Chad Johnson led the National Football League in receiving yards last season, has been named to four consecutive Pro Bowls and recently passed Carl Pickens as the Cincinnati Bengals' all-time leading receiver.

Last week, in a game in which he caught three touchdown passes against the Tennessee Titans, Johnson surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the sixth consecutive season.

But, for some reason, Johnson looks like just another average receiver when he plays the Steelers.

"For the most part, we do a good job of it," said cornerback Deshea Townsend.

The reason is simple: The Steelers treat Johnson like an extraordinary receiver, making him their top priority when devising a game plan to stop the Bengals (4-7). It will be no different Sunday night at Heinz Field, either.

The Steelers typically rotate their coverages toward Johnson and force quarterback Carson Palmer to find other receivers -- one of the reasons T.J. Houshmandzadeh has had productive games against them.

"Chad is a phenomenal wide receiver," said safety Tyrone Carter, who is expected to start his second game in a row for injured Troy Polamalu. "He creates a difficult matchup. You got to know where he is at all times. When you play him, your main focus has got to be Chad. That's why Houshmandzadeh gets a lot [of catches] -- because people focus a lot on Chad."

Houshmandzadeh leads the NFL with 83 catches and is second to New England's Randy Moss (16) in the American Football Conference with 11 touchdowns.

But Johnson (1,041) is second to Moss (1,095) in receiving yards in the AFC and seems to draw most of the attention from opposing secondaries.

"Somebody is going to make a play," Townsend said. "We try to do a good job on both. But our main focus is try to stop Chad."

The Steelers rank No. 1 in the league in pass defense, primarily because they have done a good job of preventing big plays. They are the only team in the league to allow just one pass longer than 40 yards -- a 56-yard flea flicker against the New York Jets -- and are third behind Indianapolis and Tampa Bay in allowing pass plays of 20 yards or longer (22).

But they are especially cognizant of that against Johnson, who has rarely inflicted damage against their secondary.

"If you watch him on film, you'd be in awe the way he runs routes, the way he sets a defense up, the way he sets defensive backs up," Carter said.

"You got to be sound with him. You play fundamentals at corner with him. You work on your technique, because he studies that as well. His main thing is to get you to open your hips fast so he can break on you."

In 14 career games against the Steelers, including one playoff game, Johnson has 63 catches for 953 yards, an average of 4.5 catches and 68.1 yards per game. What's more, for a player who has 47 career touchdown catches, he has just two against the Steelers -- none in the past five games.

Johnson's two biggest statistical games against the Steelers came at Heinz Field when he caught seven passes for 152 yards in 2002 and six passes for 117 yards in '03.

"It's really focusing on him, knowing where he's lining up, and doing a lot of film study," said cornerback Bryant McFadden.

"It's anticipating ways he might run a route and knowing where he is all the time."

Used to be, the Steelers would have cornerback Ike Taylor follow Johnson all over the field, a tactic they began employing in 2004.

They stopped doing that midway through last season when Taylor was benched for poor play. But one thing they haven't stopped: rotating their safeties toward Johnson to prevent the big play.

Johnson (knee) did not practice yesterday, but that is nothing uncommon. He usually gets at least one day off from practice each week and is expected to play against the Steelers.

"He catches the difficult ball," McFadden said. "Look at the Tennessee game. He made a couple great catches the average receiver wouldn't. He finds ways to get open, but he's a big-play guy with his speed and athleticism."

Just not against the Steelers.

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p>NOTES -- Polamalu (knee), wide receiver Santonio Holmes (ankle) and left tackle Marvel Smith (back) did not practice again and it is likely they will not play against the Bengals. Polamalu said he will not practice today but will wait until Sunday to see if he can play. Holmes, who has a high-ankle sprain, said he does not want to jeopardize his health for the rest of the season by trying to return too early. ... The team signed lineman Jeremy Parquet, a former seventh-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2005, to the practice squad. Parquet has spent time on the St. Louis Rams practice squad each of the past two seasons