LATROBE - The defending NFL Rookie of the Year doesn't believe he'll have a problem with the sophomore jinx this season.

"All you guys think I'm going to have it, so I'm not going to," Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said as he surveyed the mob of reporters who crowded around him Monday.

Roethlisberger had just finished the annual camp-opening run test for the first time. He missed it last season because of a 3-day holdout.

"I thought it was going to be a lot tougher than that," he said. "I thought I was going to be in trouble, but I guess the running preparation I did got me through it."

Roethlisberger appears to be in great shape, which is more than can be said about the Steelers' offense. Thirty-something running backs Jerome Bettis and Duce Staley skipped the run test as a precaution against injury; and last year's starting wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward are far from St. Vincent College. Burress signed with the New York Giants in the off-season and Ward is holding out.

The run test was the first on-field activity Ward has missed.

"Obviously it's going to affect the offense with him being such an integral part," Roethlisberger said of Ward. "But just like in the season, when you need a big play to come through you can count on Hines, and I know that when we need him we'll be able to count on Hines again. He'll be here."

Steelers coach Bill Cowher on Monday made his first and, he said, last comment on the Ward holdout.

"First of all, Hines Ward, I love him as a player," Cowher said. "He's a great kid and very much respected on this football team, not just by the players but by the entire organization. It's unfortunate that it has come to this. Hopefully, it will get taken care of sometime in the near future, but we're going to move on with or without him."

On Sunday, director of football operations Kevin Colbert said it was up to Cowher whether Ward would be fined each day.

Cowher said Monday "those things are dealt with on an in-house basis."

Cowher also said free-agent acquisition Cedrick Wilson would start at Ward's flanker position in today's first practice, and Antwaan Randle El would start at Burress's old spot at split end. Cowher also said he has not spoken with Ward lately, but said, "I take all phone calls. I have an open-door policy."

In the series of 14 40-yard sprints which make up the run test, Cowher was impressed by the performances of Casey Hampton and Kendall Simmons, a pair of interior linemen who are coming back from serious knee injuries. Cowher also was impressed with Roethlisberger, who consistently finished first in his heat.

"He's a little heavier but he looks faster. He's worked out hard," said Cowher, who's convinced Roethlisberger will improve his game as well.

Roethlisberger said he's excited to be on the field again.

"I can be a better quarterback and not win 15 games," he said. "We just have to make sure that people understand that and realize that. We can still win a Super Bowl and not win 15 games."