PITTSBURGH - Ben Roethlisberger is finally playing like a rookie quarterback is supposed to play. Duce Staley and Plaxico Burress aren't playing at all. Pittsburgh's offense has only two touchdowns in two games, usually a trouble sign.

The Steelers (10-1) have plenty of reasons to be losing, only they aren't.

Pittsburgh had just enough offense Sunday and way too much defense for the Washington Redskins, a team seemingly destined for one of the worst offensive seasons in NFL history. The NFL's top two defenses combined to allow only 363 yards, but the Steelers had just enough of everything for a 16-7 victory - their ninth in a row.

"Good teams find a way to win," said Roethlisberger, who has yet to lose in nine NFL starts. "Our defense is doing a great job and our offense has not been that bad. We will find ways to get better."

Still, it doesn't get much better than this - a 10-1 record matched in club history only by the 1975 Super Bowl champion Steelers. Their winning streak is their longest since they won their final nine in 1976, and they've kept it going despite being held to 35 points the last two weeks - with much of that scoring created by the defense, special teams and backups.

Two backups starred Sunday as Antwaan Randle El raced through the Redskins' coverage team on punt returns of 60 and 43 yards to set up Jerome Bettis' 4-yard touchdown run and the first of Jeff Reed's three field goals.

Bettis had his fourth consecutive 100-yard game subbing for the injured Duce Staley (hamstring), who practiced all last week and was expected to play.

"For guys to come in and play the way they are playing, that is impressive," said Bettis, who had 31 carries for 100 yards. "Usually when your starters go down you lose a little with the backups. Sometimes that causes you to lose a football game."

Randle El, the latest in a long line of backups to produce when needed, also made two catches for 37 yards and drew a 32-yard pass-interference penalty.

"You need every guy," said Randle El, who started for the injured Burress. "I don't care if you are the big star, if you don't have the rest of the guys doing what they are supposed to be doing it makes it hard. Special teams came up big, and we need to keep it going because sometimes the offense may sputter."

Like, maybe right now.

With defenses beginning to confuse Roethlisberger with ever-changing blitzing schemes and rotating coverages, he is 24 of 41 for 269 yards and 11 sacks the last two games. He has only one touchdown pass since Nov. 14, that in last week's 19-14 victory at Cincinnati.

"Like he (offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt) said to me, it was not my best game," said Roethlisberger, 9-of 20-for 131 yards. "Sometimes, good teams find ways to win. Again, just like last week, it was not real pretty but we got the win."

The Redskins (3-8) aren't very pretty - and aren't winning, either. This is easily their worst record during coach Joe Gibbs' two stays as coach, and nothing suggests they are about to get any better.

An offense that's been dreadful all season, never scoring more than 18 points, is getting worse with just 13 points in two games since quarterback Mark Brunell was replaced by Patrick Ramsey.

The Redskins had only 50 yards in the first half against the NFL's top-ranked defense, and they had only one sustained drive on a torn-up Heinz Field turf that was muddied by several days of rain.

"They played tough but we've got to come up with some big plays; we haven't done that all season," said Chris Cooley, who caught a 2-yard TD pass from Ramsey in the third quarter. "Pittsburgh made four or five big plays against us and we didn't have one."

Notes:

The Steelers are two short of their club-record 11-game winning streak in 1975. ... They last won nine in a row to close out the 1976 regular season. ... Bettis' 47th 100-yard game with Pittsburgh tied Franco Harris' team record. ... No Steelers opponent has rushed for more than 68 yards since Oct. 17 - the game their top run stopper, nose tackle Casey Hampton, was lost to a season-ending knee injury . ... Washington was 2-of-13 on third down. ... Bettis has 481 yards in four games since Staley was hurt.

AP-ES-11-29-04 0339EST