Steelers G Foster on track for opener

Pittsburgh Steelers guard Ramon Foster returned to practice on Monday for the first time in a month and expects to be ready for the team's regular-season opener.

Foster, who sustained a bone bruise and hyperextended right knee on July 28, had an ice wrap on the knee following Monday's practice, but he told reporters he would be ready to play if the season began this weekend. That's a far cry from what he initially thought might be a career-ending injury.

"I thought it was over," Foster said of when he was initially hurt. "I thought it was the worst. But we got the MRI and it's one of those things where you're calm now, you've got a shot. To say I'd be ready for Week 1, I honestly didn't think that, either. But the body's weird."

Foster, 32, is entering his 10th NFL season and the final year of his contract. He has started 103 of a possible 112 games over the last seven seasons, with each of the last five seasons spent exclusively at left guard.

He said this injury was the first major one he's had to his lower body, and he was surprised there was no ligament damage. Instead, Foster was given a four- to a six-week timetable for returning, and he remains right on track.

"Nobody wants to go their whole football career and end it on an injury and have an uphill climb to try to get back," Foster said. "[The MRI] was excitement more than anything."

An undrafted free agent in 2009, Foster has spent his entire career with the Steelers.

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