MONDAY AFTERNOON PRACTICE
by Dale Grdnic

Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin was pleased with the club's initial two practice sessions Monday at Saint Vincent College, and he noted that good conditioning overall was the key.

"We had a very productive start today, and I think the excellent condition of the football team showed up,'' Tomlin said. "I like the way the guys ran on both sides of the ball, and I liked the way they finished. It was far from perfection, but that's what the first day was all about. It was a good first day.''

The offensive line was a concern going into camp, and little happened so far to sway that with the D-line winning one-on-one drills. The starting offensive line was Marvel Smith at left tackle, Essex at left guard, Sean Mahan at center, Kendall Simmons at right guard and Willie Colon at right tackle.

The second-team unit included at rookie fourth-round pick Tony Hills from Texas at left tackle, first-year player Matt Lentz (6-6, 320) from Michigan at left guard, veteran Justin Hartwig at center, second-year pro Darnell Stapleton from Rutgers at right guard and veteran Max Starks at right tackle.

Last year's second-round pick, outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley, was given the starting left-side spot after Clark Haggans was allowed to leave via free agency. And he appears to have earned it. Woodley, along with fellow right-side pass-rusher James Harrison, dominated the one-on-one linemen drills Monday. Woodley got continuous support and coaching from former pass-rusher supreme Kevin Greene, at camp this week as a volunteer coach.

Woodley made a nice inside move to spin around Colon and get the sack. Later in the drill, Colon was beaten badly by Woodley, which prompted Tomlin to yell for the two to go at it again. But the third time was not a charm for Colon. After an offsides penalty by Woodley, which elicited a tongue-lashing from line coach John Mitchell, he eventually got past Colon for a late sack.

Starks didn't play much better against Woodley, who got to the passer two of three times. On another occasion, Woodley jumped offsides to negate the sack, according to Mitchell. But Starks was too slow to stop Woodley consistently.

In other one-on-one matchups, Chris Hoke beats Mahan badly... Simmons stands up Aaron Smith for a bit, then holds him... Smith does a nice job against Brett Keisel... Essex handles Travis Kirschke... Mahan held his own against Scott Paxson... Simmons and Nick Eason had a lot of hand-fighting in a stalemate, which goes to the O-line.

Hills was schooled by Harrison, and Tomlin asked them to do it again. So, Harrison did and bull-rushed Hills right into the quarterback... On the third rush, Harrison easily went around Hills and leaped into the arms of assistant O-line coach Harold Goodwin.... Lentz stuffed Ryan McBean on three straight plays... And Hartwig stopped Martavius Prince, a rookie from Southern Mississippi.

Rookie wideout Kevin Merrion from Wake Forest missed practice Monday with a right knee sprain... Safety Ryan Clark wore a No. 21 practice jersey to honour his friend and former Washington Redskins teammate Sean Taylor, who was killed last season... Troy Polamalu (left hamstring), Casey (out of shape) and Chris Kemoeatu (triceps) remained on the sideline... Hoke entertained his teammates with a Russian, high-stepping dance during warm-up exercises prior to the afternoon practice.

Offensive lineman Trai Essex, in his fourth season from Northwestern, started at left guard in place of Kemoeatu, who was set to take over for Alan Faneca after he departed via free agency in the offseason... Former Penn Stater and retired Steelers player Jeff Hartings, the club's starting center two years ago, returned to camp with a youth group and looked thinner than ever. He weighed 300 pounds his last season and appeared to be about 225 now.

Fourth-year cornerback Bryant McFadden is expected to step up in the final season of his rookie contract to win the starting spot opposite Ike Taylor, moving 11-year veteran Deshea Townsend to the slot on passing downs. And he made a nice play on Sweed during a deep pass play.

Sweed got a step on McFadden, but quarterback Charlie Batch didn't put the ball out far enough. It wasn't a bad pass, but just needed to be thrown farther. Instead, McFadden made up the ground at the end and knocked it away. McFadden and safety Anthony Smith were not able to finish the afternoon due to groin strains and are listed as day-to-day.

Third-year wideout Santonio Holmes proved that he can make the tough catch, as well as the big play, as he shielded the ball with his body on a crossing route that was well thrown by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Holmes made only eight yards, but it was in front of Taylor and enough to make the first down.

Tomlin has eschewed the all-black outfits he wore daily during his first training camp last summer and mixed in gold and white shirts with his black shorts to change things up a bit this year.

No. 1 pick Rashard Mendenhall performed well in the backs on backers pass-rushing drill, which took place at the same time as the linemen, but that didn't matter after practice. He still had to carry the pads and jerseys of Carey Davis, Willie Parker and Mewelde Moore up to the locker room.

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