Day One of mandatory minicamp included Ben Roethlisberger's first crack at quarterbacking the two-minute drill, a drive against the clock and the defense that went smoothly until it ended abruptly.

"It went well until we had that interception at the end," wide receiver Markus Wheaton assessed. "It was all on me, though, something I gotta see that I didn't see. I know it now.

"We're getting different looks as we go along. I'm getting a lot more looks in the slot, so it's a look that I haven't seen yet and now I've seen it and I can adjust. I messed up, I'm gonna fix it and if we get that same look again I'll know what to do next time."

Wheaton turned the wrong way this time on second-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 31 seconds remaining.

Cornerback William Gay took advantage and came up with an interception that prevented the first-team offense from completing its assigned task drive 62 yards for a touchdown in 1:51 with one timeout at its disposal against the first-team defense.

Roethlisberger didn't mind all that much given the circumstances.

"It was good," he said. "It was actually a really good teaching thing. We worked the ball down the field and then we had a little miscue with Markus on the inside and Will Gay made a great play. But it was good because I like and I trust Will Gay to talk to (Wheaton) on the sidelines. So I pulled Markus over and we talked to Will about what Will did, what Will saw. Will's a crafty veteran in this league and it was a really good teaching tape for Markus.

"Markus wasn't quite sure what to do with where Will was and so he kind of broke his route early and he shouldn't have. I'm glad it happened now. It was a really good teaching thing and that's what this is for."

Roethlisberger had hit five of seven passes on the drive, with one spike to stop the clock and one dropped ball by fullback Will Johnson, prior to Gay's interception.

Wheaton and wide receiver Antonio Brown had hauled in big completions prior to Gay making the biggest play of the day.

"Great play by 'Big Play' Will Gay," free safety Mike Mitchell said. "I think he got his second one off Ben today. It looked like Wheaton was breaking out and Ben thought he was going to curl up and Gay was doing what he does best, getting interceptions."

The defense celebrated victory in a drill that delivered an anticipated competitive spark to practice as well as a teaching tool for Wheaton.

"It's been like that around here, 1s-on-1s," Gay said. "We have some best-in-the-world (players) on offense. It's always a great honor to go against our offense and try to get better each and every day."