The Steelers sent rookie linebacker Lawrence Timmons, their first-round draft choice, to a doctor in Philadelphia today to get a second opinion on his troubling groin injury.

Timmons, the team's first-round draft pick, has not practiced in two weeks since the groin was re-injured on the third day of training camp practices at Saint Vincent College. He also missed all the spring drills after the groin was first hit in his first practice after being the 15th player taken in the NFL draft.

"From what I understand, there's somewhat of a breakthrough there, but I'll have more information tomorrow and we'll see where we go with it," coach Mike Tomlin said. "We'll expect him back in town tomorrow. Whether or not he practices or to what degree he practices we'll see in the morning."

Parker, Faneca miss more time

Peter Diana, Post-Gazette, Post-Gazette Guard Alan Faneca watches practice from the sideline yesterday in Latrobe.

Running back Willie Parker's injured left knee will keep him out a more extended time than first believed, and offensive guard Alan Faneca may be on the same timetable with a shoulder injury.

"It's just inflammation of the knee -- it usually takes 10-14 days," Tomlin said yesterday about Parker, who missed the first preseason game Sunday. "We're about 11 to 12 days into it now. So it's coming toward the end. We'll see where that is, but we'll continue to monitor that day to day."

Faneca left the game Sunday after the first series with a shoulder injury.

"Alan's in a similar situation with his shoulder," Tomlin said. "We're going to give him a few days, see if that thing calms down a little bit and take it day by day."

Two others, both starting linebackers, returned to practice: Larry Foote (sprained ankle) and James Harrison (ribs). Harrison did not go the whole way through practice, though, as planned, after missing a week.

"It's good to have him back," Tomlin said. "He fought through it, and we'll just continue to move forward and crawl him back in until he's at full strength."

Quick exits

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and center Chukky Okobi left practice two plays apart. Roethlisberger's foot was stepped on, and Okobi went down with what appeared to be a lower back injury. Tomlin said Roethlisberger should be OK.

As for Okobi, "He went down, a lot of pain and discomfort, but I don't think it's anything that will be long-term."

There's nothing new

Bruce Arians has been around the block a little, back to his days coaching the running backs for the late, great Bear Bryant.

So Arians laughed yesterday when someone mentioned to him that the new Steelers offense isn't all that new.

"There's not that much difference," Arians said. "Every offense in this league is pretty similar. It's just what you do on first and second down as far as creating mismatches."

Arians remembered an old Bryant story to illuminate his point.

"Coach Bryant told me one time, there's nothing new in this game," said Arians, who coached at Alabama in 1981 and 1982. "We had a wishbone team and we had a four-wideout-looking, single-wing thing that we came up with. And he said, 'General [Robert] Neyland ran that play back in '22, and this is the defense for it.' I looked at it and said, 'Coach, you think anybody remembers that?' He said, 'I doubt it, it'll probably be pretty good.'

	Willie Parker takes a photo of Steelers team photographer Mike Fabus (not pictured) yesterday in the afternoon workout at Saint Vincent. Click photo for larger image.

"So there's nothing new, it's all recyclable."

That does not mean it can not be more effective. Arians never said he was scrapping the Steelers' offense. He added some things to the playbook and actually streamlined it from all the stuff the previous coordinators added to it through the years.

Two things he has added and likes are the use of three tight ends, particularly bunching them on one side of the line, and the use of four wide receives on first down with one back with the quarterback under center, not in the shotgun. Those are alignments he believes can help the Steelers create mismatches against defenses.

What you don't see

Things you see but don't see watching a football game:

Brian St. Pierre is sacked just before he cuts loose on what would likely have been a 74-yard touchdown pass to Nate Washington Sunday night.

The sack occurs because Max Starks moved from right tackle to play left tackle, a position he has never played in an NFL game.

"Max's inexperience at left tackle showed up because on that play they went all-out blitz," Arians said, "and we had everybody blocked and he got beat inside because he just wasn't sure of the look. And we don't get to rep against this defense of ours that much or it would have been a huge play. It was just something to show, make people think about it."

And, for the record, the Steelers lined up with four wide receivers on that first down of the series.

Room for improvement

All five Steelers opponents in the preseason play the 4-3 defense, so Starks and the rest of them will get plenty of practice against it.

They plan to zone block more often this season, too. A zone block is just what it sounds like -- blocking in a zone, rather than a particular assignment on a man.

"And we weren't very good at it the other night," Arians said. "We don't get to practice against 4-3 penetrating tackles and ends, which is a real good test for us. Our angle blocking was real good, our zone blocking real average. It's an area we have to improve."

Mahan returns

Center Sean Mahan returned to practice after taking an excused leave of absence since Friday to attend to family matters. "Everything's fine now. I just had some personal stuff I had to take care of, and the Steelers were great about it and that's all taken care of," he said.

Mahan immediately was placed with the first team at center, a planned rotation with Okobi, who ran with the top unit the first two weeks of the season.

"It's good to get to work with those guys and get a feel for us working together to get a shot to show what I can do with the first team," Mahan said. "It's good to be in there."

Quick hits

Roethlisberger completed 7 of 8 passes on a 60-yard touchdown drive in the two-minute drill. His only incompletion was a spike to kill the clock. Backup Charlie Batch then completed 4 of 5. Each ended with a touchdown pass. ... Tomlin said Mahan will start at center and Willie Colon will start at right tackle Saturday against Green Bay. ... The Steelers released former West Virginia University quarterback Rasheed Marshall and signed center Donovan Raiola. Marshall was signed early this year as a receiver by the Steelers. Raiola was released last week by the St. Louis Rams. He is the brother of Dominic Raiola, Detroit's starting center.