Steelers Veterans Taking The Lead At Minicamp

Tuesday brought us a lot of good information from the first day of minicamp, with the most important of which being this: no one got hurt. There were a few players who sat out, namely James Harrison, whose injury we already knew about, and Curtis Brown, during the a.m. session of minicamp. But no new injuries being reported.

That no new injuries have been experienced is good, but the veterans, specifically a still-injured one, taking the lead while injured is even better. That still-injured player is Casey Hampton.

Pittsburgh area Associated Press writer Will Graves, @WillGravesAP on Twitter, tweeted that Big Snack is being looked at as Big Coach here early on: "Highlight of #Steelers avail this AM: Somebody put a "Coach Hampton" sign over Casey's locker. He's all for it 'if they add it to my salary.'"

There's a video recap of the first day of mini-camp on steelers.com that shows Big Coach instructing rookie Alameda Ta'amu Tuesday's practice. This is a just another example of how Steelers veterans take the lead in helping young players and nurturing them. More proof that this is a family-like organization. -Day 1 Recap http://t.co/3LtqF00k

Ben Roethlisberger has also been taking the lead with the new offense. Even if that just means not speaking ill of it anymore. Though, he did explain himself regarding that. Big Ben said that he didn't like the idea of bringing in Todd Haley and a new offense at first, but that it just forces him to work harder.

“That was it early on,” Big Ben said. “I felt like I was really starting…I was hopefully going to be coming into the prime of my career and [not] starting all over with an offense.”

Granted, most quarterbacks really hit their stride and even become elite in their early 30's. Big Ben is 30.

He went on to say, “You know what, it kind of put a little extra on me and the rest of the guys to learn the offense and learn something new."

Add to that, he's still newly married, newly graduated college, and even is now a soon-to-be daddy. He and his wife, Ashley, are expecting their first child. A lot on his plate, but he seems to be handling all of it well. When asked about how the due date may affect any games, he said: "Possibly, but, as Coach always says, we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Here's my prediction: No. 7 will get a 7lb. 7oz. baby boy in approximately 7 months which will inspire him to bring a 7th Ring to the Steel City. Sound good?

Back to the topic of the offense briefly, even Brett Keisel commented on Big Ben's grasp of the offense: "I am very impressed on how Ben has grasped this offense....we are only going to go as far as he can take us." 'Nuff said.

Willie Colon has taken the lead too. Sort of. His welcome to the rookies, "In the huddle I said, 'It smells like baby powder and pampers in here.'"

Oh well, each of us has different motivational and teaching methods.