Ben Roethlisberger's first hit came Saturday in Arizona. His first injury came yesterday in practice.

No defender was to blame, and the injury to his hand or thumb did not appear to be serious. The quarterback hit another player on his follow-through after throwing a pass near the end of afternoon practice.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Ben Roethlisberger watches practice yesterday in Latrobe. Click photo for larger image.

"I think he hit his thumb on the next-to-last play on a shoulder pad," coach Bill Cowher said. "We'll look at that, assess it and I'll probably have more information tomorrow."

Roethlisberger shook his right hand after he hit it. The incident is a normal one involving quarterbacks in practice, although on rare occasions they come away with a broken bone in their hand.

Okobi feels good, confident

Dr. Joseph Maroon removed the pain in Chukky Okobi's neck, and the center promised yesterday that no one will move him aside as the backup and heir apparent to Jeff Hartings while he recuperates.

Okobi will find out soon when he can resume working out and how much time he might miss, but he has spent the past two days on the sideline at training camp itching to get back.

Maroon last week removed a piece of herniated disk that had lodged against a nerve in Okobi's neck. Before the surgery, Cowher speculated Okobi's season and/or career was threatened. Today, Okobi does not believe his job is threatened, even though rookie center Marvin Philip, by most accounts, has done well.

"I'll put it like this," Okobi said. "This is year six for me. The scouting department, the coaches, they've had a lot more time to evaluate me. I would think they have a pretty high opinion of me as a player.

"Marvin's a good player. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been drafted if he wasn't. But I wouldn't anticipate in a matter of weeks he could erase everything I've done over the last five, six years."

Okobi will visit the doctor Monday, when he hopes to have a timetable for his recovery and when he can resume working out.

"Hopefully, it will be sooner than you think," Okobi said.

He does not know when the disk herniated or when it became lodged against the nerve.

"It was bothering me pretty much every day I practiced out here. When I went to bed at night, I'd have problems. I just couldn't get comfortable."

Simmons dabbles with center

With Okobi out indefinitely, starting guard Kendall Simmons continues to take a few snaps at center each practice as offensive line coach Russ Grimm, who played the position at Pitt before he became a famous Washington Redskins Hogs guard, watches.

Simmons is doing so in case of an emergency, but Simmons could see himself playing the position some day, even though it is a position he never has played at any level.

"Right now, I'm just picking Jeff's brain and just asking Russ a lot of questions and trying to learn as much as possible because you never know what might happen. I hope Jeff plays as long as he can because it makes our jobs a lot easier around here when you have a guy who knows the offense inside and out."

Calling out the line blocking, the center's job, would be the most difficult transition, Simmons said.

"You can't be lax in there. You have to be the general of the line."

Learning the snap, he said, has been a snap, and he's confident if something happens to Hartings before Okobi returns, he could handle the center's job capably.

"If it happens, it happens. I know we can keep it going if it does."

Injury update

Wide receiver Sean Morey joined the list of injured. He wore a soft cast on his left wrist, injured Tuesday while blocking.

"He may be out here tomorrow, he may play Saturday," Cowher said. "Right now, we don't think there's anything serious."

Wide receiver Hines Ward and tight end Jerame Tuman missed both practices with hamstring injuries. Running back Duce Staley was given the day off. Wide receiver Isaac West (knee) missed both practices, as did linebacker Clint Kriewaldt (unspecified).

Cowher received a big cheer after practice because he extended curfew by two hours on a night in which there were no meetings.

Cowher likes status quo

The annual call for a shortened preseason has been sounded in some corners again this month. Cowher believes in the status quo.

"I'm a big, big proponent of four games," he said of the preseason schedule. "I think you can control your own football teams in terms of starters and how much they need to play. But you need four games to let young players, No. 1, get acclimated to the speed of the game, because they're going to have to play sooner. Also, you have backups who have to step in when [injured players] go down. I think if you shorten the preseason, I think the quality of play you'll find in the course of 16 weeks will not be as good because your backups will not be prepared to play.

"If you shorten the preseason, most of that time you're going to get your regulars ready to play. ... You're going to have injuries, that's part of the game of football. But, at the same time, I'd rather have an injury happen in the preseason, so I can get younger players a chance to play and not at the expense of maybe losing a game."