Playing Roethlisberger on Monday night made sense

	Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions in the Steelers' 9-0 loss to the Jaguars on Monday night. US Presswire
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Thoughts on the Monday-nighter:

Don't blame Bill Cowher for starting Ben Roethlisberger. Once your No. 1 quarterback is cleared to play medically, he's cleared to play. If he's got a fever and is weak, that's one thing. But, obviously, Roethlisberger told Cowher he was ready to go, and unless the coach saw evidence to the contrary, you can't bench a guy for having a fever in the morning that had gone back down by game time.

Just a gut feeling, but I believe the same people who would rip Cowher for playing Big Ben too early would be the same ones to say next Sunday -- if Roethlisberger were to play poorly against Cincinnati -- that Cowher should have gotten Ben's feet wet when he was ready to play last week. I would not want the Cincinnati game to be my quarterback's first game back in the saddle in more than eight months.

The Jags are good. Really good defensively. I'm not sure how good offensively. I still think they'll contend. They've played two pretty tough defenses so far -- Dallas and Pittsburgh -- and played well enough to win both.

And could we please stop the drumbeat to bench Byron Leftwich? I love David Garrard, but he hasn't shown he's better than Leftwich. More mobile, yes. Better, no.

On with the e-mails:

I JUST CAN'T PLEASE ANYONE WITH THE FINE FIFTEEN. From Nathan Hardin of Atlanta: "OK, let me get this straight. San Diego plays the NFL equivalent of Temple and Vanderbilt and you say they have a 'very good chance at being the best team in football,' while Atlanta goes out and destroys two teams that all the pundits, including yourself, considered to be serious playoff threats. The Falcons put up the kind of numbers you saw the University of Nebraska put up in the mid-'90s. No one puts up 300 yards rushing in the NFL. When was the last time that was done? Yet, where's the love for the Falcons? Come on, Peter, enough gushing over the Chargers and the Bears. Let's wait until those two squads actually play someone before anointing them as the match up for Super Bowl XLI.''

Very good point. And you might be right. I don't remember ever watching a team run for more than 250 two weeks in a row. I love Jerious Norwood, the best third-round pick in the NFL through the first two weeks. I love Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick even more for what they've done. Here's why I am slightly skeptical: Dunn is running it 10 times more per game through two weeks than he has in his career. Can he do that for 16 weeks if he has to? I don't know. And if Vick runs it 168 times this year -- that's what he's on pace for -- will he last? I don't know that either. That isn't to say I don't think they're not a very good team. I'm only saying I'm not sure they can keep up this pace for 16 games.