BEREA: Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward was fined $5,000 for his late hit on Browns Cleveland defensive back Daven Holly in the Browns' 34-7 loss Sunday.

Holly suffered a mild concussion from the blind-side block, which occurred late in the third quarter with the Steelers ahead 31-7. Although Holly is probable for Sunday's home game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he remains upset about the play.

''I'd say 90 percent of the time when you're in the league that long, I don't feel it was a real respectful shot,'' Holly said of Ward, a 10-year veteran. ''The game was well in hand for them. He kinda hit me with a shot I didn't think was appropriate.''

The hit came after Najeh Davenport caught a pass and spun out of several tackles. Ward was flagged for a personal foul.

He said he didn't know that Davenport was down, and he apologized afterward. ''I never try to play the game to hurt anyone,'' Ward said. ''It was a clean hit. It was just a little bit late.''

Safeties under scrutiny

Brodney Pool took over as the starting free safety when Brian Russell was let go in free agency, and the coaches' film review gave him no tackles in Sunday's opener. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw a career-high four touchdown passes, and strong safety Sean Jones looked extremely agitated after Santonio Holmes' 40-yard scoring catch.

Cornerback Leigh Bodden said the secondary missed Russell, now with the Seattle Seahawks.

''Brian Russell was the quarterback of our defense. Brodney Pool and Sean Jones are now,'' Bodden said. ''They're not where Brian Russell was. We just have to work on that. Athletically they're great and talented. They have to work on the mental aspects of that, and we'll be fine.''

Pool said he and Jones weren't yelling at each other after Holmes' score.

''It's not like we were out there arguing,'' Pool said. ''He's like my brother. I'm not about to argue with him. We were just angry about the play.''

Jones said: ''The coverage we were in, we shouldn't have given that play up. It's frustrating when you practice the whole week, and you can't execute it in the game. That was kind of frustrating for me. If one person messes up, everybody messes up. There's no finger-pointing.''

Browns coach Romeo Crennel said the safeties must read and react better against the Bengals and concentrate on doing their jobs first before trying to help elsewhere.

''If my job is to be in the middle of the field, I need to be in the middle of the field and not cheating toward a receiver, or what I think the play might be,'' Crennel said.

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham defended Pool, asecond-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2005.

''I think the further you move away from the ball, the more visible it is for everybody to evaluate you,'' Grantham said. ''When you have 60 plays in the game, and you play 57 of them good, and there's three you'd like to play better, well, those three plays get magnified.''

Pool, when asked if going without a tackle was unheard of for him, said of those counting: ''Sometimes they miss tackles. They don't count some of the things. I had contact at times.''

Brownies

Questionable on the injury report are Bodden (groin), linebacker Antwan Peek (foot) and punter Dave Zastudil (back). . . . Cleveland swapped defensive backs on the practice squad, signing rookie A.J. Davis and waiving Tim Mixon. Davis, from North Carolina State, was a fourth-round pick of the Detroit Lions this year.