PITTSBURGH — For the first time in almost 11 months, Duce Staley is about to carry the ball again in a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Both Staley and the Steelers can only hope that his return was worth the wait.

With backup Jerome Bettis not expected to play because of a quadriceps injury, Staley will be activated Sunday in Green Bay for only the second time this season. He missed all but one day of training camp for knee surgery and has been on the field for only a couple of snaps this season, not once carrying the ball.

Is his midseason return a sign of how far the career of Staley has fallen or an indication of confidence in a player who has rushed for 5,637 yards and 23 touchdowns in parts of eight NFL seasons?

"We all have faith in Duce to step in and get the job done," said Willie Parker, who leads the team in rushing with three 100-yard games in seven games. "The running game will be ready, just as it always is, and we'll be ready to run even more without Ben in there."

With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery that will keep him out for one game and possibly two, Pittsburgh was already shorthanded on offense. Losing Bettis, the NFL's fifth all-time leading rusher who was second on the team with 136 yards, compounds that more. Bettis has been used in situations where the Steelers need critical short yardage or want to run down the clock with a lead.

"That will be a tough situation," Bettis said. "But it's not like we haven't dealt with bigger issues than that. That's why we have quality backups, because everybody is capable of playing well. That's what we need right now."

Bettis, who was injured late in the 27-13 win over Cincinnati on Oct. 23, has not started a game this season but has been second to Parker in carries and yards in all but one of the games in which he has played.

Staley, who began last season as the starter after being acquired as a free agent from the Philadelphia Eagles, rushed for 707 yards during the first seven games in 2004, but a hamstring injury limited him to only 41 carries the rest of the season. He hasn't carried since the Steelers' 41-27 loss to New England in the AFC title game in January.

Staley returned Sept. 25 against the Patriots, but only appeared in three plays and was inactive the following week when Bettis returned from a preseason calf injury. Staley has not dressed for a game since.

"It's been a long time," Staley said. "I'm looking forward to it and am excited about it. I feel pretty good."

Earlier, coach Bill Cowher questioned whether Staley would be 100 percent this season, but Staley said he is close to that.

In the last three games, Pittsburgh has used a running back rotation in which Parker has roughly twice the carries as has Bettis. The Steelers are not revealing their plan for spreading the ball around Sunday at Lambeau Field.

"You'll have to ask the coaches, but I'm definitely a competitor," said Staley, a three-time 1,000-yard rusher with Philadelphia. "I want to out and help my team win. It goes both ways, if I have to sit down to help my team win, I would do the same. You saw that the last couple weeks.

"I still love playing the game, still want to play the game, still want to be productive," he said. "That's what it's all about."