Steelers beat Rams; lose Parker
Published 11:15 pm Thursday, December 20, 2007
ST. LOUIS — Willie Parker’s season ended after his first carry, and the Pittsburgh Steelers will miss the NFL’s leading rusher if they get to the playoffs. But they don’t miss him yet.
Najeh Davenport, a career backup running back with typical non-descript statistics, has two huge games since entering the league as a fourth-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2002. Both have come against the St. Louis Rams, with Davenport’s three-touchdown, 123-yard rushing effort pacing a 41-24 victory on Thursday night.
“I took it upon myself to put the offense on my back and carry it,” Davenport said. “He’s our guy, he’s our breadwinner. Not having him, everyone has to pick it up a level.”
Parker, who has 1,316 yards, limped off the field with a broken bone in his lower right leg in the first quarter after only one carry for minus-1 yard.
“Our heart goes out to him because he’s a competitor, he’s a warrior,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “As a team, we’re not going to throw a pity party. It’s part of the game, people get hurt, we’ll adapt and improvise and move forward.”
“With Willie down it’s going to take something away from us,” said Nate Washington, who caught two touchdown passes. “If we dwell on Willie being down it’s going to be that much tougher for us to get to (the Super Bowl), and we don’t need anything else making it hard for us.”
Isaac Bruce caught a 12-yard touchdown pass and moved into third place on the career yards receiving list, moving ahead of James Lofton, for the Rams. Marc Bulger threw three touchdown passes but was intercepted twice, and Ike Taylor’s 51-yard return on an overthrown ball on 4th-and-10 with 3:46 to go put the game out of reach.
Wide receiver Torry Holt was caught on cameras screaming at coach Scott Linehan after the interception.
“It’s not a big deal, not to me,” Linehan said. “It something said in the heat of the battle to his coach and it’s over as far as I’m concerned.”
Ben Roethlisberger was 16-for-20 for 261 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for the Steelers (10-5), who had lost three of five to fall into a tie with the Browns for the AFC North lead. Roethlisberger had his first 200-yard passing effort in five games by halftime, helping to revive a struggling offense.
The Steelers can clinch the division with a Cleveland loss at Cincinnati on Sunday. They also can clinch a playoff berth if the Titans lose to the Jets.
Pittsburgh717710—41
St. Louis71070—24
First Quarter
Pit—Washington 17 pass from Roethlisberger (Reed kick), 10:52.
StL—Jackson 12 pass from Bulger (Wilkins kick), 7:14.
Second Quarter
Pit—FG Reed 21, 14:57.
StL—Bruce 12 pass from Bulger (Wilkins kick), 13:20.
Pit—Washington 33 pass from Roethlisberger (Reed kick), 10:39.
Pit—Davenport 12 pass from Roethlisberger (Reed kick), 1:57.
StL—FG Wilkins 52, 1:01.
Third Quarter
Pit—Davenport 1 run (Reed kick), 9:22.
StL—Bennett 23 pass from Bulger (Wilkins kick), 3:00.
Fourth Quarter
Pit—FG Reed 29, 4:38.
Pit—Taylor 51 interception return (Reed kick), 3:46.
A—65,705.
PitStL
First downs2417
Total Net Yards425316
Rushes-yards37-16615-90
Passing259226
Punt Returns⅔2-20
Kickoff Returns5-1468-229
Interceptions Ret.2-510-0
Comp-Att-Int17-21-021-42-2
Sacked-Yards Lost4-341-9
Punts2-52.53-51.0
Fumbles-Lost2-02-0
Penalties-Yards2-363-20
Time of Possession36:1623:44
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Pittsburgh, Davenport 24-123, Davis 6-28, Roethlisberger 2-11, Holmes 1-7, Parker 1-(minus 1), Batch 3-(minus 2). St. Louis, Jackson 12-85, Pittman 2-5, Bulger 1-0.
PASSING—Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger 16-20-0-261, Bach 0-0-0-0, Sepulveda 1-1-0-32. St. Louis, Bulger 18-35-2-208, Frerotte 3-7-0-27.
RECEIVING—Pittsburgh, Ward 6-59, Holmes 4-133, Washington 2-50, Davenport 2-44, Davis 2-0, Miller 1-7. St. Louis, Bruce 7-87, McMichael 6-51, Holt 3-41, Jackson 3-21, Bennett 2-35.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
