Peter Diana, Post-Gazette A NEW QB? Did the Steelers sign a quarterback no one knew about? Duce Staley, right, drops back to pass along with Ben Roethlisberger during drills yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Life without the Bus seemed more sedate for the Steelers yesterday.

"As soon as I came into the locker room, nobody was laughing," said halfback Willie Parker. "Usually, he has Joey [Porter] take his shoes and hide them somewhere. Just little things like that make everybody smile. When we got here, it wasn't like that."

When the Steelers returned en masse to their locker room for the first time since they won the Super Bowl, Jerome Bettis was nowhere in sight, retired to the NBC-TV Sunday Night football studio.

"It's quieter, we don't have anyone yelling right now," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. "But, no, it's one of those things, you lose a great friend out of this locker room, to me in particular. The guy's a leader ... You still miss him, obviously."

Carter works with first team

Ryan Clark, 26, was signed from the Washington Redskins in free agency to replace the departed Chris Hope at free safety. But that wasn't Clark running at free safety with the first-team defense yesterday; it was veteran Tyrone Carter, who played in the dime defense last season.

"That's what it's about, competition," said Clark, who signed a four-year, $7 million contract with a $1.65 million signing bonus. "I've never been a guy who said it's my spot. I kind of like it, it has me in an underdog situation.

"I think I was brought here to be the starter, and that's what I plan on doing. But it's going to be a fight. It's better for the team that there's three guys capable of playing the position and not just one."

The Steelers also drafted Syracuse's Anthony Smith in the third round to play the position.

Injury report

Wide receiver Quincy Morgan, safety Mike Logan, quarterback Rod Rutherford and offensive tackle Max Starks did not participate in minicamp practices because of various injuries. Special teams player Chidi Iwuoma and linebacker Andre Frazier did little, and rookie linebacker Mike Kudla has a hamstring injury that prevented him from doing much.

"I anticipate all these guys will be ready to go by camp," coach Bill Cowher said.

Everyone on the roster attended.

Cowher delivers a message

Cowher spoke to the team yesterday before practice and hit on a topic he has mentioned publicly the past several months, that the Steelers weren't the best team last year.

"It's about the proper perspective," Cowher said. "The fact of the matter is, quite simply, we did not even win this division a year ago. That's the truth. Also, when you go through the month of November and after the halfway point, we lost three straight games. I think the path we took was one that's never been traveled before and I think it's because it probably will never be traveled again.

"The bottom line is we [teetered] on the edge a year ago ... we became a desperate team, a more focused and disciplined team. I think that sense of urgency with which we prepared -- we played that way, but we prepared that way -- that's the thing you have to take with you from the very beginning.

"I think again it starts in training camp. It's not anything you can turn on or turn off. I don't believe that."