The Steelers will be without Ben Roethlisberger against the Patriots on Sunday, and there's a chance the franchise quarterback is sidelined for a while. That means it's Landry Jones time in Pittsburgh.

Best case, the 2013 fourth-round pick serves as a capable game manager and leans heavily on Le'Veon Bell and the running game. Worst case, Jones plays like a backup with little experience and the Steelers squander their lead over the Ravens and Bengals in the AFC North.

Well, no need to worry, Steelers Nation. Jones is supremely confident that everything will be fine. Here's what he told reporters on Wednesday when asked if he had anything to say to his teammates:

"Yeah, don't panic."

Feel better?

"Absolutely, man," Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats told SteelCityInsider.net's Jim Wexell. "Anytime THE Landry Jones graces us with his verbal leadership, we always appreciate that.

"In all seriousness, we're extremely confident. We're not worried about who you put out there. We understand the Next Man Up motto. Doesn't matter, any position, as you've seen this year, we've had those guys come in and have success. It's no different with Landry. We're anticipating him coming in there and playing a great game. He put his work in, studied. It's his time to shine."

Jones appeared in seven games last season, including two starts, and completed 55.2 percent of his passes for 513 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions. His teammates say he now seems much more comfortable in the offense.

"Landry looked good today. He looked real good," Bell said Wednesday. "He's a lot more comfortable than he was last year, just around the guys. We all hang out outside of football. Him demanding things in the huddle and things like that, he gets more of the respect. That's the biggest thing you want from your quarterback, and we saw a lot of that today."

Center Maurkice Pouncey added: "I think he did a great job going out there commanding the offense, getting the guys back to the huddle fast, getting the guys lined up fast. He did a good job, man, calling out audibles, checking plays. It was good. We did two-minute, too, and he looked really good."

The Steelers are still facing the Patriots, who at 5-1 are clearly the best team in the AFC. But if they can get through this week, they'll have their bye, and the hope is that Roethlisberger -- who had minor knee surgery on Monday -- might be healthy enough to return to face the Ravens. Though that may be an optimistic prognosis.

"I think that 2-3 (weeks) is what you can characterize as best-case, but that's what we're hoping for," Steelers president Art Rooney II told NFL Network. "Two to six is probably a fair range that somebody can put on it."

Meanwhile, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that Big Ben could need four-to-six weeks to recover.

If you're looking for a silver lining, here it its: Roethlisberger missed four games and parts of two others last season and the team went 10-6, made the playoffs and were a lost fumble away from advancing to the AFC Championship Game.