Maddox, Scott in lineup

The Week 1 starters have taken their misfortunes in stride.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Tommy Maddox and Chad Scott figured to be among the Pittsburgh Steelers' most important players this season. As expected, they began the regular season in the starting lineup. They'll end it that way, too.
What happened between Weeks 1 and 17 probably won't be fondly remembered by either player, despite being part of one of the best teams in franchise history. The Steelers (14-1) take a franchise-record 13-game winning streak into Sunday's game at the Buffalo Bills (9-6).
All but forgotten
Maddox, the 2002 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, has been all but forgotten since injuring his right elbow Sept. 19. First-round draft pick Ben Roethlisberger stepped in to win 13 consecutive starts and could be the team's quarterback for the next decade.
Maddox hasn't let himself dwell on what might have happened if he hadn't been hurt.
"Things happen for a reason. I know that," said Maddox, who will start Sunday because of Roethlisberger's rib cartilage injury. "We might have been just as successful if I was playing. Who knows? But you can't sit there and try to figure out things that don't happen. Things happen, you deal with them, and you go on."
Unlike the Giants' Kurt Warner, who wants out after being demoted to rookie Eli Manning's backup, Maddox probably will stay put in Pittsburgh. He is signed at an affordable price through 2007, and he and Roethlisberger get along well.
But after the Broncos' 1992 first-round pick waited 10 years to become an NFL starter, Maddox didn't anticipate returning to the bench so soon -- especially not during a season Roethlisberger in which didn't expect to play.
"I've been on both sides of it. It's one of those things. That's why you've always got to prepare, you've always got to get ready like you're going to play every snap," Maddox said. "You just might. You never know."
Great Scott?
Scott is the Steelers' highest-paid defensive player, with a $4.1 million salary, and his knee injury Oct. 17 -- the same day nose tackle Casey Hampton was lost for the season with an injured knee -- seemed to be a major setback to one of the NFL's top defenses.
What the Steelers didn't count on was backup Willie Williams, who hadn't been a starter since 2001 with Seattle, playing so well with Scott out.
Now, with Scott ready for the first time in 21/2 months, there is no guarantee that he will be the starter once the playoffs begin.
Scott is starting Sunday only because Deshea Townsend will miss at least one game with a broken right hand.
Scott normally plays left cornerback but, with Townsend out, will start on the right side.
"You work on your breaks both ways in practice, so I don't anticipate it being that much of a problem. It's not going to be difficult for me to read. It's pretty much the same. You just turn your head a different way," Scott said.
A player making as much money as Scott does normally doesn't require a late-season audition, but this game could be exactly that. Townsend probably will be listed as questionable for the Steelers' playoff game Jan. 15 or 16 but, if he is ready, coach Bill Cowher could choose to keep him and Williams together.
"I'm just concerned with trying to help this team win, whatever my role may be," Scott said. "It's not even a question of whether or not I need to get my spot back. I know we were winning games when I was playing and we continued to win when I wasn't. You don't want to rock the boat or anything. I just want to help."
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