PITTSBURGH — Charlie Batch always thought he could be an NFL starting quarterback again despite being pushed out by the Detroit Lions after four seasons.

What Batch didn't realize was that it would take four years for that next start.

Batch, who has barely one quarter's worth of playing time since being the Lions' primary starter from 1998-2001, will replace the injured Ben Roethlisberger for the Steelers in Green Bay on Sunday. Batch will be playing in a city where he's started twice before, though nearly all of the Packers' starters have changed since he last played there in 2001.

Since then, Batch has been content to be his hometown Steelers' No. 2 or 3 quarterback, even as he watched what he considered to be less talented and less polished quarterbacks struggle throughout the NFL.

Steelers coach Bill Cowher acknowledged that keeping three experienced quarterbacks as he did this season in Roethlisberger, Batch and former starter Tommy Maddox was a luxury, but a move he was willing to make because the position is so critical.

So when Maddox flopped badly after Roethlisberger first hurt a knee last month, turning the ball over four times in a 23-17 overtime loss to Jacksonville, Cowher chose Batch after Roethlisberger hurt his other knee Monday in a 20-19 victory over Baltimore.

With AFC North leader Cincinnati (6-2) playing Baltimore (2-5) on Sunday, the Steelers (5-2) may need to win to keep from falling 1½ games back in the division race.

"Good football teams have quality depth and when players are asked to step in, there is not a dropoff," Cowher said Thursday after Roethlisberger had arthroscopic surgery to remove damaged cartilage in his right knee. "We will be tested with this set of circumstances and more along the way. That is going to be the defining moment of this football team."

Batch became the Lions' starter two games into his rookie season in 1998 and helped lead them to the playoffs a season later. The Lions barely missed the playoffs again after going 9-7 in 2000, but despite receiving a $10 million signing bonus as part of a new contract, Batch wasn't brought back after the team went 2-14 amid a front office and coaching staff overhaul in 2001.

Batch has thrown passes in only two games since, in 2002, and missed last season with a knee injury. But he beat out Brian St. Pierre to be the No. 3 quarterback by leading a comeback victory at Carolina in the final exhibition game Sept. 1.

"It's not like we have a rookie or a second-year guy back there, then you have cause for concern," guard Kendall Simmons said. "But Tommy or Charlie, it doesn't matter who's back there. We're not going to change anything or try to cut down on anything."

Linebacker Joey Porter said the defense will try to make Batch's job easier by keeping the Packers (1-6) from turning it into a high-scoring game. The Packers' Brett Favre was intercepted five times in a 21-14 loss Sunday in Cincinnati.

"You don't want to put Charlie in a situation where you have a shootout. We don't want to ask him to put up 28-35 points to win the game," Porter said. "We're going to try to rattle Brett Favre as much as we can and stop the run and if the offense puts up 17 or more, we feel we should win the game."

Going to Green Bay and winning would justify the Steelers' decision to keep Batch — he also might have to start Nov. 13 against Cleveland if Roethlisberger isn't ready — and his decision to stay in Pittsburgh and not seek a starting job.

"The opportunity hasn't presented itself for me, but, now that it has, I have to seize the moment," said Batch, a former Pittsburgh area high school star who turns 31 next month.