Kovacevic: Most variables, today and beyond, within Steelers' command

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Each gameday through this NFL season, I'll offer up a special edition of 10 Takes that'll be more akin to a two-minute drill, a collection of final thoughts to consume with the morning coffee.

Or the morning beer, depending on where one spends his or her football Sundays.

• The Steelers' issues are real and significant and ... almost entirely related to the supporting cast.

I swear, this'll be my guiding principle through whatever portion of 2021 this roster can keep its top players healthy. Because, in any given matchup, including the franchise's 89th opener today, 1:02 p.m., against the Bills at Highmark Stadium, they'll be the only team showing up armed with a Canton-bound quarterback, a first-round and potentially elite running back, at least three top-tier wide receivers, two legit pass-catching tight ends, the best edge rusher in the game, the best safety in the game and the best overall defensive front in the game.

Everything feels a little different when it's phrased that way, huh?

Sure, a couple of those can be debated, but good luck trying to debunk the broader sentiment that the Steelers, shortcomings and all, continue to have exceptional talent at the most important positions. And as such, when they win or lose, it'll usually be due to something going wrong on, say, the offensive line or inside linebacker or slot corner and the like.

That's a setup any GM in the league would covet. It's way harder to amass the exceptional talent. Just teach everyone else how to row.

• Which isn't to suggest, at all, that the Bills lack exceptional talent. Compelling arguments can be made, in particular, that Josh Allen's among the world's top three quarterbacks and Stefon Diggs among the top three wide receivers. No one's saying the same anymore about Ben Roethlisberger, and they sure aren't glowing that way about Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and/or JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Nor is this to suggest the Steelers should be favored. They're a 6.5-point dog, at last check, and that sounds about right. They didn't get past the first round in the 2020 playoffs, while the Bills reached the AFC Championship Game. There's always home field, too.

Rather, again, it's to underscore that the Steelers' roster balance, skewed to the higher end, makes all the lesser players, all the little stuff, all the devils in all the details, that much more pivotal in 2021.

• No individual output will be more pivotal today than that of Najee Harris. And please note that I say output rather than performance, since Najee could be a reborn Barry Sanders and it wouldn't matter without good blocking, good strategy and lots and lots and lots of usage.

Right, Barry?

OK, Barry didn't need blocking, but I digress.

I think of Najee more in the mold of Le'Veon Bell, anyway. He's a multiple threat, he makes most of what he achieves appear effortless and, most relevant to this point, he needs the ball. I don't know if it'll be 30-plus touches, but it'd better be 20-plus. At minimum. A team doesn't add a player of this magnitude to be a decoy. Let him run. And catch. And run some more.

• Whatever worry anyone might have about T.J. Watt's readiness -- and I'll admit to some -- might be allayed by how seriously stoked this madman will be here today. And the same might apply doubly to Alex Highsmith at the other edge, eager to begin proving himself as Bud Dupree's successor.

One thing about Allen: He's faced the Steelers twice in his career, and he's found nowhere to run. Two games, 13 official attempts, 56 yards, one touchdown.

This matters a lot.

• Staying with motivation that matters, this was the place, lest anyone forgets, where Diontae was benched for a half because he couldn't hang onto anything.

If I ranked the five players I'd want most pumped up on the Pittsburgh side, I'm positive Watt, Highsmith and Johnson would make the list.

• Diggs is one of the NFL's top dozen players at any position. He lines up all over the place, he's balanced out by Cole Beasley and now Emmanuel Sanders, and he's among the league's most productive at adding post-catch mileage.

He can't be stopped by any one person.

But he might have to be.

If Keith Butler's shown any hand too often in his scattershot tenure as defensive coordinator, it's that he'll try to avoid applying any extra bodies to any receiver, regardless of how badly they Gronk-and-grind him all day long. He loves his island corners, and he hates assigning help.

Which is to say, Joe Haden hopes to earn an extension, and this is where it'll have to start.

This, my friends, will be the individual matchup here. For better or worse.

• The best collective matchup, of course, will be the offensive line vs. reality.

Not to be that guy, but there's little in the NFL that's less likely to succeed than an O-line with so little experience and even less time together. Kendrick Green and Dan Moore will be making their NFL debuts. Kevin Dotson will be making his fifth career start. Trai Turner's two years removed from his peak. And no one of the quintet struggled more through this summer than Chuks Okorafor.

If they're somehow even satisfactory against a wholly rebuilt Buffalo front, it'll merit man-on-the-moon fonts for the headlines.

And yet, I can't state this firmly enough: The confidence in this group, meaning from within, is through the roof.

• Notice I've barely uttered a syllable about Ben?

It'll be clear why within hours. Just wait.

• For all the prevailing wisdom predicting the Steelers, the defending AFC North champs, to finish third behind the Browns and Ravens ... wouldn't it be a riot if the Steelers win today (hardly some mega-upset), the Browns lose in Kansas City (very much expected), and the Ravens lose in Las Vegas (more than plausible)?

• Humans will be back, too. In bulk. More than 73,000 can be crammed into this big crater in the Buffalo burbs, and they'll represent only the very best thing that's been missing from this beautiful game for far too long.

Well, except for the Buffalo part. Anyone Pittsburgh who's attended either a Bills or a Sabres game up here, with the courage to bear black and gold, knows what I'm talking about. Philly's rough, and this is right there. They defend the turf on and off the field.

But that's fun, too, right?

Sure beats this scene from this past December:

No thanks. Never again.

Seriously looking forward to covering this. Thanks for reading.