caliber of people who are trying to get past him. He doesn’t just block them, he swallows them. He’s a black hole. It’s like taking in entire suns. It’s like Galactis from the Fantastic 4. Doesn’t mean he enjoys one more than the other. I I’ve never picked that up from him, but I also don’t think this would be an area where he would just flat out object. Okay. Now, from the team perspective, if you have yourself a left tackle, a starting left tackle, it doesn’t even have to be a Pro Bowl caliber, much less allpro caliber, just someone who can do that job and do it responsibly and reliably. That’s worth a lot to a football team. it it’s worth a lot to an offense and to the coordinator and of course to the quarterback who doesn’t have to worry as much about his blind side. But what you’d also be doing here is you’d be taking the eraser side of the pencil and eliminating a skill set from your offense. You would be wiping out what Darnell can bring you in the passing game. And you’d be doing so, by the way, at a stage of his career. this is still a young player where you don’t know, you can’t know what he’s capable of in that capacity. you’d be cutting him off and you’d be doing so because you traded up in the first round to get a left tackle that you’d be declaring in a de facto kind of way a bust before he even plays out not only Brick Jones third NFL season but also the first real season that he gets an opportunity to play his natural position. Now, the way you worded this, Scotland, I feel is important to restress because you might have gotten it just right by saying, “Why not use Darnell as an emergency left tackle?” You’re not one of the growing number of people that it seems that are advocating for Darnell to just be that guy. And to that, I’d say as long as there’s a clear line of communication between management and the athlete, as long as there’s an understanding, a mutual understanding of team need versus any individual concern, then sure, get them ready. But, you know, you’ve also got Calvin Anderson. He’s hurt right now, but he’s an NFL veteran with some experience. You’ve got Dylan Cook who’s still out there and who some people in the organization genuinely like and what I’m saying here is not as a first resort, not as a a panic option. I appreciate the question. It’s a really good one. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Steelers. As mentioned, Chris and I will be out in Latroe today covering everything that happens there, notably the practice for our DK Pittsburgh Sports app. and we expect to have a double shot of Steelers show ready for you sometime around 5:00 pm or a little bit after that. Don’t be impatient with us. We have to adjust to whatever the Steelers are doing. If the head coach wants practice to go a little longer or he keeps the team together for a bit of a meeting at the 50 yd line, we’re waiting to get our opportunity to get information for you. But I can promise we’ll have it to you as quickly as we can. So again, double shot of Steelers sometime around 5ish later today. Hope you can check it out. [Music]

Yes, there’ve been offensive pluses, and there’ll be more.

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