How good is Willie Parker?

cpawfan · Sep 12, 2008

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_587800.html

Maybe it's because he isn't built like the larger-than-life running backs of Steelers lore - Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis and John Henry Johnson.

Maybe it's because he let down so many fantasy football owners last season.

Maybe it's because he will never match the man he replaced - Bettis - as a media darling.

Maybe it's because he was undrafted.

Whatever the case, "Fast" Willie Parker can't seem to outrun his critics. They call him a track-star back who can't get tough yards, or, as Baltimore Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce so memorably put it last season, "a fraud."

I must be missing something.

Are we talking about Amos Zereoue here, or a back who needs just 48 yards to pass Johnson for third place on the Steelers' all-time rushing list?

Parker has the best per-carry average (4.5) in franchise history, not to mention three of the club's top eight rushing seasons and two of its three highest single-game totals. He finished second in the NFL in 20-plus-yard runs last season, likely would have led the league in rushing if he hadn't been injured and had no problem grinding out tough yards two years ago, when he scored 13 rushing touchdowns.

Know what else? He keeps getting better. He has learned to change speeds and run more patiently.

But you go ahead and question Parker. Keep pointing out what he can't do. Keep finding reasons the Steelers should replace him.

He likes that.

"He's the first guy in here every day and probably the last guy to leave," receiver Hines Ward said.

True to form, Parker was among the last off the practice field Thursday. Dripping sweat and still trying to catch his breath, he considered the question carefully.

Why isn't he automatically mentioned when people speak of the NFL's top backs?

Fast Willie leaned forward, squinted and said, "One day, they are going to talk about me as one of the best. They'll have no other choice."

About the rap he is stopped too often at the line of scrimmage (31 times last season, fifth-most in the NFL according to an article on ESPN.com) and has too many negative-yardage carries?

"Watch me this year," Parker said. "That's all I'll say."

Then, he said some more: "In the past, I probably got too greedy and wanted to make the big play every time. Barry Sanders had that same problem. I know what to do now. I'm trying to get positive yards, even if it's two yards."

Parker's teammates back him on that. He flashed his form Sunday with a 138-yard, three-TD opener against Houston, stiff-arming tacklers, spinning away from them and running right through them.

"A lot of people think of him as a little back, and he's not," offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said of the 5-foot-10, 209-pound Parker. "He's a handful - a violent runner. I wouldn't trade him for anyone."

I would, but after LaDainian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, I'd have to think hard before trading Parker for any other runner - and it's not like Peterson has proved his durability. Parker has the third-most rushing yards (4,012) in the NFL over the past three years.

Ward was among those who eased Parker's concerns when the team drafted Rashard Mendenhall, pointing out that it could help him.

Pardon Parker if he didn't pop a bottle of champagne that day.

"I'm the type of person where I jump to the craziest conclusions anyway," Parker said. "I thought the worst. That's the way I was thinking. But then, after talking to some people, they made me calm down."

Seems to me, Mendenhall was brought in to preserve and enhance Parker, not to replace him.

Parker isn't perfect. He's just one of the best running backs in the NFL, and already, at age 27, one of the best in Steelers' history.

"If he didn't get hurt, he would have led the league in rushing last year," said backup quarterback Charlie Batch, who is on injured reserve but has seen numerous elite runners in his years in the league. "He's a proven runner, deserving of all the credit he's getting."

Or not getting.
Click to expand...

BasX · Sep 12, 2008

[video=youtube;DcIcKdf2Exs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcIcKdf2Exs[/video]

Awesome.

cpawfan · Sep 17, 2008

Another week, another article about Willie

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08260/912480-66.stm

Willie Parker has a couple of sizable escorts leading him into the hole Sunday night against the Browns with 6-5, 321-pound Marvel Smith (77) and 6-3, 344-pound Chris Kemoeatu. Parker has opened the season with consecutive 100-yard games.

Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel's strategy to kick a field goal Sunday night and hope to get the ball again for one final try to win the game might have been a good plan against the Steelers.

Last season, that is.

Crennel had to be confident his defense could thwart the Steelers' attempt to run out the final 3:21 with a four-point lead. After all, the Steelers' offense came up empty enough in similar situations last season.

Sunday night in Cleveland, however, it looked like the old, clock-killing grinding Steelers offense at the end that chewed up all but 26 seconds and left the Browns on their 26.

The Steelers took over at their 31 with 3:21 left after they fielded the kickoff after Phil Dawson's 38-yard field goal closed the gap for Cleveland to 10-6. They ran eight plays, seven of them runs by Willie Parker, before they finally turned the ball over to the Browns with little time to do anything about it.

In similar circumstances last season, most notably their home playoff loss to Jacksonville, the Steelers' offense could not kill the clock and protect a late lead or tie, allowing for two losses to the Jaguars at home, and a loss to the New York Jets in overtime.

That failure prompted coach Mike Tomlin to work on what the Steelers call their four-minute offense, the one that differs from the hurry-up two-minute. The four-minute is designed to put an opponent away and it worked behind Parker to perfection Sunday night in Cleveland.

"Yeah, in the four-minute offense we kind of struggled with it last year," Parker said. "We practiced each and every practice on our four-minute offense this year, and in minicamp and all offseason. We're counting on it being a plus for us this year."

They're 1-0 counting on it.

"That last drive, that's just putting a dagger into a team," Parker said. "For them to know we're going to run the ball and they can't stop it, I have to give a lot of credit to our offensive line. They couldn't stop us, and we did it in the last few minutes."

Parker has done it two games now. He's third in the NFL with 243 yards rushing, and ahead of his fast pace of last season when he had 232 after two games and led the NFL with 1,315 yards after 14 games. His right fibula was broken on his first carry of game 15.

He carried 28 times for 105 yards against the Browns.

"I get into a rhythm knowing I'm getting the rock, keep getting the ball, keep getting the ball," Parker said. "I was hoping to pop one, but I couldn't get everything I want."

He did pop an important one on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, maybe not into the end zone, but it helped ultimately get them there. From Cleveland's 40, Parker hit off right guard and bounced it outside for a 13-yard gain. Four plays later, Ben Roethlisberger threw a third-down pass to Hines Ward for an 11-yard touchdown and a lead they never relinquished.

"I thought Willie ran hard, you know, not the player of the week kind of performance but we'll take it nonetheless," Tomlin said.

And, again, the Steelers coach seems determined to run Parker "until the wheels come off," something he promised last season. Parker's 53 carries are the most by a running back in the NFL. Next is Chicago's Matt Forte with 46.

The idea that rookie Rashard Mendenhall might either take some of the carries away from Parker or even share the load seems to not even be a consideration early in the season.

Mendenhall did not play on offense Sunday night, thus did not have a carry. He carried 10 times in the opener, all but one in the second half; five came in the fourth quarter after Parker bowed out with a 35-3 Steelers lead.

Parker could not explain Mendenhall's inactivity Sunday except that "I really didn't get tired."

"I was kind of surprised, I thought he'd be in there a little bit but we just grinded it out," Parker said.

If he reaches a point where he thinks he needs a break, Parker can take himself out. That did not happen in Cleveland.

"When your number gets called you just have to make a play," he said. "That's what we're here to do as a team, make plays and win games."
Click to expand...

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How good is Willie Parker?

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