Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has not had to throw the football much in the second half against opponents.. Click photo for larger image. More Steelers Coverage: Steelers Notebook: Playoff not a bad word for Burress Porter, Green make nice after fight

Anyone who wants to see Ben Roethlisberger's next show Sunday in Cincinnati should get to their seats on time. If he and the Steelers follow their usual pattern, Roethlisberger's right arm will go on ice in the second half.

This rookie sensation may rank third in the AFC with a 101.3 passer rating, but there's not much for him to do in the second half other than to hand off. The Steelers' M.O. as they have run out to an 8-1 record is to grab a lead in the first half and grind it out in the second with their running backs.

Roethlisberger threw five passes in the second half of the Steelers' 24-10 victory Sunday in Cleveland. That gives him 18 second-half passes in the past three games, all runaway victories. In all but two of his seven starts, Roethlisberger threw eight passes or fewer in the second halves of games. In the two games against Cleveland, Roethlisberger passed a total of nine times in the second half.

It's a formula the Steelers would love to follow the rest of the season if they could.

"When we don't have to throw the football, that's scary," receiver Plaxico Burress said. "When the running game is that effective each Sunday, it says a lot about our offensive line, says a lot about our running backs and says a lot about our offensive coordinator who has faith in those guys up front."

It's why the Steelers rank No. 2 in the league in rushing yards per game and No. 26 in passing yards per game. But that low ranking in the pass should not be taken as a sign of weakness, Burress said.

"When we have to throw the ball, that's when it's going to be really ugly. We can run the football -- everybody in the league knows that -- but we can also throw it. Right now we're just putting it to the side for when we have to do it and when we have to do it, everybody knows what we can do."

The Steelers are winning without having to dip into half of their arsenal, for the most part. Roethlisberger threw only 16 passes against Cleveland, 18 against Philadelphia and 24 against New England. Of his 151 pass attempts in his seven starts, 53 came in the second half, or just 35 percent.

The threat of a pass, though, means defenses cannot stack up against the run the way they often did when Jerome Bettis was the team's battering ram and there was little respect for the Steelers' passing game.

"I know we cause hell for defensive coordinators because of all the different things we can do," said Hines Ward, whose 54 receptions tie him for second in the AFC.

Roethlisberger broke the NFL rookie record (since the 1970 league merger) for consecutive wins to start a career with seven, surpassing Mike Kruczek's 6-0 record as a starter with the 1976 Steelers. Now he can set his sights on another former Steelers quarterback and his 10-0 start.

Mike Tomczak didn't do it as a rookie and he did not do it as a Steelers quarterback, but his Chicago Bears teams won the first 10 games he started in the NFL, starting in 1986, his second season in the league. The only other quarterback with such a quick start was Daunte Culpepper, who won his first seven games as a starter with the Minnesota Vikings in 2000, the year after they drafted him.

"He is part of the reason we're 8-1, but at same time we as veterans know it's not just Ben," Ward said. "Everybody stepped up and played."

Still, Ward has a sense for the dramatic as much as anyone and realizes the kind of story his rookie quarterback has become throughout the NFL, especially for one drafted after two other quarterbacks, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, were taken.

"It's just a great story," Ward said. "A rookie coming out. ... You always heard about Eli and Philip and here he is, we're 8-1 right now. I don't think any rookie quarterback has done that. He's undefeated right now. It's such a great story, I'm glad to be part of it."