The Steelers have practiced in snow and rain, in blazing heat and sub-zero temperatures, but on Tuesday, they practiced through something completely different. And they didn't even realize it.
A 5.8 earthquake hit in Mineral, Virginia, at 1:51 p.m. while the Steelers were practicing at the team's facility on the South Side. Staff, particularly those on the second floor, felt the shaking effects of the tremor, but on the field the players had no idea what had happened.
"Where were we?" asked a surprised Brett Keisel when told about it coming off the field. "None of us even felt it."
Ryan Mundy, who was born in Pittsburgh, was equally stunned.
"Really," said Mundy. "Wow. You are tuned out from the world during practice. But Pittsburgh is not known for that. We have had a few tornados, but an aftershock that is pretty astonishing."
Defensive backs coach Carnell Lake is a California native so earthquakes are old hat for him, but he never expected that act of nature to follow him east.
"It will stop you in your tracks," said Lake. "If you have lived there a long time you just sit there and make sure nothing breaks. I didn't feel it at all. The one time I would have liked to have felt it in Pittsburgh I am outside."
Aaron Smith, who was with the Steelers when they played in Miami in 2004 during Hurricane Jeanne, joked that nothing stops football from going on.
"We just keep on rolling around here," said Smith, who was asking staff if they felt it and then quickly adding he was going to call home. "Now I can say I played football through a hurricane and an earthquake. I think people think we are crazy. They say to us you are flying into a state that is about to have a hurricane to play football and you are still practicing while there is an earthquake.
"That's the way it is. This train just rolls and rolls."
And some actually thought it might have been a train, as there are tracks next to the practice facility. Keisel, though, offered another opinion.
"Was Casey (Hampton) jumping around out there again?" joked Keisel. "There are a lot of big men out here and when they get moving the ground shakes regardless."
