LATROBE, Pa. – One of the realities of training camp is that it's going to include peaks ands valleys even for the most talented and experienced of players. What's telling isn't so much whether a player experiences one of those valleys, but how he responds to it when it occurs.

In that sense, it's a perfect proving ground for an NFL regular season.

The Steelers went at it under the lights yesterday at Latrobe Stadium, and while the session was punctuated by the first installment of goal-line, the live tackling drill in which the offense gets four chances to score a touchdown from the 5-yard line, something happened earlier in the session that bodes well for this team.

Santonio Holmes has a lot of stuff going on right now, what with the typical pressure of being a No. 1 draft choice, added onto a somewhat tumultuous offseason, added onto the fact the Steelers are the defending Super Bowl champions, added onto the media scrutiny that's a part of all of that.

During Wednesday's morning practice, Holmes had his problems. He dropped a couple of passes and he muffed a couple of punts, and for a guy who listed catching everything that comes to him as a basic goal of every workout, such an experience qualifies as a valley.

During the night session, Holmes atoned the only way he could. By making plays and catching everything.

In front of a crowd of 11,000 fans, Holmes put together a very good practice, and he capped it with a leaping catch along the sideline among three defenders. Then, on the final play before the goal-line drill, he caught a pass right at the pylon. He didn't get the ball into the end zone, but it was a good catch just short of the goal line.

"The best part about it is we're able to work hard and compete, and they're giving great effort, and we're able to get these guys out here day after day," said Coach Bill Cowher. "There is no substitute for repetitions."

OK, so onto goal-line. The offense opened up with Duce Staley and Dan Kreider in the backfield, with Trai Essex serving as the third tight end along with Heath Miller and Jerame Tuman. And the play-calling was about as subtle as that personnel might indicate.

Staley carried on the first two plays and maybe gained 2 yards to set up a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Verron Haynes came in and gained 2 yards over the right side to set up a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Again, it was a power running play to Haynes, and the sound of the collision was impressive.

Casey Hampton was around Haynes' legs and then James Farrior and Troy Polamalu filled quickly and delivered a combination blow that stopped Haynes short of the goal line. Ryan Clark was also right there on the play.

"It was a close call, because on the second effort the ball was real close to crossing the plane of the goal line, but I had to make the call," said Cowher the referee, "and I made the call that he didn't break the plane."

Then it was time for the second units to go at it. On first down, Cedric Humes was stoned for no gain by Anthony Smith and Clint Kriewaldt. Humes may have the look of a goal-line runner in the NFL, but he was bent backward and had his helmet knocked off because he didn't get low enough when he hit the line of scrimmage.

On second down, Charlie Batch hit fullback Brandon Joe for a touchdown after a play-action fake to Humes.

"It was a good session, by both sides, both times we did it," said Cowher in spite of the moaning from the players about the officiating. "The defense is never happy, the offense is never happy, but I really don't care."

What he cared about is what this drill teaches.

"We'll do this again on Saturday up at St. Vincent College," said Cowher. "You can't do this enough. You go through an entire preseason, and you might get three or four repetitions down at the goal line – maybe – and those are very, very critical situations in games that count. That's why I feel it's important to get at least two good sessions in training camp so these guys get a feel for it.

"It was the first time we've hit, really, since the Super Bowl, and I think it got the juices going a little bit. We don't tackle in 9-on-7, even though we hit in training camp. It was live, and they all knew it."

INJURY UPDATE: "Cedrick Wilson has an Achilles injury," said Cowher, "but it's around the hamstring, so we're going to monitor him. He started practice but he didn't finish. We're going to be very cautious with that. Zach Baker (hamstring) and Mike Kudla (hamstring), both of those are going to be a couple of weeks."