Champion Steelers Still Working on That Pesky Offensive Line

The NFL season is four and a half weeks away, and FanHouse is at Steelers training camp today on Stop 3 and mile 432 of Dan Graziano's five-camp, 1,100-mile road trip.

LATROBE, Pa. -- This picturesque outpost in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania has offered Ben Roethlisberger a cocoon for the past couple of weeks. While here, he can just be Big Ben, playing football and hanging out with the guys while all of his sordid off-field troubles play themselves out among the lawyers. Here, on the quiet campus of St. Vincent College, he is protected.

Which is ironic, since the big actual football question hanging over the Steelers is also about protection -- specifically, whether the defending champs' offensive line can adequately protect Roethlisberger once the real games get going.

The Steelers' offensive line has for a couple of years now been viewed as a potential weak spot -- somewhat less excellent than other aspects of the team, even as it was rolling last winter to its second Super Bowl title in four seasons. And that perception lingers. Roethlisberger was sacked 46 times last year, more than anybody in the league but New England's Matt Cassel. Pittsburgh's linemen are well aware of that stat and determined to prove wrong those who continue to hold it against them.

"The offensive line just naturally gets better the longer it stays together," left tackle Max Starks said. "You need time to develop chemistry, and to get that experience playing together. We have a young group, but it's basically the same group as last year, and you're going to see continued improvement."

It's a group that's having a hard time staying healthy in camp. Projected starting center Justin Hartwig has been out for 10 days with a toe injury. Guard Darnell Stapleton (the backup center) just had knee surgery and is out for weeks. Monday morning the team signed former Cardinals center Alex Stepanovich, and coach Mike Tomlin said the reason is that he expects to be without Stapleton and Hartwig for Thursday's preseason opener against Arizona.

Assuming Hartwig makes it back in time for the season (which they are all assuming), only one spot will have a different starter from last year -- tackle Trai Essex stepping in for Stapleton at right guard. The team locked up Starks and left guard Chris Kemoeatu with long-term deals, leaving only right tackle Willie Colon playing out the final year of his contract. So it's a group that's going to get a chance to test Starks' theory about continuity.

"We have the talent," Starks said. "And it's not about proving people wrong. It's about proving something to ourselves. And we're doing that every day out here."



· First-round pick Ziggy Hood has been working one-on-one with veteran defensive end Aaron Smith. Hood said he sought out Smith because they both play on the left side and Smith at one time in his career had to make a conversion from a 4-3 lineman to a 3-4 lineman, as Hood is attempting to do now.

"He's progressed faster than anybody I've ever seen at that spot," Smith said of the rookie. "Will he play? I think he'll play. First-rounders have to play. So I think he's going to see the field."

· Several defensive players were asked about Rod Woodson's assertion, during his Hall of Fame induction speech Saturday, that Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau should be in the Hall. Surprise! They agree.

"Obviously, you look at what he did as a player and he's a brilliant coach," Smith said. "But from a player's standpoint, it's the kind of man that he is and the way he treats people. He's the kind of guy who likes people for who they are and he treats them that way, and that means a lot."

Safety Troy Polamalu said he thought NFL players, not writers, should be the ones who decide who goes to the Hall of Fame.

"I think it'd be entirely different," Polamalu said. "Because it's the players who can appreciate what it means for Coach LeBeau to never have missed a single snap of practice, never missing a game for years. When you're out there in the heat like this, working every day, you just have a different perspective on what that means."

· The Steelers have 15 players (10 on defense) who played for them in both Super Bowls XL and XLIII, and I talked to Smith, Polamalu, LeBeau, James Farrior and others about what makes it so hard to repeat. Check back here Tuesday morning for that story.

· Next stop on the tour is Buffalo Bills camp in Pittsford, N.Y., where Tuesday I will be making an attempt to secure a Terrell Owens interview and trying to find a reason to think the Bills aren't the fourth-place team in the AFC East.