Ben Roethlisberger might be 9-0 as a starting quarterback for the Steelers, but he's 0-2 with the NFL's uniform police.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Ben Roethlisberger's contraband "40". Click photo for larger image. Related coverage Roethlisberger answers another call

R oethlisberger was warned to cease and desist or pay a $5,000 fine if he continues to write messages on his white Nike game shoes. Roethlisberger has written the No. 40 on the sides of his shoes this season in honor of late Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, and written the initials "PFJ" on the toes of each shoe. The initials stand for Play For Jesus, a message Roethlisberger has carried onto football fields since he was a high school sophomore in Findlay, Ohio.

Earlier, Roethlisberger removed a yellow LiveStrong Lance Armstrong band from his left wrist after the NFL warned him about it.

He has not been fined for either violation because he stopped doing it after he was warned. Once warned, a future violation carries a $5,000 fine and a second violation is a $10,000 fine.

"It's a rule," Roethlisberger said. "I don't make them and I don't want to break them, so that's something I have to take care of now."

He will still carry the message Sunday night in Jacksonville, only it might not be readily visible.

"It'll be somewhere," Roethlisberger said. "Let's see if they find it."

Merton Hanks, a former 49ers cornerback who now works in player development for the league, apparently noticed an item in the Post-Gazette yesterday about Roethlisberger's shoe ritual. Hanks called Steelers equipment manager Rodgers Freyvogel, who relayed the warning.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league does not permit any visible personal messages on players' uniforms.

"It's a long-standing policy," Aiello said. "You can't alter the uniform in that manner."

The league earlier this season warned Denver quarterback Jake Plummer about wearing the No. 40 in honor of Tillman, who quit the NFL in 2002 to join the Army Rangers. He was killed April 22 in Afghanistan. The league later allowed each team to wear the No. 40 on their helmets for one game this season.

The NFL also warned Colts quarterback Peyton Manning not to wear black hightop shoes in honor of Johnny Unitas after the Hall of Famer died two years ago.

The league has permitted teams to wear numbers or initials as a group to honor one of their own -- the Steelers, for example, wore the initials AJR on their helmets during the 1988 season in honor of team founder Arthur J. Rooney, who died that August.

"We have to have standard uniform policy," Aiello said, "and there would be nowhere to draw the line in terms of personal message as far as which one is appropriate and which isn't. We do things as a league or as teams, teams will honor an individual and get approval to wear someone's initial or number.