Troy Polamalu practices without a knee brace

Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu practiced without a knee brace this week, a major sign of progress from an injury-plagued season last year.

"I don't think you stop getting better," Polamalu told Pittsburgh reporters. "I'm learning so much more about technique and all of these little things that I wish I would have known my first few years of the NFL."

Last season, Polamalu dealt with a sprained medial collateral ligament and a strained posterior collateral ligament.

"What's been kind of tough about my knee injuries is it's all been kind of wrong place, wrong time," Polamalu said. "Any time I've sustained a knee injury the only thing that probably could have stopped it was wearing a straight-leg brace. ..

"You learn as your body ages how to deal with the injuries, when your body needs to peak, leaving camp, not before camp  I think there's a fine line of how much football stuff you can get done at this time and also getting healthy. I didn't play that much last year, and (getting healthy) is my No. 1 focus."

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