It’s that time again.
Crushing blocks, pulverizing hits, mad dashes for glory, intense stare downs, people moving heaven and earth to reach their goal, wild celebrations, and lots of bad language.
No, I’m not talking about Black Friday at Wal Mart (although I could be)-it’s time for football!
Training camps across the NFL are now open for business. Let’s take a look at the storylines I’ll be watching as the teams in the AFC North begin their preparations for the 2022 season.
Pittsburgh Steelers at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, PA
The Steelers return to the site they had held camp for 54 straight years until COVID-19 broke that streak. Their practice field at the school is named “Chuck Noll Field.” Pittsburgh is the only team in the division returning to a more traditional training camp setting, one that would probably make many Ravens fans nostalgic for the years at McDaniel College in Westminster.
The main storyline I’m looking at here is one of transition, particularly in leadership. The biggest story is obviously the changing of the guard at quarterback, where Ben Roethlisberger retired after 18 seasons as the Steelers’ QB and will now await his inevitable call to the Hall of Fame.
In the short term, his replacement seems obvious. Pittsburgh signed Mitch Trubisky, the second player chosen in the 2017 draft by the Chicago Bears, ahead of Patrick Mahomes (oops) and Deshaun Watson. He left Chicago with the highest career passer rating in franchise history but displayed enough inconsistency for the Bears to let him go in favor of rookie Justin Fields. After spending a year as Josh Allen’s backup in Buffalo, Trubisky signed a two-year deal before the draft with Pittsburgh.
The narrative became more complicated when Pittsburgh drafted hometown hero Kenny Pickett from Pitt in the first round. Pickett is running third string early in camp behind Trubisky and Mason Rudolph, but that won’t slow down the Yinzers from clamoring for Pickett at the first sign of trouble with Trubisky.
Will Trubisky establish himself as THE QB, at least for this season? How will head Coach Mike Tomlin handle the situation if he doesn’t? Tomlin has acknowledged this is the first time since he arrived in Pittsburgh in 2007 that he has had a QB decision to make, and even great coaches can make a real mess out of that. Remember Tom Landry shuttling Roger Staubach and Craig Morton in on every other play during a game in 1971? Then there was Bill Walsh waffling on starting Joe Montana or Steve Young in the late 1980’s.
Mike Tomlin is likely not having to choose between future Hall of Famers like Walsh did, but his management of the situation will be critical to the Steelers’ success this season.
Cincinnati Bengals at Kettering Health Practice Fields in Cincinnati, OH
I’ll be watching two storylines from the Bengals’ camp-how do they handle being the hunted instead of the hunter, and will they remain relatively free from serious injuries.
The second part got off to a bad start last week when QB Joe Burrow needed an appendectomy. While he should be ready to start the season, no team wants to see their franchise QB have surgery on the eve of training camp.
Additionally, two of their key free agent signings, G Alex Cappa and T La’el Collins, are recovering from injuries and have yet to see the field in camp. Neither injury is believed to be serious, but again, a potentially ominous sign since their rebuilt offensive line is a key to Cincinnati making another playoff run.
So far, there is little evidence that last year’s Super Bowl appearance has taken the edge off the Bengals’ players or coaches. To the contrary, their narrow loss to the Rams appears to be additional motivation.
They do have one holdout, S Jessie Bates, who has yet to sign his franchise tag tender. Bates’ leverage was reduced when the Bengals drafted his replacement, Dax Hill from Michigan, in this year’s first round. Cincinnati has some difficult decisions coming up over the next couple of years as their young stars finish their rookie contracts, so veterans like Bates, who would make $12.9 million on the one-year tender, could easily be a salary cap casualty next year.
How the Bengals deal with the distractions of success and potential injuries, not to mention a first-place schedule, will be the key to them returning to the playoffs, and perhaps the Super Bowl.
Cleveland Browns at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, OH
The Browns’ quarterback mess has been THE storyline for the Browns’ tumultuous offseason. Part of it has been cleaned up with the departure of Baker Mayfield, while Browns Nation awaits the puffs of smoke coming from Sue L. Robinson’s home to see how long, if at all, newly acquired Deshaun Watson will be suspended.
The storyline I’ll be watching beyond that, though, is how this team works through the turmoil and can come together in the locker room and on the field.
Count me skeptical. I have not gotten the feeling that the Browns’ management has demonstrated they have much of a master plan, unlike the Bengals and Ravens. They have a talented team. They have playmakers on defense like Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney and one of the best running back tandems in the league with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
Yet, with that talent, they missed the playoffs last season. They identified quarterback play as a main reason for that failure and took extreme steps to resolve it for the long term by acquiring Watson. In the short term, however, I’m unclear how their culture will improve enough to come through in pressure situations and win the type of close games that they lost last year.
I believe Jacoby Brissett will be a decent replacement during a Watson suspension, perhaps even an upgrade over Mayfield last season, but this team was missing intangibles last season, the intangibles that makes teams winners. If they are unable to find those intangibles, it could be another long season in Cleveland.
Baltimore Ravens at Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, MD
Injuries, or rather, the recovery from injuries, is the storyline I’ll be following during the Ravens’ camp. Lamar Jackson’s contract extension gets much of the media coverage, but he has not shown any reason why that would impact his play, and therefore the team’s success, this season.
Who comes back when and how close to their previous level of play will they be? T Ronnie Stanley, RBs J. K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, CB Marcus Peters, and LB Tyus Bowser start camp on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list, but the prognosis in encouraging for all of them to be ready at or near the start of the regular season. The most uncertainy centers on Stanley and won’t go away until he gets on the field and stays on it.
If these players return at or near their previous level and the team has a more normal number of injuries this season, there is no reason not to expect good things in 2022. Remember, the Ravens stood 8-3 and held the top seed in the AFC at the end of November last season. A healthy team would be in position to finish the job in 2022.
Notes from the North
The tearing of garments and gnashing of teeth you may have heard recently came from Pittsburgh when they announced the end of Heinz’s sponsorship of their stadium. For about $10 million a year, it will now be known as Acrisure Stadium. I saw where tears were shed when they took the giant Heinz ketchup bottle down. With the intense attachment Steelers’ fans showed to Heinz Field, I’m surprised Heinz didn’t pony up to keep their name on the stadium.
Speaking of stadiums, the Bengals are shopping naming rights to their home field for the first time. It seems more palpable that the name Paul Brown Stadium could be taken down by his son Mike, the 86-year-old team owner. At least it would be a family decision.
Don’t look now, but the Bengals are moving into the 21st century. They are constructing a temporary indoor practice facility next to the stadium-to-be-renamed later and working on a permanent structure. I hear it gets cold there in the winter, so this seems like a good idea and one that gets them back on a level playing field with their opponents.
Teams have been coming out with their new alternate or throwback helmets. Cincinnati has a white one with black stripes, not bad in my estimation. I suppose the Ravens coming out with orange helmets would be a nonstarter-probably for the best.
Next time, I’ll whip around the division with updates from camp and the early preseason games. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter @jimjfootball.
Jim Johnson spent most of his life in Maryland, growing up with the Orioles, the Colts, Terps, and later Ravens. He started his sports writing career as “The Courtmaster,” covering the Terps and ACC hoops and was a frequent guest on Bob Haynie’s old WNST show and other sports talk across the region. He is currently in his second run at BSL. After previously covering Maryland and Big Ten Football, he now writes about the NFL, primarily the action in the AFC North. Jim covers both current and historic stories, seeking perspective and having fun in the process.