Friday Insider
LATROBE, Pa. -- Kenny Pickett released. George Pickens ran under it. And Patrick Peterson, the resident elder in the secondary, sprinted stride for stride alongside the resident big-boy receiver down the right sideline, then leaped at the last second, then raised his right hand and ... man, he didn't just defend it. He swatted that ball, like some NBA 7-footer with tree-branch limbs, into the figurative 14th row.
First snap of training camp. First pass. Posterization.
Loved it.
As did the couple thousand fans Thursday at Saint Vincent College, where, despite charcoal skies and sweltering humidity, I had the distinct -- and dominating -- sense that it couldn't have been a more uplifting setting for football in general and this franchise in particular.