"Rashard Mendenhall showed "burst and long speed" that left Steelers defensive players "buzzing" in Monday's practice.

This comes on the heels of coach Mike Tomlin's surprising declaration that the Steelers are "leaving the door open" for Mendenhall to start the season opener, pending his knee's response to this week's practice workload. "He looked incredible," said DE Brett Keisel. Added ILB Lawrence Timmons, "I thought he looked great. He was running well, finishing runs. I'm excited for him." While it's great news for Mendenhall's progress, we're highly skeptical that he will see significant action at Denver after missing the entire preseason. This does put a bit of a damper on Jonathan Dwyer's sleeper outlook, however."