Ed Bouchette: Bettis Has Plenty of Praise For Parker

Bettis has plenty of high praise for Steelers' newest sensation
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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The highlight reel of Willie Parker's first NFL start will include his tackle-busting, stiff-arming 45-yard run in the third quarter, his 48-yard dash with a screen pass on the first drive, his 11-yard run for a touchdown and his 25-yard off-tackle gallop from the I-formation.

None of those will land in Parker's scrapbook, and none of those was the favorite of Jerome Bettis as he watched from the sideline as his young pupil exploded into Steelers lore and the National Football League radar Sunday.

Of all the marvelous plays Parker ran on the helpless Tennessee Titans on the way to his 161-yard day, it was typical Steelers mind-set that he and Bettis would choose two runs that totaled 6 yards.

Two plays, both in the second quarter.

"My favorite run by him," Bettis said, "was a '38 stretch.' It was off tackle on the weak side on first down, off the right side."

A defender tried to cut-block fullback Dan Kreider, and Parker side-stepped inside and picked up 4 yards.

"The play probably should have been a 1-yard gain or second-and-10, and he was able to get 4 yards," Bettis said. "It was inside, pounding. That puts the offense in second-and-6, and those are the plays that keep the team functioning.

"The long runs are great, but you get in a situation where a play breaks down and you're still able to get 4, now it's second-and-6 and we can run everything in the playbook. As a running back, that's so important to be able to do that on first down when they were geared up to stop the run on that particular play. That's what was impressive to me."

Parker chose a third-and-1 play at the Tennessee 31 early in the quarter. He broke defensive end Antwan Odom's grip on him behind the line of scrimmage and squeezed out a 2-yard gain up the middle for a first down.

"I liked that run over all of them," Parker said.

Said Bettis, "The assumption is there because he's so fast he can't get the tough yards, and so for him to go out and, on third-and-1, third-and-2, situations like that and get those tough yards, it means so much to an offense."

One day after the most productive game by a Steelers running back in an opener, Parker said he was physically sore but unmoved by all the buzz swirling about him. He claimed to not watch the highlight shows, nor read anything about the game. He reacted more like Humble Willie than Fast Willie.

"Y'all guys are making it sink in a little bit," he told a gathering media storm yesterday.

Parker said he received nearly 60 text and voice messages on his cell phone since his big game and "I don't know who half the people were, but I listened to them."

He also described himself as a role player ready to step aside when Bettis and/or Duce Staley return to health.

"I don't have the starting job. I'm a role player. I know those guys are hurt right now. I know what I came in to do. I'm just helping the team out right now. I want to be a starter but I'm not going to say I deserve anything. Jerome deserves it. He's a Hall of Famer. Duce deserves it. He's situated."

But Parker will start Sunday in Houston against the Texans and it may be his job to lose. Bettis, for one, said he's fine with that.

"I'm happy he's playing well," said Bettis, who has a pulled calf muscle that's likely to keep him on the sideline one more game. "At the end of the day, the goal is for the football team to win. That's the bottom line. If it's at the expense of carries I might have received, then that's fine, too -- know what I mean?"

At Parker's request, Bettis and Staley pointed things out to him on the sideline Sunday and cheered on their understudy-turned-star.

"I saw a very determined, hungry running back who wanted to take advantage of his opportunity," Bettis said.

Bettis, the NFL's fifth-leading career rusher, said Parker was giving him too much credit for helping him.

"He's talented. I just showed him a little bit of this, a little bit of that to show him some stuff on the field. But he went out there and played incredible. I just told him, 'Man, you're doing a great job, just keep running to what you see, believe in what you see, that's the key.' "

What Bettis saw was a runner with the kind of quickness and speed never before seen in a Steelers backfield, combined with power.

"He has his own style," Bettis said. "I think it's still developing. It's a work in progress, but it's a heck of a start."

(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.)