The New England Patriots , coming off consecutive 500-yard explosions for the first time in their offensive history, deliver the first of four consecutive daunting physics problems, with Dallas, Baltimore and Tennessee to follow before Christmas. Those four teams are 33-13.

"Every game we play, we approach like this: we're focused on the game at hand," running back Mewelde Moore was saying after practice the other day. "Everybody in this league puts their clothes on the same way, one leg at a time."

That's an accepted truism, but while even the Steelers punter does it one leg at a time, it's not always the same punting leg. Mike Tomlin loves to remind us that when injuries occur, the standard of expectation does not change. Unfortunately, the level of performance often does, mostly for the worse.

Mitch Berger returns to this critical position for this critical stretch, having supplanted the awful Paul Ernster, who'd himself supplanted the awful Berger, who supplanted the awful Ernster late in a training camp rocked by a season-ending knee injury to Daniel Sepulveda. The most amazing stat in the NFL's weekly blizzard of 'em is that 15 teams actually punt the ball worse than the Steelers.

Tomlin tolerates Berger in part because he is what the coach calls "holder capable," and while it's good to have a punter who is holder capable, it's better to have a punter who is punter capable, just as it's nice to have a passer who's passer capable, and a few sackers who are sacker capable.

What the Steelers need most over the next four weeks though, is some kind, any kind of hero, maybe someone in a cape, or at least someone who is cape capable.

"You mean someone who is going to step outside the box and be a leader? Absolutely -- no ifs ands or buts about it," said Kendall Simmons, who gave way to Darnell Stapleton along a still substandard offensive line at the end of September. "And I mean especially up front, and I mean whatever it takes. If it takes some harsh words, so be it."

Simmons didn't have any himself, but he has watched the big bulls pretty closely during his rehab from his own season-ending knee injury and understands the problems as well as anyone.

"I'm watching those inside guys, and you know Darnell's starting for the first time and so is Chris [Kemoeatu, the successor to perennial All Pro Alan Faneca]," Simmons said. "Justin [Hartwig] is in his first year in this system, so it's still coming to them. It was the same way for me when I was a young guy, but the difference was I had a lot of experienced guys around me."

If the Steelers are to get through the most difficult part of the 2008 schedule with its winning personality pretty much intact, they are going to need a hero on offense, a player who, as Simmons describes, is not only willing to lead, but is capable of playing at a level beyond what might have been expected of him.

There are candidates, starting with Moore, who has been an effective replacement for Parker but hasn't been able to establish any personal momentum as Parker's season progresses in fits and starts. It was Moore who made the 24-yard catch and run that enabled this team to beat Baltimore in the game in which Simmons went down. It was Moore who ground out 99 rushing yards the night the Steelers played at Jacksonville with an injury list longer than the Jekyll Island Causeway. It was not because of Moore that the Steelers blew a 10-point lead at home against Indianapolis. It was he who'd mostly erected it.

"My goal is that every time I have the opportunity that I'm prepared to play my game," Moore said. "I try to play winning Football every time, to make the kinds of plays that help the team win, to know all the details necessary to allow me to make those kinds of plays."

Parker's kinds of plays, specifically the simple off tackle that goes for 70 yards, have been absent, but could be the very kind of missing ingredient deemed heroic enough to make the difference down the stretch. Parker has 485 rush yards in an injury-ravaged autumn. Were he to get back to 1,000 in the last five games, the Steelers would be set up for an extended January.

Gary Russell, with the two longest kickoff returns of the season, could still become the first Steeler to return a kick for a touchdown all year. That appears to be a form of heroism beyond all this team's capabilities.

Nate Washington, who burned defenses deep four weeks in a row, hasn't penetrated defensive umbrellas since his 65-yard touchdown against the New York Giants at the end of October. But, if he started scalding people again, that would be highly significant.

New England's defense represents an open invitation for such players. The Patriots are ranked a modest 12th defensively and have allowed eight touchdowns in the past two games. Should the Steelers look up after Christmas and still have an offense ranked 26th in the league, still keeping company with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs , still without any unlikely hero, their January will last about three hours.