James Conner was answering a question about the running back position for the Pittsburgh Steelers. His words, though, spoke about a big-picture goal for the 2020 season.

“We have to start fast,” Conner said last week on a video call with reporters. “We need to be ready at all times. We can’t warm up to it. That’s our slogan. That’s what we’ve been saying: We can’t warm up to it.”

No doubt the Steelers warmed up to it in each of the past two seasons, and those slow starts contributed to them missing the playoffs in back-to-back years. On the heels of a 1-2-1 start in 2018, they lost their first three games and were 1-4 after five weeks last season.

Although the Steelers rebounded both years and controlled their playoff fate until a late-season slide, had they won more games in September, perhaps they could have weathered those December losses.

One way to avoid a repeat this season would be for the starters to get more repetitions in the offseason, training camp and preseason. But in a year when the coronavirus pandemic already has eliminated on-field team workouts and with the possibility of training camp and the preseason being delayed or shortened, how can the Steelers gain such preparation?

It’s a question hovering over the entire NFL as the end of virtual organized team activities approaches.

“My only real concern is chemistry,” said All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is in his first offseason with the Steelers. “This time right now is the time when we would be spending a lot of time with teammates, not only in the locker room but outside the locker room.

“You’re learning about each other and life outside of football. During the season, it’s kind of tough to do that because you see each other 12 hours out of the day, and when you go home, you don’t want to see them again. It’s big, but we can find a way to make it happen.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell cleared the way for coaches to return to team facilities Friday. Until players are given the go-ahead to join them, all contact will be confined to film study and playbook analysis via video conferencing. It’s feasible players won’t be permitted inside team facilities until training camp begins sometime in July.

“I’m preparing as if we’re going back and going into the full swing of things, as if we’re going to a regular camp schedule and a regular preseason schedule,” Fitzpatrick said. “That would be the toughest thing (physically), so I’m going to prepare for that. If they cut preseason in half or push it back a couple of weeks, I’ll be prepared.”

For Steelers players who haven’t seen the inside of UPMC Rooney Sports Complex since the day after that late-December loss in Baltimore, the chance to return to their home away from home can’t get here soon enough.

“I’m super ready,” cornerback Steve Nelson said. “I just have been having that itch to get back there on the field. I don’t care if it’s flag football right now. There’s no better feeling than to go out with your guys and compete against other teams and stuff like that, to go through drills.

“Those hard camp days build character. It builds fight. It builds a lot of things — not just the football part.”

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, in his recovery from right elbow surgery, has worked out with some of the skill position players who have returned to the Pittsburgh area. It’s more difficult, though, for defensive players to get the type of group practicing necessary to prepare for a season.

“Zoom meetings are only going to take you so far,” Nelson said. “As a veteran, I’m trying to find ways to combat it as best I can.”

Working in the Steelers’ favor is the locker room is littered with veterans. Unlike last year, when inside linebacker Devin Bush was drafted No. 10 overall, no rookie is being counted upon to start immediately. On offense, the Steelers will have new faces in a trio of free agents: guard Stefen Wisniewski, fullback Derek Watt and tight end Eric Ebron. On defense, every starter returns except at nose tackle.

“Other teams have half their roster gone,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re lucky not to have that. I think that will give us an advantage.”

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