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Mewelde Moore has no plans on being the guy who replaces Hines Ward.
That doesn't mean the Pittsburgh Steelers running back can't fake it for a play or two.
Moore did his best Ward impersonation during the team's first drive last week against New England, lining up split wide left then going in motion as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger barked out signals. At the snap Moore slanted toward the middle of the field and Roethlisberger hit him for a 5-yard touchdown pass that served as the springboard for a 25-17 victory.
Ward ran the exact same route for a touchdown three weeks earlier in a win over Tennessee, though Ward threw in an acrobatic leap into the end zone for effect. Moore stayed grounded, mostly because teammate Mike Wallace did such an excellent job picking off two New England defenders Moore could just stroll to paydirt.
Moore just laughed when asked if he felt his future was at wide receiver, adding ''I'm just enjoying whatever I'm asked to do.''
These days, if you want to play in Pittsburgh's offense, that's a little bit of everything. One of the main reasons the Steelers (6-2) are surging heading into Sunday's rematch with rival Baltimore (5-2).
The organization that built its reputation on the churning legs of running backs like Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis, Bam Morris and Barry Foster has turned into the team that can pick who it wants to be in a given week and beat you.
Pittsburgh's current four-game winning streak started with Roethlisberger tossing five touchdowns in a win over Tennessee. Then Rashard Mendenhall pounded his way to 146 yards in a narrow 17-13 win against Jacksonville. The following week Roethlisberger went deep early and often, connecting with Wallace for a team-record 95-yard touchdown pass in a 32-20 triumph.
Against the Patriots, the Steelers looked like New England-lite, with Roethlisberger torching the NFL's worst defense for 365 yards passing to nine different receivers. No play went longer than 26 yards, yet the controlled attack let Pittsburgh hold onto the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
Coach Mike Tomlin praised the Patriots in the run-up to the game for their ability to mold themselves into any offensive identity they choose in a given week. His team can say the same.
''We have guys around here like chameleons, and just adapt to whatever the situation is,'' Wallace said.
And the Steelers have done it with a patchwork offensive line that's used seven different starting combinations in eight games. There is a growing sense of stability now that veteran Max Starks - re-signed from off his couch last month - has found his sea legs at left tackle and rookie Marcus Gilbert is growing more and more confident each week at right tackle.
Roethlisberger, who the Ravens treated as a punching bag in a 35-7 pummeling in the season opener, has been sacked just 11 times in 157 drop backs during the winning streak. Baltimore sacked him four times alone in Week One, forcing him to fumble twice and picking him off three times.
Though Roethlisberger gives much of the credit to his reconstituted line, his teammates have noticed a newfound maturity from their 29-year-old leader. Sure Roethlisberger still loves nothing more than hanging around in the pocket until the last possible second and chucking it as far as he can.
It's just he no longer needs to for the Steelers to win.
''He knows he doesn't have to always take it deep,'' backup Charlie Batch said. ''Sometimes he knows he just has to get the ball out of his hands. He's got great receivers and knows if he put the ball in their hands they'll run with it after the catch.''
It's what he did against the Patriots, completing 36 of 50 passes while picking apart New England's woeful secondary with precision. He didn't look for the speedy Wallace on a fly route one time, instead spreading the ball around in democratic fashion.
Now in his eighth season, Roethlisberger looks very much like a quarterback at the peak of his powers.
''I think Ben's playing as well as he's played in the last four weeks as he's played his whole career,'' Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said.
Yet the Steelers are more than just Roethlisberger. The young wide receiving corps is gaining confidence each week, thanks in part to the leadership of Ward. His career winding down, Ward has made it a point to tutor Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders in the finer points of the trade.
His message? Learn more than just your routes. Get comfortable lining up in different spots. Don't make it easy for the defense to figure out what's going on.
''Where in the years past we only had certain guys running certain things and it was easy for teams to key on certain guys, now Mike is running some of the routes that I run and vice versa,'' said Ward, who hopes to play against the Ravens after missing last week's game with a leg injury. ''AB is getting underneath and being able to do a lot of different things, and Emmanuel too. When you start to do that it really gets to a defense because they can't focus on one particular person.''
Focus on the passing game and the running backs will make you pay. Though Mendenhall has struggled at times, the Steelers are still averaging a healthy 4.4 yards per carry and running effectively when he has to.
Which personality will the Steelers show off against the Ravens? They're not quite sure, and for once, that's part of the fun.
''When you're doing things like we're doing, the sky's the limit for our offense,'' Ward said. ''We've got playmakers all over the field.''
