Foster suffers knee injury in practice

LATROBE, Pa. -- Not five plays into Saturday's first practice in pads, the Steelers suffered their first casualty of training camp.

Veteran left guard Ramon Foster suffered an apparent right knee injury when he got rolled on by a pile of players during team drills and had to be carted off the field. The injury occurred on a passing play with Landry Jones underthrowing Antonio Brown in the left flat.

But behind the play, the looks on the faces of Foster's teammates told the grim story.

David DeCastro's jaw dropped. Marcus Gilbert gave the sign of the cross across his massive chest. Ben Roethlisberger came over to pat his teammate's chest and had to help in assisting the 6-foot-5, 328-pound Foster into the cart. Ryan Shazier, cane in hand, came over to offer his support for Foster, who was down for about five minutes with his hands covering his face.

The loss of Foster could have a significant impact on the offense. The 32-year-old is a 10-year veteran and has been a starter the past seven seasons.

Following practice, Mike Tomlin said Foster had suffered a lower-body injury and was being evaluated. He'll give an update Sunday.

"Ramon's been doing this a long time and doing it at a high level," the coach said. "He's a core member of the group, obviously.

"Unfortunately, (injuries) are part of the game. I'm not going to speculate. I'm simply going to make the necessary adjustments accordingly and, more importantly, work our tails off to make sure that we're making this as safe as we can for them through this process."

The continuity and cohesion between linemen Alejandro Villanueva, Maurkice Pouncey, DeCastro, Gilbert and Foster has helped to give the Steelers one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL. In three of the last four years, the Steelers offense has ranked in the top three.

The injury comes at a most unfortunate time for Foster personally. Not only are the Steelers expected to contend for the Super Bowl, which has so far eluded him in his career, Foster is in the final year of his contract. It was expected that the Steelers could move on from Foster, the oldest member of the line, after this season.

Without Foster, the Steelers turned to B.J. Finney, who has started seven games at center and guard the past two seasons, at left guard for the remainder of practice. Tomlin expressed confidence that Finney could get the job done, if need be.

"He's proven that over the last couple years when given an opportunity to play," the coach said.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY