Steelers Win; Willie Parker Breaks Leg

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the St. Louis Rams 41-24 Thursday night, but they lost their star running back Willie Parker for the rest of the season after he broke his leg in the first quarter.

“Our heart goes out to him (Willie Parker) because he’s a competitor, he’s a warrior,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “As a team, we’re not going to throw a pity party. its part of the game, people get hurt, we’ll adapt and improvise and move forward.”

Parker’s teammates know it will be hard to win without him.

“With Willie down it’s going to take something away from us,” said Wide Receiver Nate Washington. “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.”

Najeh Davenport will take over as the starting running back and that’s bad news. Davenport is slow and only effective in short yardage situations.

If the Steelers want to win without Parker they will have to rely on Roethlisberger and their passing game.