PHOTO BY KARL ROSER | PITTSBURGH STEELERS

The first play of training camp was as anticipated as any in recent memory given the circumstances.

The Steelers can only hope it wasn’t an omen.

“I’m surprised he actually threw that interception,” safety Juan Thornhill observed, after quarterback Aaron Rodgers targeted wide receiver DK Metcalf only to be robbed by inside linebacker Patrick Queen.

Good for the defense, but … really?

After all the waiting and wondering throughout the Steelers’ agonizingly long courtship of Rodgers, and after Rodgers had sat out every 11-on-11 snap of Mandatory Veteran Minicamp upon finally agreeing to terms, this is how it starts?

Nowhere to go but up, apparently.

For Rodgers, it was nothing to sweat about late Thursday afternoon at a steamy Saint Vincent College.

“It’s good to get that out the way,” he reasoned. “Anybody that’s watched me practice over the years, you like to try certain throws at certain times. And anybody that’s watched me in the games knows I’ve been pretty stellar taking care of the football over the years. There’s gonna be picks, for sure. I’m gonna try to fit certain things in.

“You gotta deal with some sweat on the ball from time to time, so it’s gonna be a good challenge for me throwing in this heat every single day.”

For the Steelers, that’s an analogy that’s much more applicable — because the heat is most definitely on, and will remain on even into December, when their quarterback turns 42. Rodgers is a four-time NFL MVP and he can still spin it.

He has a new wide receiver in Metcalf, with whom he can presumably work magic. The defense has been bolstered by promising draft picks and the acquisition of former All-Pros and former Super Bowl champions. On paper, they’re promising — perhaps even potentially capable of contending.

And yet the narrative that beats down on this team like the searing sun at Saint Vincent is, no matter what, it’s looking at a 9-8 or 10-7 ceiling that’s destined to disappoint, eventually. That’s what happens when you ride a drought of eight consecutive seasons without having won a playoff game.

And that’s why, whether Rodgers throws a pick or Metcalf makes a spectacular catch in a training camp practice, none of the particulars, none of the individual snapshots will matter. What will matter in what’s left of July, throughout August and into September is the grind.

What matters right about now is the totality of camp.

Linebacker T.J. Watt understands. Despite a new $123 million contract extension, Watt doesn’t have an answer to what’s plagued the Steelers annually since the 2016 AFC Championship Game.

But he knows how that answer can be found, if it can be found.

“It’s the endless pursuit of it and just wanting to continue to do everything possible, turning over every stone,” Watt maintained. “And to this point, we haven’t been able to do that. You see the aggressiveness that we’re taking organizationally. I’m doing everything I can personally, whether that’s moving around [in the defensive formations], mentoring younger guys as much
as I possibly can, asking guys who have won Super Bowls before, whether here in this building or not, what we can do.

“I think that’s really all that we can do … just keep putting our heads down and working. We can sit here and talk and talk and talk about not winning a playoff game and how much I want to do it, but at the end of the day, that’s just lip service. It’s all about what we do, and that’s why I’m excited to be back here. That’s why I’m excited to get to know each and every guy on this new team that we have and get to work.”

Through the inevitable give and take associated with any training camp, through the stress and the sweat, through the situational triumphs and the frustrations, a team, hopefully, will emerge. There won’t be an arrival, not for months yet, anyway, if ever.

But there might be evolution.

“I’m gonna throw some picks, but I’m gonna throw some touchdowns, too,” Rodgers insisted.

If there’s collective growth in both the Steelers will have gotten all they can from this summer’s Saint Vincent experience.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.