PITTSBURGH— Ben Roethlisberger survived the storm. Now he's seeing nothing but clear sky ahead.

And a whole lot of victories.

Still only 25, Roethlisberger is climbing the Steelers quarterback charts, seemingly with each pass he completes.

During Monday night's 38-7 win over Baltimore alone, Roethlisberger set a career high with five touchdown passes, passed Neil O'Donnell and Kordell Stewart for second place on the Steelers touchdown pass list with 72, passed Bubby Brister for fourth place in career passing yardage and moved by Brister into fourth place on the club's career completion list.

"I can't talk about last year because I wasn't here,"Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "But Ben Roethlisberger has looked like a franchise quarterback since the day I got here.

"He was the 11th overall pick in the (2004) draft, and he's playing at that level."

At the season's midway point, Roethlisberger is on pace to throw for 3,500 yards and 40 touchdowns. Terry Bradshaw owns the Steelers record of 28 TDpasses in a season, set in 1978.

Roethlisberger's quick start this fall has made people forget about his motorcycle accident, appendectomy and 2-6 start in 2006.

He is 33-7 as an NFLstarting quarterback otherwise, and the Steelers are 12-4 since Week 9 of last season.

"Ben is a football junkie, a true leader,"Tomlin said. "He comes in on his off days, always studies film and explores ways he can get better."

Standing 6-feet-5 and weighing 241 pounds, Roethlisberger is adept at buying time for his receivers by breaking tackles in the pocket and delivering the football on the run, at times with defensive linemen draped all over him.

"As receivers, we've learned never to give up on the guy," second-year receiver Santonio Holmes said. "We make sure we don't run out of bounds or run ourselves out of the play.

"Ben will find a way to get the ball downfield at some point."

Through eight games, Roethlisberger has 20 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. At the midway point of last year, he had seven TD passes and 14 interceptions.

Only New England's Tom Brady has more touchdown passes in the NFLso far this season.

Holmes leads the Steelers receiving corps with 30 catches. Six Steelers have caught touchdown passes and three tight ends — Heath Miller, Jerame Tuman and Matt Spaeth — have combined for eight.

"It's good to spread the ball around,"Roethlisberger said after Monday night's win. "We got Nate Washington a couple of touchdowns tonight. Now I need to get one to Cedrick (Wilson) and things will be complete."

Through the first half of this season, Roethlisberger has been more productive at his position than more celebrated counterparts Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Tony Romo, to name a few. And they have Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Terrell Owens on their side.

Roethlisberger doesn't care if the job looks pretty. He only cares that it gets done. His five TD passes came in a steady rain Monday night at Heinz Field.

"Itold the guys in the huddle the ball may be wet and sandy, it may come in wobbly instead of spiraling, but I'll do what I can to get it there," he said.

"When the ball's there, these guys will catch it — all these guys."

Roethlisberger knows he still has to avoid the big mistake, such as throwing the interception in the end zone at Arizona or the pick deep in Cincinnati territory that gave the Bengals new life recently.

"This is my fourth year in the league now and there's a lot of talent around me out on that field," he said. "It's up to me to make plays.

"When you're the quarterback, your teammates need to have confidence in you. And you need to be there for them."

That's why, after being helped off the field with a hip pointer early in the second half Monday night, Roethlisberger hobbled back into the huddle two series later.

"I wanted to be there for my boys," he said.

Tomlin could only shrug and smile when asked why he put Roethlisberger back in the game.

"He can be very persuasive," the coach said.

He can be very productive, too.