Ben Roethlisberger said he's sorry.

The Steelers' quarterback opened training camp by apologizing to his teammates at a team meeting Friday night at Saint Vincent College, then took questions from the news media yesterday morning after practice.

He did not answer some of those questions, and, at one point, promised to end the impromptu session when he was asked if he had any message for Steelers fans about his personal life.

It was the first time Roethlisberger had taken any questions publicly since a woman filed a civil lawsuit in Nevada two weeks ago, claiming he sexually assaulted her in 2008 in a hotel room. And Friday was his first chance to talk collectively to his teammates about it.

"You really don't know all the stories behind it, but he came up and apologized to the team and gave us his side," said receiver Hines Ward, a team captain with Roethlisberger on offense last season.

"He's our teammate, he's like a brother to us, so we're always going to show him support and be there for him. When we're on the field, we don't worry about that. Our thing is to try to get better, try to go out and see if we can make another run this year."

Why the apology?

"Just for the potential distractions," said tackle Max Starks. "It was an apology for us because, when you come to training camp, your main focus is football and to have something like this on top of that, that's what he was apologizing for.

"It was big of Ben to take a proactive approach. Being a leader on this team, just taking a forthright approach and not kind of just brushing it off but addressing us as teammates because he knows we're taking the brunt of it with the questions and everything else. It makes us look up to him a little bit more."

Nose tackle Casey Hampton did not think Roethlisberger needed to apologize.

"I don think he had to say nothing because everybody knows what it is," Hampton said. "That's crazy, man. He didn't have to say that to me. I know how the world is, I know how females are. ... In today's society, man, if anybody says something, you're guilty until proven innocent anyway, you know what I mean?

"He handled it good, but it's BS, everybody knows that."

Roethlisberger would not say publicly if he thought the lawsuit would be a distraction or not to him or his teammates. But, in general, he said he treats potential distractions thusly: "Do the best you can, smile and go."

Asked about the support from his teammates, he said, "It's good because they have my back and I have theirs."

The two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback said he reported to training camp in as good a shape as he has been in the past and nothing this summer detracted from that.

"I'm in good shape, yeah, I feel like I'm right there. Yeah, my golf game's well, too. ... Golf got in the way a lot, but I found a way to get it done."

Roethlisberger said that while it's difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions, he believes he and many of his teammates learned a lesson from the last time they tried, in 2006. That was the summer of Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident that preceded an appendectomy, which kept him out of the season opener. He also sustained a concussion during the season as the Steelers lost six of their first eight games and finished 8-8 and out of playoff contention.

"You know what? You have a bull's-eye on your chest, everyone's gunning for you," Roethlisberger said of the Super Bowl champs. "We learned that after the last time, that everyone wants to come after you and get you. We can't take anybody lightly and we know everyone's coming for us.

"It helps to have been there before because you know what to expect and how to deal with it. I think we have enough veterans on this team that we'll be able to deal with it."

No matter how questions were put to him about the civil lawsuit, though, Roethlisberger would not respond.

"Any other football questions?" he said after one. "I can walk away if we want."

Roethlisberger spent several minutes answering other questions just off the practice field after the first of two practices yesterday that opened training camp in Latrobe. Both ESPN and the NFL television networks had crews among the gaggle of media.

"From his motorcycle incident to all types of stuff, whatever he has on his mind he blocks it out," Ward said, "and, when he gets on the field, it's all about football.

"I don't foresee anything being a distraction. He's going to come out and work his tail off to lead this team and try get back to where we want to go."