Their four-time Pro Bowl receiver is off to his slowest start since 1999 and has dropped two passes, a total he might not commit over a typical 16-game season.

Their No. 2 receiver has only six catches, has half as many drops and is now sharing the split-end position with the No. 1 draft pick, who is not exactly setting a rookie standard.

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And the No. 3 receiver has offset one brilliant touchdown catch with a number of other costly gaffes, including a dropped touchdown on maybe the best pass Ben Roethlisberger has thrown this season.

Wrap it all up and you have the least productive corps of wide receivers in the National Football League, the only team in the AFC that doesn't have two wide receivers with 10 or more catches.

In fact, heading into tomorrow's game against the Kansas City Chiefs (2-2), the only other NFL team that can claim such a dubious distinction is the run-happy Atlanta Falcons.

And that's only because they lead the NFL in rush offense (937 yards).

Not that anyone seems concerned.

"The quarterback and receivers, we go hand-in-hand," Hines Ward said. "The receivers can't live without a quarterback and the quarterback can't live without his receivers. We all can get better -- the receivers, the quarterback, the tight end. It's not just an emphasis on the receivers having to get better. We're all in this together."

The Steelers' wide receivers have combined for 35 catches -- Ward leads with 13 -- which is only slightly more than the total of the AFC's leading receiver, Laveranues Coles of the New York Jets (33). Only one wide receiver -- Cedrick Wilson -- has a pass play longer than 25 yards.

Worse, Ward shares the team receiving lead with third-down runing back Verron Haynes, a part-time player who is close to eclipsing his single-season high for receptions in a season (18 in 2004).

No wonder Jack Ham, one of the franchise's Hall of Fame linebackers, said there isn't a secondary in the NFL that fears the Steelers' wide receivers.

"You're only as good as your opportunities, the opportunities that present themselves," Ward said. "If all the attempts you get is two attempts, you have to capitalize on that. That's all we can ask for."

Then Ward added, "I think we've done, up to this point, fairly well. We had some drops, but I think the drops came in crucial situations. That's why they get magnified, because we're not a passing team. When a receiver drops the ball, it gets noticed a lot more than other teams who pass the ball all the time."

Make no mistake, some of the drops have come in crucial situations.

Wilson, who stepped into the full-time starting role when Antwaan Randle El signed with the Washington Redskins in free agency, has been among the culprits.

He dropped a key third-and-5 pass in Jacksonville that killed a first-quarter drive in a game the Steelers lost, 9-0. A week later, he dropped another third-and-5 pass against the Bengals that stalled another series.

That could be part of the reason Wilson has begun sharing his split-end position with Santonio Holmes, the team's No. 1 pick. The rotation began Sunday night in San Diego, with Holmes playing every third series with the first-team offense. The arrangement is similar to the rotation Wilson had last year with Randle El.

"It takes 11 people to really get one play going, and we haven't been consistent enough as a unit to get anything going," said Wilson, who has six catches for 102 yards. "That's how you have to look at it. We, as a unit, have to execute the game plan the coaches have set for us to be successful. We're doing it at times. We're in ballgames."

The Steelers were in the ballgame against the Bengals, too, when Washington committed the most glaring gaffe of all -- dropping a perfect pass in the end zone from Roethlisberger that forced the Steelers to settle for a field goal when it was 28-17 in the fourth quarter. It was one of two drops Washington had in the game.

Of course, Roethlisberger has not been the picture of perfection, either. One year after he ranked near the top of the NFL in completion percentage (62.7), yards per attempt (8.98) , touchdown ratio (6.3) and passer rating (98.6), he has completed 55 of 102 passes for 569 yards with seven interceptions, no touchdowns and a passer rating of 41.7 in four games.

"We all can get better," Ward said. "It's not just on Ben. We're all in this thing together. We all got to get better. If not, we're going to continue to be an inconsistent ballclub."