Former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw told an interviewer last week that he occasionally used steroids in his playing days, but only when prescribed by a doctor to improve the healing process.

"The steroids I'd always taken was to speed up the healing process and that was it. It wasn't to get bigger, stronger, faster," Bradshaw told Dan Patrick on Patrick's radio show.

He not did specify what kind of steroids he took.

During Bradshaw's playing days, steroids were not banned by the NFL and were not illegal. They were approved for use by the FDA and could be readily obtained with a doctor's prescription.

Bradshaw said players in his time in the NFL were not as medically or technologically informed as players are today.

"We were taught as athletes if you could walk and halfway talk, then you played," noting that a doctor recently found two more broken vertebrae in his back that went undetected during his career. Such an injury likely would not go undetected today because of medical advances and could end a career, he noted.

He said the health problems possibly linked to steroid use of Steelers teammates such as Mike Webster, who died in 2002 , and Steve Courson, who died in a 2005 accident when a tree he was chopping down fell on him, concerned him. Courson blamed his own severe health problems on his earlier use of steroids.

"Sure, I'm worried. I don't like to see anything pushed under the table," Bradshaw said.

But, he said, "our league and the players association are doing a good job, testing and trying to make sure these players are aware of what can happen."

Bradshaw could not be reached by the Post-Gazette for further comment.

Raiders

One man was arrested and a second was sought yesterday in a robbery and beating June 16 that left Oakland wide receiver Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a night of partying at Las Vegas nightclubs. Police said Arfat Fadel, of Las Vegas, was accused of multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery, battery and conspiracy in the case.

Lt. Clinton Nichols said Walker lost about $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry in the robbery. None of it has been recovered.

Police officials also released a booking photo of Fadel, 30, and a black-and-white surveillance videotape image of the other alleged assailant who they believe is still in Las Vegas.

Titans

Tennessee defensive end Jevon Kearse wouldn't talk yesterday about being charged with drunken driving, saying instead that he is trying to concentrate on practice.

Kearse, 31, was stopped at 4:42 a.m. Sunday by Vanderbilt University police after they saw the SUV he was driving weave across the road.

Elsewhere

Michael Strahan, the recently retired New York Giants defensive end, has been added to the cast for Fox's NFL pregame show.