PHILADELPHIA -- The first point of contact was with Najee Harris' right knee, swiped by the Eagles' Eric Wilson a couple yards behind the line of scrimmage.
The second point came with Najee's waist, swiped by the Eagles' Derek Barnett, now a yard behind the line.
And the third point ...
... was followed by a fourth point. And a fifth. And a sixth.
And all of those somehow, despite almost no one else in black and gold doing what they were supposed to do, resulted in a matching six yards.
I'm not about to go loco over anyone's Week 1 preseason performance, let alone a rookie who's next NFL snap in anger will represent his christening, let alone after he totaled two carries for 10 yards, one carry for 9 yards. But this is what he's been doing since the opening morning of rookie camp and, even though this is but a glimpse for the general public, it's ... it's really something.
I'll leave the fussing and fighting over the backup quarterbacks, backup this or that to everyone else following the Steelers' 24-16 exhibition victory over the Eagles on this Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Me, I'm all over what really matters.
This kid really freaking matters.
I asked Mike Tomlin afterward about Najee's ability to make something from nothing, and he replied, "There’s no question. You've seen that in practice settings. I don’t think any of us are surprised about what we’re seeing in the game. It’s also one of the things he displayed on college tape, which is why we coveted him in the draft. He’s as good as advertised in that area.”
In all areas, actually.
"I think he does a great job with the ball in his hands and in space," Mason Rudolph observed after this. "Anytime we can get him the ball, whether it’s a screen, whether it’s a checkdown there when the defense is in Cover 2 playing coverage, taking the deep shot away from us, obviously putting the ball in his hands underneath ... there’s a lot of meat on that bone. You’re going to get a lot of yardage and you’re going to keep moving the chains."
They know. They all know. That's why Tomlin glows about Najee in a way he's arguably never done about any young player over his long tenure.
Here are all three of his other touches:
This one's for 4 yards. Chase Claypool and JuJu Smith Schuster fare well in chipping their opponents to the inside, and Rashaad Coward shoves his linebacker to Independence Hall. But Trai Turner whiffs on his assignment, Chuks Okorafor whiffs on his pull, and the hole closes quickly. Which is where Najee confronts the Eagles' Alex Singleton -- he's No. 49 in white -- not with a conciliatory collision but with a spin that buys an extra couple.
Imagine if Turner and/or Okorafor had nailed this.
This one's for 8 yards, and including it even though it was called back for a Pat Freiermuth hold because the penalty had nothing to do with how he handled that gaggle of Eagles surrounding him near the end, basically just soaring over them for an extra 3 yards.
Imagine if Diontae Johnson had cared at least a little about blocking.
Sure, Najee's wide open on his lone catch, coming off play-action -- which, by the way, only works with a real running game -- but I'll call attention yet again to those final yards.
Oh, and that absolutely no one blocked for him downfield. Least of all Diontae, who might as well have bought a ticket to watch this game's running plays.
Hey, I'd think we can all agree that this team, as a whole, will go as its blocking goes. And no, that doesn't always point to the offensive line. But let's also recognize that this one extraordinary talent might make way more of a difference than any of us can currently, comfortably envision.
GETTY
Dwayne Haskins throws in the third quarter Thursday night.
• Look, I'm hardly without an opinion on the backup quarterbacks. It's just that the opinion hasn't changed.
All this past week, I'd called for Dwayne Haskins to start this game. Because we'd all known what to expect from Rudolph -- and Josh Dobbs, for that matter -- and we're only beginning to know Haskins. So there'd be no point sending Haskins out there against Philadelphia's soon-to-be cuts when he could've been more meaningfully tested.
Final summary:
Haskins: 16 of 22, 166 yards, one TD
Rudolph: 8 of 9, 77 yards, one sack
Dobbs: 5 of 6, 30 yards, one interception
The decision goes to Haskins. I mean, obviously. And he was legit good, standing firm in his pocket, applying just the right touch to his passes, effective both short and deep ... everything he's been doing for more than a month now.
At the same time, what was learned here on this front?
Zip.
