Charlie Batch needs much-improved effort Sunday

He only passed for 65 yards and was 0-for-8 on third down plays.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Charlie Batch was everything Tommy Maddox wasn't in his spot start for the injured Ben Roethlisberger, and that's why he'll start at quarterback again Sunday night.
Batch threw one interception Sunday in Green Bay. Maddox threw three in the Steelers' 23-17 overtime loss to Jacksonville on Oct. 16. Batch didn't repeatedly cost the offense scoring chances with mistakes. He got a lead and protected it in a 20-10 victory, Pittsburgh's third in a row.
But Batch also didn't throw for much yardage (65) or convert on third down (0-for-8), the main reasons why the Packers had a six-minute edge in time of possession. He understands those numbers are more often associated with losing than winning, and he knows he must play better in Sunday night's divisional game against the Cleveland Browns.
His coach does, too.
"We can't get through games throwing the ball for 60 yards and thinking we're going to win week in and week out," Bill Cowher said. "We have to do a much more efficient job of throwing the ball."
Will be primary backup
If Batch can win again, he's all but assured of remaining as the primary backup when Roethlisberger returns from knee surgery, probably when the Steelers (6-2) play the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 20.
Now that the rust has been knocked off in his first NFL start in four years, the 30-year-old Batch thinks he can begin playing again like the quarterback who had nine games of at least 250 yards passing with the Detroit Lions from 1998-2001.
"I see myself playing better. I watched the film, and I know what I've got to correct," Batch said. "More attempts and more yardage will come if we convert third downs. If we do that, a lot more attempts come and a lot more yardage comes and a lot more plays downfield will happen."
Browns' pass defense weak
Cleveland's pass defense ranks in the bottom half of the league, but Batch and Cowher can already see elements of the New England Patriots' defense in the Browns' system. Former Patriots defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel is Cleveland's coach.
"They're getting there -- you can see it, they're not allowing a lot of big plays," Batch said. "Right now, the personnel is different, but they're installing it. In New England, the players had been there for years and they understood what the coach was trying to do."
Batch and running back Duce Staley will be in the lineup Sunday after spending most of the season together running the scout team in practice. Staley went into training camp as the No. 1 running back, but fell to No. 3 behind Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis after knee surgery early in training camp.
But with Parker (ankle) and Bettis (quadriceps) injured, Staley carried the ball for the first time since the AFC championship game in January and ran for 76 yards.
"That can only help us now, because I understand what he's doing and he understands what I'm doing," Batch said.
Hometown pressure
Batch will feel some extra pressure Sunday, and it won't come from the Browns' defense. A native of neighboring Homestead, he will be the first Pittsburgh-area quarterback to start a Steelers home game since Terry Hanratty in the early 1970s.
Batch's mother is handling all ticket requests and her son, unlike most NFL players, knows he won't get any pleas for seats from total strangers.
"There's what, 4,000 people there, and I know everybody," said Batch, who runs the summer youth basketball league in his hometown. "There isn't anybody in Homestead I don't know. I mean, I'm there all the time.
"Now, to come in here and make my first start in four years here, it's definitely exciting."