Big Ben is back, but he'll need lots of help

The undefeated Colts are playing at their best right now and will be home next Monday.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Ben Roethlisberger is expected to return Monday night in Indianapolis, a big lift for a Pittsburgh Steelers offense that didn't run well, complete many passes or put much pressure in losing to Baltimore last weekend.
The downside for the Steelers in one of their biggest games of the season: Peyton Manning will be at quarterback for the other team.
No wonder coach Bill Cowher said Tuesday the Steelers (7-3) can't begin to play at the level they did in a 16-13 overtime loss in Baltimore and hope to be competitive against a Colts offense that scored touchdowns on its first five possessions in beating Cincinnati 45-37.
The Colts (10-0) had more offense in half a quarter than either the Steelers or Ravens did in 4 1/2 quarters.
Tough challenge
That's why, perhaps for the first time in his 14 seasons as the Steelers' coach, Cowher conceded his team will be challenged merely to keep this game close, in a stadium that can be the NFL's loudest when the Colts offense is rolling.
Which, this season, has been about 90 percent of the time.
"That's the most important thing in my mind, to keep this game within striking distance," Cowher said, a more candid than usual comment for a coach who rarely concedes anything to any opponent. "If we can do that and not beat ourselves and not give up some of the big plays, make them do things methodically and slowly, the longer we can keep this thing going into the fourth quarter. Then it becomes a play here or a play there."
The Colts haven't scored fewer than 31 points in their last five games but, earlier this season, won successive close games against Jacksonville (10-3) and Cleveland (13-6).
Manning also did little in a 28-10 loss to Pittsburgh in a 2002 Monday night game, though Cowher said the Colts have upgraded themselves on both sides of the ball.
Happened before
If the Steelers dig deep into their history books, they can find some precedent for beating an unbeaten team that was considered a Super Bowl favorite, much like these Colts.
They dealt the eventual Super Bowl champion 49ers their only loss in 1984, during a season in which the Steelers unexpectedly reached the AFC championship game.
The Steelers also came close to upsetting the NFL's only unbeaten Super Bowl champions, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. They led much of the AFC title game before losing 21-17, in a game that turned on a long run by Dolphins punter Larry Seiple off a fake punt.
These Steelers should get a confidence boost from the return of Roethlisberger, who is 18-1 as an NFL starter but has missed three consecutive games and four of six with knee injuries. He is listed as probable.
Needs to recover
However, Cowher said Roethlisberger needs to get back to game speed in a hurry after not playing since Oct. 31, a difficult challenge since two or three failed drives early in a game can allow the Colts' offense to build up a big lead.
"You watch that game last week, there were a number of third-and-9s, third-and-10s that they converted in the first couple of drives," Cowher said. "It can get demoralizing for a defense.
"And you keep giving them snaps with the playmakers they have, and a defense will eventually break down and they will make a big play."
To Cowher, the key is to consistently give Manning different looks defensively, never allowing him to determine in advance where the pressure is coming from or where the defense will be vulnerable on that play. The Patriots did exactly that in beating the Colts during each of their last two Super Bowl runs.
"Every defense you have, there is a void in there somewhere. He finds it," Cowher said. "The thing we've got to do is make the time for him to process all that a little shorter and to try to confuse him a little bit.
"You're not going to confuse him for a long period of time, but maybe just long enough to disrupt their passing game."
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