Coach Cowher mentioned last week that we're still building our identity. I think we've put the cement down and we've got some two-by-fours up, but we've still got a long way to go. We've only played two football games, there's still a lot of football to be played.

Joey Porter means a lot to our defense. He's a guy that fires everybody up. His presence out there adds fuel to our flames. Just him being out there elevates the whole level of our defense. That's something that's going to continue on. We expect it from him, and he expects it from himself.

I healed up well. They say some people heal faster than expected sometimes. I spoke with the doctor in Philadelphia who did the surgery and he said, 'Do what you can.' He basically released me to go and practice and do what I can out on the field, as long as I'm pain-free. And it's been pain-free this whole week, and the latter part of last week. So, I'm just trying to heal up and get better every day, day in and day out.

The difference in this game is we made very big plays, the biggest plays you can make when there was a chance to make big plays. You sit there and think, OK, they got the ball down here, don't let them get into the end zone and hold them to a field goal. Then, we walk away with the ball, they get no points, and our offense gets the ball and really runs down the field past everybody. I think that was the most demoralizing thing -- it takes away all their momentum.

Everybody came up with the resolve -- no more of this. We come out here in front of our home crowd, it's the first game of the season, and they just ran the ball and passed the ball down our throats. They executed way better than us. Once we got that emotional edge off, just being over-amped for the game, we settled down. We did our job and did what he had to do.

The last time we played them, they came down and beat us and went to the Super Bowl and became the champs. I think that's going to be on a lot of people's minds.