"Unorthodox handoffs and some snaps from a formation that isn't used very often.

Those are adjustments Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers might make as the star quarterback plays the rest of the season with a broken right thumb.

Roethlisberger threw Monday for the first time since getting hurt in a Nov. 13 game at Cincinnati. The only thing he could say definitively following practice is that the injury won't keep him from playing Sunday night in Kansas City.

"It hurts first off just to grip the ball. It's something you've got to get used to," Roethlisberger said of the injury on his throwing hand. "Coach (Mike Tomlin) told me not to throw (yesterday), but I was like, 'I want some snaps, I want to throw some.' Obviously I didn't take any under center snaps but I wanted to get a few reps in, at least get the feel for it. It's early to really tell too much. We're just going to take it day by day, and I can promise you I'll be out there.""