Rudolph had two quality drives stalled by holding penalties, and he threw the evening's prettiest pass, a 33-yarder to Diontae. Which is what he should've done. And Haskins, in turn, did what he should've done.
I asked Tomlin if he feels he still needs to see Haskins in a first-team setting, and the reply came without hesitation: "Man, we need to see more of him, and we need to see more of everybody. We've got two more preseason games, and we're going to continue to write our stories."
This should've been staged differently. All I'm saying.
• The starting quarterback for the next preseason game, as Tomlin divulged after this one, will be Ben Roethlisberger.
The starting quarterback in Buffalo will be Roethlisberger.
The starting quarterback in Pittsburgh for as long as he's healthy and signed will be Roethlisberger.
That's why I don't get all riled up about backup quarterback debates. This team's got real issues that will affect the real games ahead.
• Not that I haven't been impressed with Haskins. Far from it. On and off the field, he's been nothing less than the most pleasant surprise of camp.
To share one fun thing, he spoke of how Mike Sullivan, the new quarterbacks coach, has been admonishing him to perform like 'jazz,' and I couldn't help but ask him to elaborate on whether this meant jazz as in smooth, or as in improvisation:
“Jazz as in real smooth, man. The blues and all of that stuff. Just bop your head and snap your fingers.”
Beautiful.
Have I mentioned that it's wonderful to be back interviewing players in person?
• Long as we're on the subject of backups, though, Anthony McFarland is so very much Najee's backup. And with how hard Jaylen Samuels ran in the second half, I'm not sure Benny Snell makes this roster.
McFarland carried nine times for 34 yards and a bulldog 1-yard touchdown that personified his camp to date in that, as he told me a week ago, he's not thinking about all his Maryland big plays anymore and just focused on what's in front of him.
Oh, and he's showing his NFL adulthood, too.
"My offensive line got a great push," he recalled of that touchdown, even though no such thing took place. "All the credit goes to them."
• In reality, the offensive line was erratic at best.
Left to right, the starters were Okorafor, Coward, Kendrick Green, Turner and Joe Haeg. Two of those spots, presumably, will go to others: Kevin Dotson, who did well with the second team, should supplant Coward. Zach Banner, once healthy -- and he did partake in warmups after practicing for the first time this past week -- absolutely will supplant Haeg.
Until then, as Turner acknowledged, "There's going to be growing pains, but that's OK. This is the time to have those. For me, for us, it was just good to be out there, getting to know each other."
He extended special praise to Green, who mostly did OK: "Man, that kid's tough. He's smart. He knows what he's doing, where he's going, making all the calls out there
• It only seemed coincidental that word of the Steelers acquiring Joe Schobert from the Jaguars began filtering through the press box here right as the inside linebackers were being burned regularly in pass coverage, lowlighted by Devin Bush getting Broad Street bullied off Dallas Goedert's route for a 34-yard pickup:
Schobert's 27, he's got seven interceptions the past two seasons split between Cleveland and Jacksonville, and he'll be an upgrade over Robert Spillane in every way. Both Bush and Spillane were beaten throughout this game and, while Bush has an excuse -- his first action in nearly a year -- this has been a worry for a while.
Repeating with gusto: I've never gotten the Spillane thing. But for a solitary tackle in Nashville, he's just another guy.
• Jordan Berry had a fine evening, his four punts producing an average of 44.0, two inside the 20 and a long of 54. And even though Pressley Harvin III never got a chance -- Haskins was too effective in the second half -- he's still won this competition by a country mile. Watching this young man routinely boot 52-55 yards in the air in warmups might've been the best experience I had out here.
The seventh-round punter's here to stay.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
National anthem, Thursday night, Lincoln Financial Field.
• Always liked this place. Never understood how Philadelphia built a football stadium -- same commonwealth, same funding -- with so many more design elements and innovations than ours.
But hey, they're still stuck with that tool shed across the lot that's home to zero Stanley Cups.
• Today would be a good day to get T.J. Watt signed, by the way. With Ben playing next week, everyone needs to be playing next week against the Lions. It matters. Neither T.J. nor anyone else of importance will play in Charlotte, so this will be it.
Besides, come on. How long's it take to draw up a blank check?
