PITTSBURGH - Tommy Maddox and Chad Scott figured to be among the Pittsburgh Steelers' most important players this season. Just as expected, they began the season as starters and will end it that way Sunday.

What happened in-between Weeks 1 and 17 probably won't be fondly remembered by either player, despite being part of one of the best teams in franchise history. The Steelers (14-1) take a franchise-record 13-game winning streak into Buffalo (9-6).

Maddox, the 2002 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, has been all but forgotten since injuring his right elbow Sept. 19. First-round draft pick Ben Roethlisberger stepped in to win 13 consecutive starts and, if the Steelers keep him signed, figures to be their quarterback for the next decade.

Maddox hasn't let himself think how the season might have gone if he hadn't gotten hurt.

"Things happen for a reason. I know that," said Maddox, who will start Sunday because of Roethlisberger's rib cartilage injury. "We might have been just as successful if I was playing. Who knows? But 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."

Unlike the Giants' Kurt Warner, who apparently wants out after being demoted to rookie Eli Manning's backup, Maddox figures to stay put in Pittsburgh. He is signed at an affordable price through 2007, and he and Roethlisberger get along well.

But after the Broncos' 1992 first-round pick waited 10 years to become an NFL starter, Maddox didn't anticipate returning to the bench so soon - especially not in a season Roethlisberger didn't expect to play.

"I've been on both sides of it. It's one of those things. That's why you've always got to prepare, you've always got to get ready like you're going to play every snap," Maddox said. "You just might. You never know."

Scott is the Steelers' highest-paid defensive player with a $4.1 million salary, and his knee injury Oct. 17 - the same day nose tackle Casey Hampton was lost for the season with an injured knee - figured to be a major setback to one of the NFL's top-ranked defenses.

What the Steelers didn't project is backup Willie Williams, who hadn't been a starter since 2001 with Seattle, playing so well with Scott out.

Now, with Scott ready for the first time in 2½ months, there is no certainty Scott will be the starter once the playoffs begin. He is starting Sunday only because Deshea Townsend will miss at least one game with a broken right hand.

"It's always frustrating when you're sitting there watching, but I pretty much kept a positive outlook, took mental reps in practice, paid close attention to what was going on and now I get an opportunity to get back out there and play," Scott said.

Scott normally plays left cornerback but, with Townsend out, will start on the right side.

"You work on your breaks both ways in practice, so I don't anticipate it being that much of a problem. It's not going to be difficult for me to read. It's pretty much the same, you just turn your head a different way," he said.

A player making as much money as Scott normally doesn't require a late-season audition, but this game could be exactly that. Townsend likely will be listed as questionable for the Steelers' playoff game Jan. 15 or 16 but, if he is ready, coach Bill Cowher could choose to keep him and Williams together.

"I'm just concerned with trying to help this team win, whatever my role may be," Scott said. "It's not even a question of whether or not I need to get my spot back. I know we were winning games when I was playing and we continued to win when I wasn't. You don't want to rock the boat or anything. I just want to help."