PITTSBURGH - Jerome Bettis and Duce Staley's combined 11 1,000-yard seasons won't get them into the Pittsburgh Steelers' lineup Sunday in Houston. All because of a running back who couldn't get off North Carolina's bench in college.

The Steelers have had some of the NFL's biggest and best running backs in their 73 seasons, including Hall of Famers Franco Harris and John Henry Johnson and No. 5 career rusher Bettis. None ever had an opening day like Willie Parker, who, a year ago felt fortunate to be on an NFL roster as a rookie free agent.

"Last year I said, 'One day I'm going to run through that tunnel,' and today I got my chance," Parker said.

On his first day as an NFL starter, Parker didn't stop running after that down-the-tunnel sprint during the pregame introductions. He ran for 161 yards in his first career start, the most ever by a Steelers running back on opening day, and stopped running only because the Steelers opened a 34-7 third-quarter lead over the Tennessee Titans that became the final score.

"I really didn't take any hits in college, so my career's really just beginning," said Parker, who had a combined 209 yards rushing and receiving. "I had to make a name for myself, open up some eyes that I can play."

If the Titans didn't know him beforehand - and there was no reason to, considering he had only 32 previous NFL carries and not many more as a college senior - they do now. After this game, Parker won't have to worry about name recognition.

And North Carolina coach John Bunting? No doubt he'll get more than a few questions about how a player as fast and talented as Parker, who has 263 yards in the only two NFL games he has gotten more than a few carries, couldn't get off the Tar Heels bench in 2003.

"I've let bygones be bygones. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go back to North Carolina," said Parker, who had 102 yards against Buffalo to close last season.

The Steelers, coming off a franchise-best 15-1 season, went right back to doing what they did a year ago. Only they did it a lot differently, with Parker running outside rather than up the middle as Steelers backs traditionally do, and Ben Roethlisberger looking to go deep on his infrequent passes.After running the ball on 61 percent of their plays in 2004, the most by any NFL team in 20-plus seasons, they ran it 79 percent of the time Sunday. Roethlisberger, as efficient and error-free as he was while going 13-0 as a rookie, had a perfect 158.3 pass rating by going 9-of-11 for 218 yards and touchdowns of 3 yards to rookie tight end Heath Miller and 63 yards to Antwaan Randle El.So much for all the fretting and worrying about a touchdown-free preseason by the Steelers starters before their 16th consecutive regular-season win, three short of the Patriots' 2003-04 record."I have confidence in all the guys and I have confidence in myself," said Roethlisberger, whose 11 passing attempts were the fewest by a Steelers quarterback in 28 years. "I knew we would really play football when it mattered."For the Titans, the only highlight of former Southern Cal assistant Norm Chow's first game as offensive coordinator was a 61-yard opening drive that ended with Steve McNair's 1-yard TD pass to Ben Troupe. After that, they had four turnovers to Pittsburgh's none, and couldn't sustain any drives despite accumulating 303 yards."We didn't have a problem moving the ball, but to move it as much as we did and get only seven points is bad," wide receiver Drew Bennett said after a performance reminiscent of last year's 5-11 season. "We had all offseason to prepare for this, and to get only seven points is not good."At least Steve McNair (18-of-26, 219 yards) looked healthy and sharp after missing half of last season with a sternum injury, causing him to briefly consider retiring."It's not going to be like this every week," McNair said.Parker is saying the same thing."Really, I'm just a role player around here," he said.Notes:Coach Bill Cowher said Parker will start Sunday, even if Bettis (calf) and Staley (knee) are healthy. ... Parker's rushing yardage was the 12th most in Steelers history.