It was only a practice, and it did not involve the first-team offense, but right tackle Willie Colon noticed what happened.

During a series in which guard Kendall Simmons was given some work as the emergency backup center, the Steelers botched the snap on several occasions, forcing quarterback Charlie Batch to abort the play.

Nothing was said. Practice wasn't stopped. Coach Mike Tomlin didn't scream. The players merely went back in the huddle and tried it again.

Not the way it used to be.

"Coach Cowher would have flipped out," Colon said, referring to former coach Bill Cowher. "But that's just two different guys and two different ways to do things. Yeah, you can yell, but what is that going to do? You still got to go out and snap the ball. We have guys who are very mature, very adult, who understand they have to get it done."

Tomlin doesn't scream and yell on the practice field. Nor does he get intimately involved when the offense and defense work on the formations and plays they will use in a game, preferring to leave most, if not all, of the instruction to his assistant coaches.

Instead, he gets his point across in other venues, such as team meetings, when he uses the same calm, detached manner to make his point. And he does it in such a manner that he gets a player's attention.

He did it last week with Colon, who said he doesn't always respond well to criticism. And it appeared to work.

"You don't like it, but it helps you," said Colon, a fourth-round draft choice in 2006 who won the starting position from incumbent Max Starks in training camp. "Coach Tomlin always said, you got to take the emotion out of it, and you do.

"You watch film and you're like, it's not that bad, he's just being hard on you. But you can't take it like that. Then you're like, darn right, I got to do it better. You have to have a professional attitude about it. When he came at me, I just ate it. I got to give him what he wants. That's what I try to do, and I still have to give him what he wants."

After being challenged by Tomlin to play better than he did in the season-opening victory in Cleveland, Colon (6-3, 340) was much improved in the 26-3 victory against the Buffalo Bills. He threw the big block on Bills linebacker Paul Posluszny that allowed Willie Parker to score on an 11-yard run and was part of a running game that gained 184 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry.

The Steelers have averaged 195 yards rushing in their first two games, the best two-game start since the 1983 season when the Steelers rushed for a combined 408 yards against Denver and Green Bay. What's more, Parker has three 100-yard games in a row and five in his past six starts, dating to last season. Coincidence or not, Colon has been the starter in four of those games.

"Is he capable of playing better? Absolutely," Tomlin said. "Last week we challenged him to finish. I think he is a better finisher than what he is showing us right now. I think one of the defining elements in his game is the way he finishes off blocks. He is a very good competitor in that way. He was better [against the Bills]."

Colon's specialty is run-blocking, one of the reasons he was able to beat out Starks for the starting position. But against the San Francisco 49ers (2-0), whom the Steelers play Sunday at Heinz Field, he will have to be more effective as a pass-blocker.

That's because he will line against 49ers defensive end Bryant Young, a 14-year veteran and a four-time Pro Bowl selection. The 49ers have five sacks in two games, and Bryant has three of them.

Colon doesn't want to slack now. Nor does he want to be challenged again in a team meeting.

"In Cleveland, I didn't play bad, but I didn't play the hardest," Colon said. "On offense, everyone has to be on the same page, and when one guy is slacking he's holding everybody back. I don't ever want to be the weak link. I took it personal. I took it on the chin and I tried to respond to do better.""