A mild fright was tossed into the Steelers yesterday afternoon, in full view of fans, friends and family -- the kin of players, coaches and staff who were invited to St. Vincent College in Latrobe for a team soiree.

Starting right guard Kendall Simmons went down with a knee injury during drills, raising memories of 2003, when a banged-up, patched-up offensive line was quite figuratively a team sore spot.

Coach Bill Cowher said Simmons' injury didn't appear serious.

"Right now, it just looks like a mild knee sprain," Cowher said. "Looks like a scare more than anything else."

He said trainer John Norwig reported that Simmons -- who struggled last season to deal with a sudden diagnosis of adult-onset diabetes -- could return to practice today.

"The guy's been working his tail off the whole offseason," receiver Hines Ward said of Simmons. "It didn't look as bad as when he fell. We had that problem last year when the offensive line had one of our key guys [left tackle Marvel Smith] go down. I think everybody is scared by that."

Injuries, absences

Linebacker Kendrell Bell returned to practice, working in both the morning and afternoon sessions. He sat out the last 30 minutes of the afternoon, peeling off his shoulder pads and having ice bags strapped to his aching left shoulder.

Cornerback Terry Fair, who missed last season due to an ankle injury, and rookie fullback Darryl Kennedy (lower back), sat out both practices.

Left guard Alan Faneca and left tackle Marvel Smith returned to full contact, and defensive end Brett Keisel came back a day after exiting early because of a shoulder malady.

Perhaps even bigger news to the afternoon onlookers was the number of veterans Cowher excused from practice.

Among those allowed to miss were Ward, halfback Duce Staley, tight end Jay Riemersma, center Jeff Hartings, defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, linebacker Joey Porter and safety Mike Logan. The reason? Cowher picked them.

Bubby's coming to town

An old quarterback is coming to town, barely a week after the Steelers went looking for an NFL veteran to replace the injured Charlie Batch. But Bubby Brister is not interested in that job.

"No way," said the former Steelers quarterback (1986-92) who also played for the Jets, Eagles, Broncos, Vikings and Chiefs before retiring after the 2001 preseason. "They still in Latrobe? Especially not in Latrobe. Have some good memories of up there, though."

Brister is flying into Pittsburgh this weekend for an appearance at the opening of an outdoors store near Wheeling, W.Va. He represents a manufacturer of hunting accessories and game calls and also is co-host for some shows on The Outdoor Channel. He now spends his falls hunting and fishing, "trying to make up for some lost time" with 14 NFL seasons.

First-team rookie QB?

First-round pick Ben Roethlisberger joined the Steelers' first team in the afternoon simulation of game-end offense -- 20 seconds to go, team needs a field goal. Don't read anything into that, Cowher cautioned: "He had a short one the other day, so we gave him more [time]."

Roethlisberger added, "Got a lot of work with the No. 2s. Now I got to work with the No. 1 line and No. 1 receivers."