Tommy Maddox will start Sunday at quarterback for the Steelers, 13 games and 13 victories after he was knocked from that perch by an elbow injury and kept from it by the best rookie performance in the history of the game.

Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Tommy Maddox will be back in the driver's seat Sunday. Click photo for larger image.

Bill Cowher announced after practice yesterday that Maddox would start in place of injured Ben Roethlisberger, who threw a dozen or so passes on the sideline. Roethlisberger's ribs were bruised late in the third quarter Sunday against Baltimore. The Steelers don't want to play him in Buffalo, but he could suit up if something were to happen to Maddox.

Maddox's elbow injury accelerated the Roethlisberger Era that turned into full-blown Ben-mania as the Steelers went 13-0 with him as their starter and 14-1 overall to secure the AFC's top seed for the playoffs. Maddox said he did not imagine what the Steelers might have done had he remained their starting quarterback.

"Things happen for a reason," said Maddox, who said his elbow returned to full strength about three weeks ago. "I know that and have gone through my whole career knowing that. This too has happened for a reason.

"It might be for this team to have the successful season we had or we might have been just as successful if I were playing. Who knows? 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."

The Steelers fully expect Roethlisberger to be ready to play in their first playoff game Jan. 15 or 16. He and Maddox are the only quarterbacks on the roster. Brian St. Pierre is on their practice squad.

"I don't have a lot of velocity on the ball right now," Roethlisberger said after briefly throwing yesterday. "That will come with rest."

Roethlisberger absolved Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs of any cheap shot on the play in which he was injured. Suggs drove into the quarterback after Roethlisberger released a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jerame Tuman. The linebacker fell on top of him as they hit the ground.

"I don't think he did anything dirty," Roethlisberger said. "He drilled me into the ground, which didn't feel too good. But I don't think it was anything illegal. He's a great player, he's a Pro Bowl player and you don't expect cheap things coming from a guy like that. I don't think there was anything wrong with it."

Roethlisberger said the impact of the hit squeezed his ribs together, bruising the cartilage.