Appearing last week on the Dan Patrick radio show, Bradshaw said he and others used steroids while recovering from injuries.

"We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing. My use of steroids from a doctor was to speed up [healing after] injury, and I thought nothing of it. . . . It was to speed up the healing process, that was it. It wasn't to get bigger and stronger and faster."

Bradshaw said yesterday that he was referring to therapeutical corticosteroid injections, which are used to reduce inflammation, not anabolic steroids that build muscle and sometimes cause extreme side effects.

"I'm not bodybuilding here," Bradshaw said, laughing about the confusion that stemmed from the interview. "They were not those kind of steroids. They were anti-inflammatories."

Bradshaw drew the distinction yesterday while appearing at a news conference to welcome Michael Strahan to the Fox NFL Sunday team.

Bradshaw suffered neck, wrist and elbow injuries during his career and retired after suffering an elbow injury near the end of the 1983 season.

Several Steelers players from the 1970s have admitted to using steroids, including the late Steve Courson, whom Bradshaw mentioned in the interview with Patrick.

Walker assailant nabbed. One man was arrested and a second was sought in a robbery and beating that left Oakland Raiders receiver Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a long 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 a June 16 robbery.

Lt. Clinton Nichols said Walker lost about $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry in the robbery.

The loot has not been recovered, he said.