Of course, there are more keys to the Steelers' 2007 season than five -- their coaches look like building superintendents, they carry so many keys around with them.

Some that aren't mentioned are the play of the cornerbacks, which fell off last season; the addition of a new punter, who should help that part of the game; the effect of a new coaching staff on the players; the departure of team leaders such as Joey Porter and Jeff Hartings and what effect that might have; the changes on offense, and what appears to be a relatively easy schedule through the first four or five games.

If this were a story on the 10 keys to the season, many of those would be included.

Here, instead, are the five that have been deemed the key keys to the Steelers' 2007 season:

Push 'em back, shove 'em back, wa-a-a-y back!

The season spins in the balance of the offensive line. If it is effective, Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker can do their thing. If it's not, it could be a long season for those two, for Mike Tomlin and for Steelers fans everywhere.

Since there have been football coaches, they have paid homage to the "men in the trenches." Of course, there are no trenches in football because it would look more like a steeplechase if there were.

As it is, the Steelers' offensive line has looked more like a chaise lounge in the preseason, it has been folded several different ways. It appears they will start out with three of the same starters as the past two years -- Marvel Smith at left tackle, Alan Faneca at left guard and Kendall Simmons at right guard. Willie Colon apparently has won the job at right tackle, supplanting Max Starks, who has started the past two seasons.

Sean Mahan will start at center, something that seemed predisposed when the Steelers made him their only significant signing in free agency.

Keep 'Fast Willie' healthy

No player on the team is more important. Willie Parker is the player the Steelers can least afford to lose, because they have no one behind him in his league as a running back. Najeh Davenport is a nice player to have on their depth chart, but he's not going to force defenses to play eight men in the box to stop him. If something happens to Parker, it puts all the more pressure on Roethlisberger and the passing game.

Keeping him healthy is so important that it was surprising that new coach Mike Tomlin played Parker so often in the next-to-last preseason game when he carried 10 times and caught three passes.

Playing Parker on third downs also is under consideration. That was a job mostly handled by Verron Haynes the past few years. The Steelers believe that Davenport and Carey Davis can do it.

Parker ran for 1,494 yards last season, third most in team history. His 337 carries were the fourth most. Anyone who thought he might be fragile had that notion dismissed by his performance in 2006, his second consecutive 1,000-yard season.

There's not a whole lot the Steelers can do to keep Parker healthy other than not play him and the plans seem to be to use him even more.

The Big Ben Factor

Ben Roethlisberger did not tear up the preseason and that's not necessarily a bad thing. He did not do it in 2005 either and went on to become the youngest quarterback on a Super Bowl winning team.

Roethlisberger looks in practice as he always has. He's even in more control of his offense, and the coaches did not expand things for him just to make him feel good, they did it because they believe he can handle it.

He had the finest first two seasons of any quarterback in NFL history, then he hit a bump -- first on Second Street on his motorcycle, then through an appendectomy 10 days before the season started and finally with a concussion. He made many poor decisions last season that helped him lead the NFL with 23 interceptions.

However, those first two seasons were not flukes and among the horrible games like the one in Oakland last season, he had some beauties -- two near-perfect games against Kansas City and in Atlanta (before he left with a concussion) and three more games with more than a 100 passer rating.

Roethlisberger has said he does not want to blame what happened last season on his injuries. He said this after former coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, speaking in hindsight 2 1/2 months after the season ended, offered the opinion that his coaches probably rushed him.

The new staff believes the old Ben has returned. If so, he will provide a boost to the offense and the team's prospects.

Sic 'em

A pass rush cannot merely be rated by the number of sacks it produces, but it helps. Last season, the Steelers managed only 39 sacks, tied for third lowest by a Bill Cowher-coached team. Kevin Colbert, their director of football operations, acknowledged this year that the Steelers had to put more pressure on the quarterback.

Then, they released Joey Porter, the franchise's fourth-most prolific pass rusher in history with 60 sacks. The new staff concurred with management that Porter was on the downside of his career and no longer was worth the $5 million salary he was to make this season.

They have been left thin at outside linebacker, where the traditional pressure on the quarterback comes from in a 3-4 defense. It remains to be seen if releasing Porter helps them, but it did help spur them into drafting outside linebackers with their first two picks. One, LaMarr Woodley, is scheduled for immediate duty as a pass-rusher on the left side of their nickel and dime defenses. The other, Lawrence Timmons, is still trying to overcome lost time to a groin injury.

Ends Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel have picked up some of the slack as pass-rushers the past few seasons, and Keisel will get a chance to do more of it this year. Coach Dick LeBeau plans to move Keisel around in the lineup, popping him up here and there to confuse offenses and also try to give him a better route to the quarterback.

Special special teams

Coach Mike Tomlin hired not one, but two special teams coaches for the first time in Steelers history. He then spent more time on special teams in training camp than any head coach in the history of the Steelers.

Does practice make perfect? They did not exactly shine in the preseason, muffing punts and kickoffs and even having an extra point blocked.

The real test won't come until they tee it up for real, starting Sunday in Cleveland. That's the case for every area of the team, but special teams are unique in that many of the players running down under punts and dropping punts won't be on special teams Sunday in Cleveland.

The Steelers' special teams play did improve the past several seasons, particularly on the coverage units. The current staff has few memories of losing to New England in the AFC championship game after the 2001 season because of two botched special teams plays that ended in touchdowns.

Tomlin, though, wanted to make a statement to his players about how important he believed special teams were to the outcomes of football games and seasons, and he drove it with extra practices in training camp. It's also why they spent draft picks in the sixth and fourth rounds to get rookie punter Daniel Sepulveda.