Pittsburgh Steelers Lose All-Pro Willie Parker With Broken Leg, Beat Rams 41-24
December 20, 2007 by David Kindervater
Filed under Pittsburgh Steelers
Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
The Pittsburgh Steelers got back to their winning ways tonight against the St. Louis Rams in a 41-24 road win, but it came at a price. The Steelers lost All-Pro RB Willie Parker for the rest of the season with a broken leg. The injury happened on his first carry. Najeh Davenport will take over the lion’s share of the ground game for Pittsburgh from here on out.
Najeh has run for a good average this season (4.9 ypr entering tonight’s game) and while he managed an impressive 123 yards on 24 carries tonight, he’s no Willie Parker. Najeh is a big, bruising runner with nowhere near Willie’s speed. But as was evidenced by Willie’s league-leading number of carries this season, Najeh will get a full workload as the Steelers head into the playoffs. It’s no secret that Pittsburgh likes to run the football and Najeh Davenport is perfectly suited for their ground game. He won’t offer the big play capabilities that Willie did, but I can assure you defenses will be tired of tackling him in the 4th quarter.
