PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger took a small step toward returning to action and that left his Pittsburgh Steelers’ teammates feeling good.

The veteran quarterback was a limited participant in practice Wednesday for the first time since spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Sept. 27 during a win over the Rams at St. Louis.

Roethlisberger took part in non-contact seven-on-seven passing drills. While he is not expected to play in Sunday’s game against the visiting Arizona Cardinals, Roethlisberger appears to be on course to beat the original timetable of missing six weeks.

“We’re just taking it one day a time,” he said.

However, practice got a bit livelier once Roethlisberger took his 15 snaps.

“It was really good to see that, very encouraging,” guard Ramon Foster said. “But until he’s ready, we really can’t focus on that. We’ve just got to stick with the plan.”

Roethlisberger said the determining factor in being game ready will be when he feels he is mobile enough to protect himself.

“The biggest thing is being able to avoid the pass rush,” he said. “I can walk around fine. I can step and throw. But being able to make the subtle moves inside the pocket, and outside the pocket, too, is important. I have to make sure I am able to do that.”