PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-1 for only the third time in 22 seasons, a promising beginning hardly imaginable for a team that was forced to start rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger not by choice.

Surely, the ever-emotional Bill Cowher must be charged up by this unexpectedly fast turnaround from last season's 6-10 record. After all, wasn't he vintage Cowher as the Steelers beat Cleveland 34-23 Sunday, running onto the field to salute big plays or chasing down players to scream after bad ones?

Think again.

"No, not at all," the Steelers coach said. "That is the wrong thing that you can do right now. We made impromptu plays, really, so we have to be crisper."

Imagine that: In a league that covets playmaking creativity perhaps more than any other asset, the Steelers almost found themselves apologizing for beating the Browns largely because they now have it.

Maybe it's because they haven't had a quarterback in a long time who could make big plays out of apparently broken-down ones, like Roethlisberger's 51-yard completion to Plaxico Burress while he was being chased toward the sideline. Or his 37-yard scoring pass to Burress on a similar play. Or running 6 yards up the middle for a touchdown when he saw an open lane.

And this is the quarterback who supposedly wasn't as ready as fellow rookies Eli Manning of the Giants or Philip Rivers of the Chargers to play immediately?

"He made a couple of plays that, yeah, you definitely look at and say, 'Boy, this guy can play,'" Steelers center Jeff Hartings said. "The way he throws on the run, being able to stop and sling it 40 to 50 yards, that's just natural ability. I think Pittsburgh's going to be happy to have him."

Of course, the Steelers are excited by Roethlisberger's 3-0 record as a starter and Duce Staley's three consecutive 100-yard games. They just don't want to display too much enthusiasm too early, considering their beaten opponents are a combined 5-14. Upcoming games against Dallas (2-2), New England (4-0) and Philadelphia (4-0) should offer a better idea how good this team is.

Or how good Roethlisberger really is in what should be his senior season at Miami of Ohio.

"It's a good start, for sure," Hartings said. "I just take it all into perspective. If we play well enough to beat the Philadelphias, the New Englands and the Dallases, that's what you have to be constantly thinking about."

Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is enthused, too, but that doesn't mean he'll start adding the estimated 25 percent he eliminates from the weekly game plan to keep from overwhelming Roethlisberger.

"These guys can stay with him a long time because if something breaks down, Ben still can find him and make a play," Whisenhunt said. "He's doing a great job ... I think what we're doing by keeping it simple is the right thing to do."

Just as the Browns (2-3) still are convinced that jettisoning former No. 1 draft pick Tim Couch and signing free agent Jeff Garcia was right. But five games into his Cleveland career, Garcia still hasn't led a first-half touchdown drive and often looks confused and uncomfortable in a system other than the 49ers' West Coast offense.

"I'm just trying to approach every single game with confidence, feeling what we're doing offensively, trying to make plays," said Garcia, whose only TD pass came with the Steelers ahead by 18 points.

Garcia was under a heavy pass rush all day, but threw the ball away early at times and rarely went deep against an opponent that gave up a combined 663 yards passing the last two times it faced Browns backup Kelly Holcomb.

Not that coach Butch Davis made any move to replace Garcia with Holcomb.

"Jeff Garcia is right for this offense," Davis said.

Maybe another victory or two, and the Steelers will say the same thing about Roethlisberger, the sixth rookie quarterback to go 3-0 since the NFL merger in 1970 and the fifth to do so in non-replacement games. The Steelers' Mike Kruczek was 6-0 in 1976.

"Every week is getting better," Roethlisberger said. "It's all just starting to come together."