By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
Steelers running back Willie Parker is taken off the field on a cart after breaking a bone in his lower right leg in the first quarter.
ST. LOUIS -- It's not what the Steelers won last night that seems so significant today, although that 41-24 victory against the St. Louis Rams came at exactly the right time after the debacles against Jacksonville and New England.
It's what the Steelers lost that could haunt them in the playoffs.
Willie Parker.
How do you replace the NFL's No. 1 running back and even attempt to compete for the Super Bowl?
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin will tell you the answer is obvious: You give the ball to Najeh Davenport.
"As a football team, we're not going to throw a pity party," Tomlin said.
You didn't think the boss was going to call it a season, did you?
Davenport certainly was the solution last night. Talk about an unexpected star. Ordinarily, the 32-yard pass he caught from punter Daniel Sepulveda on a fake punt late in the first quarter would have been his game highlight. Not on this night. Not when he did so much more by rushing for 123 yards and a touchdown and catching a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
But all of that couldn't wipe away the pall in the Steelers' locker room. It always hurts when a teammate goes down, especially one who has been as valuable and durable as Parker.
"He's devastated. We're all devastated," wide receiver Hines Ward said.
Parker -- who came into the game with an NFL-leading 1,317 yards, six more than San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson -- had just one carry last night, his 321st and final carry of the season. What started as a routine sweep around right end ended with Parker being pulled down by linebacker Will Witherspoon and then hobbling to the sideline and being carted to the locker room. Moments later, Steelers orthopedic surgeon Jim Bradley had the X-rays in his hands behind the bench, a gruesome picture that revealed the awful truth: Parker had a fractured right fibula.
"That damn turf," Ward said.
No one felt Parker's pain more than Davenport.
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
The Steelers' Najeh Davenport picks up yardage against the Rams in the second quarter.
It was little more than two years ago that Davenport, in what would be his final game with the Green Bay Packers, broke his right ankle in a game against the New Orleans Saints. He was making just his second career start that day and was off to a fast start with 54 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Then, suddenly, late in the first half, it was over for him.
Davenport remembers exactly how he felt that day. There's enormous disappointment in knowing you can't be there for your teammates the rest of the season. There's also the anguish that goes with the long, grueling rehab ahead.
Welcome to Parker's world.
"I've been talking to him since halftime," Davenport said of Parker. "I told him he can't think it's the end of the world. It's all about your spirits. If you get down on yourself, it's going to make the rehab that much harder."
Davenport provided a morale boost to his other teammates on the field. "I'm happy for and proud of Najeh Davenport," Tomlin said. "Not that we were surprised. It was just good to see. He's been a big part of what we've been doing all year."
Davenport started slowly last night, gaining just 4 yards on his first four carries. His big play early came when he lined up as the blocking back in front of Sepulveda and snuck behind the middle of the Rams' defense to pull in the long pass that set up a field goal and gave the Steelers a 10-7 lead.
After that, Davenport was positively Parker-like. He had three carries for 25 yards on the touchdown drive that gave the Steelers a 17-14 lead, then five carries for 38 yards on the scoring drive that nudged the lead to 24-14. He scored the touchdown, pulling in that 12-yard pass from Roethlisberger over the middle and shrugging off linebacker Quinton Culberson on his way to the end zone.
Davenport also was huge on the Steelers' two second-half scoring drives. His 18-yard run early in the third quarter helped set up his 1-yard touchdown run that boosted the lead to 31-17. Then, after the Rams pulled within a touchdown, he had a 16-yard run to set up the 29-yard field goal by Jeff Reed that iced the win.
Davenport finished with 123 yards on 24 carries, the second 100-yard game of his career. His best day as a pro came in 2004 -- also against the Rams -- when he made his first start in place of injured Ahman Green and rushed for 178 yards on 19 carries.
Too bad the Steelers can't play the Rams in the playoffs.
It's one thing to have a big day against a lousy 3-11 team that was playing out the string. Now, Davenport must prove he can do it Dec. 30 against the Baltimore Ravens in the final regular-season game, not to mention probably Jacksonville or Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.
Can Davenport get it done?
"I'm ready to do whatever I have to do to help this offense," he said.
As Tomlin will tell you, Davenport has no choice but to do it now.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on December 21, 2007 at 12:07 am
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