Steelers well-stocked with key veterans

The Steelers retained all but three starters from their championship team.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most stable, predictable and patient organizations in pro sports, characteristics that will be readily evident when the Super Bowl champions open training camp today.
To them, a single bad season isn't reason enough to fire a coach or gut a roster, and a championship year doesn't merit going against previous strategy and handing out big contracts.
Consider this: After winning the franchise's fifth Super Bowl but its first in 26 years nearly six months ago, the Steelers retained all but three starters. They did so not by digging deep into owner Dan Rooney's bank vault but by signing most of their key players to salary cap-friendly deals long before they lifted the Lombardi Trophy in Detroit in February.
As a result, few recent Super Bowl champions have gone into the following season with as many starters back. They kept all but starting wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, safety Chris Hope and defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen despite signing no veteran to a contract larger than cornerback Deshea Townsend's $8 million, four-year deal.
Still, amid all this stability, there are a few potentially disconcerting themes that could disrupt the Steelers' camp and this season.
And, oh, yes, that NFL-record sixth Super Bowl championship season some fans already are envisioning.
Among them:
Another ring or retirement?
Bill Cowher, entering his 15th season as coach, has the longest ongoing run with a single team of any current NFL coach. But he isn't saying if there will be a 16th season, and that's caused an undercurrent of concern within the Steelers' offices.
Cowher had previously said he planned to coach until all three daughters were out of high school; the youngest is entering her sophomore year. But that was before Cowher and his wife bought a $2.5 million luxury home in Raleigh, where both attended school at North Carolina State.
How is the face of the Steelers?
With franchise figurehead and NFL No. 5 career rusher Jerome Bettis now retired, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is the Steelers' most visible and, arguably, most important player. Until a sub-par Super Bowl, his exceptional play was the single most important factor in the Steelers' three road AFC playoff victories against Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver.
Despite his remarkably fast and apparently uncomplicated recovery from severe facial injuries resulting from his scary June 12 motorcycle accident in Pittsburgh, the Steelers aren't saying how much, or if at all, Roethlisberger will play during the preseason.
He also doesn't know yet if he may be more concussion-prone now as a result of the accident; experts say players who have had concussions often tend to be more susceptible to others. Also unclear is how much the accident has affected Roethlisberger's conditioning.
Will the Steelers missed the Bus?
They are well-positioned to replace Bettis on the field, with 1,000-yard rusher Willie Parker and former starter Duce Staley to throw at opposing defenses.
What the Steelers don't know if how much they will miss the intangibles Bettis brought: the locker room pranks, and the guiding hand of one of the NFL's most respected and productive players.
Now, Bettis will be critiquing the Steelers from afar in a broadcast booth, a role that may force him to be publicly critical of the very players he once counseled.
"We've lost a good friend, me in particular," Roethlisberger said. "The guy was a leader. We're going to miss him."
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