New pieces to the Steelers puzzle in place

Extra practices and greater emphasis on special teams are some of the changes under Mike Tomlin.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bill Cowher is semi-retired in North Carolina, taking piano lessons and promising he won’t soon return to an NFL sideline.

Former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter is in Miami, awaiting a late-November return visit to Pittsburgh.

Former offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is running the show in Arizona with former assistant head coach Russ Grimm beside him.

The departure of a Super Bowl-winning coach who was the very face of the franchise for 15 years, along with so much other coaching and playing talent, was big news for a Steelers franchise that prides itself on continuity and consistency.

After all, the Steelers have changed coaches only twice since 1969.

So why were the names Cowher, Whisenhunt and Porter heard so infrequently during training camp?

Debate minimized

Why was the impact of their departures debated so little? Was it because the Steelers were ready for a change after 15 seasons of Cowher, even if that next-to-last season produced a Super Bowl?

Or maybe it’s because Tomlin has been so hands on, so eager to get his team playing his way, so intent on not letting this alteration or that player move be disruptive, that he has allowed the Steelers only to look forward, not back.

“I’m not one for tradition,” Tomlin said, ignoring the fact the Steelers have long been one of the NFL’s most traditional teams.

Certainly Cowher brought many changes when he replaced the retired Chuck Noll in 1992, the most significant being a fresh face with new ideas.

The changes made by Tomlin in the post-Cowher era might be even greater, from the addition of extra practices, to a much greater emphasis on special teams and an insistence the players adjust to him and not vice versa.

Limited impact

But while training camp seemingly was all Tomlin all the time, a new coach — even a promising new coach — can take a team only so far.

For the Steelers to rebound from an 8-8 season and return to being the club they were while going 15-1 in 2004 and winning the Super Bowl after the 2005 season, four significant questions must be answered.

Yes, Tomlin is one of them, but others are just as important:

•Can Ben Roethlisberger be big-play Ben again?

No motorcycle crashes, no appendectomies, no concussions this year for Roethlisberger, who had numerous excuses for a bad season last year.

And he produced one, with an NFL-high 23 interceptions. He’s only 25, but he has looked like the old Big Ben in camp, and that was exactly what the Steelers wanted to see.

“I’m just trying to go out and prove to myself that I can do it, that my career’s not over and last year was just a fluke,” said Roethlisberger, who began working out for this season even before last season’s playoffs were over.

His extra work has been noticed.

“Ben’s been looking a lot better than he was last year, he’s been looking great,” wide receiver Nate Washington said.

Hybrid defense

•How will this hybrid Dick LeBeau-Tomlin defense work?

Tomlin, it’s obvious, wants to play a 4-3 defense, but the Steelers are too wed to skilled defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s blitz-from-everywhere 3-4 alignment to change immediately.

So, for the interim, they’ll play a 3-4 that incorporates elements of the 4-3. Star safety Troy Polamalu said the changes aren’t big, but linebacker Larry Foote is promising that what the Steelers show in September will be much different.

“We have a strong foundation and we kept some key elements around,” Polamalu said.

•Can the offensive line come together, and quickly?

This is all but certain to be All-Pro guard Alan Faneca’s 10th and last season in Pittsburgh. He hasn’t talked contract with the club for months, and he made an angry promise during the May minicamp he wouldn’t be back in 2008.

While there is no reason to suspect Faneca’s unhappiness will spill onto the playing field, the unsettled line was the lingering issue of camp.

There will be a new center (Sean Mahan, for the retiring Jeff Hartings) and, it appears, a new right tackle (Willie Colon, for the benched Max Starks).

Urgency

Obviously, Roethlisberger and Willie Parker, the 1,494-yard rusher of last season, want the line to get settled in as soon as possible.

•How quickly can Tomlin put Cowher in the background?

Coaching from Monday through Saturday is a lot different than on Sunday. Cowher was no gameday sideline whiz — didn’t his two AFC title game losses to Bill Belichick prove that? — but Tomlin has no experience at game management. There have been a ton of former coordinators who failed as head coaches, though there is nothing to suggest yet that Tomlin will be one of them.

Tomlin’s training camp was rugged, more so than the last few under Cowher, but was mostly without controversy and it appeared as if a lot of work got done.

“I like this team because they are right-minded and they are focused on the things that matter,” Tomlin said. “That is the quality of our work, the quality of our preparation.”

There are other issues: Is LaMarr Woodley the next Kendrell Bell, a rookie linebacker who can make a difference in a hurry?

Santonio’s role

Is Santonio Holmes ready in his second season to be the deep threat to complement Hines Ward?

Does Parker’s rustiness from a preseason knee surgery carry into September?

Will the underperforming special teams improve after getting so much attention in camp?

Those questions will start to get answered in September and October, when the Steelers will know if there will be a lot more talk about Cowher and Parker, Whisenhunt and Grimm, than there was in July and August.

“I don’t know how we’re going to be,” center Chukky Okobi said. “Nobody does until you start to play.”