Parker runs for record 223 yards as Steelers hammer Browns
PITTSBURGH — First, Willie Parker ran over, around and through Cleveland's defense for a Pittsburgh Steelers-record 223 yards, more yards than Franco Harris or Jerome Bettis gained in a game.
Then, Joey Porter piled on the Browns, insulting them and calling them names after the Steelers' 27-7 win Thursday night.
On a night the Browns were as miserable as the weather — and, with a below-zero wind chill, it was very nasty — the Steelers (6-7) closely resembled the team that won the Super Bowl 10 months ago. Even if that 2-6 start of theirs may prevent another playoff run.
The Browns? Assured of a fourth consecutive losing season with their 4-9 record, they looked much like the Browns of last year, and the year before that and the year before that ...
"We rammed it down their throats, you could hear them arguing among themselves, they knew we were going to run it and they couldn't do anything about it," Steelers tackle Marvel Smith said.
The Browns, outrushed 303-18, were defenseless when it came to slowing Parker, who broke John "Frenchy" Fuqua's 1970 team record of 218 yards — and did so in barely more than three quarters. Parker might have threatened the 300-yard mark if the game were closer but, given it was a Browns-Steelers game, it wasn't.
"Coach (Bill) Cowher came up to me and asked me if I wanted to run some more," Parker said of a fourth-quarter sideline conversation with his coach. "I asked him why and he said I was eight yards away from the record. So I said, 'Yeah, I want to run some more."'
Parker, a speed back rather than a power runner like Bettis, is the first Steelers runner to have two 200-yard games during the same season. Parker first threatened Fuqua's record by rushing for 213 yards against New Orleans on Nov. 12.
Not bad for a running back who wasn't drafted out of North Carolina in 2004 and initially felt he would be an NFL special teams player, given the Steelers' tradition of having only big backs like Bettis and Franco Harris.
"They've never had a speed back, they've always had power backs so I thought I'd have to make a niche on special teams," Parker said. "Then I said, 'Naw, I'm going to keep going at it, keep hard at it and be a running back, just be that every down back."'
Parker scored on a 3-yard and, with Ben Roethlisberger, generated much of the offense during touchdown drives of 97 and 91 yards that were the Steelers' longest of the season. Roethlisberger threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Nate Washington, who filled in for the injured Hines Ward, and scored on a 2-yard bootleg of his own.
Browns coach Romeo Crennel was almost embarrassed with his team's lack of competitiveness against a team it led 20-10 in the fourth quarter on Nov. 19, only to lose 24-20 when the Steelers scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. With the season sweep, the Steelers have won seven in a row and 13 of 14 from the Browns.
"You can't stop it and you can't move it, you get beat," Crennel said. "They ran inside, ran outside, and we couldn't tackle him."
Several Browns players seemed to be uncertain why they couldn't make a game of it only five days after a dramatic 31-28, overtime victory Sunday over Kansas City led by backup quarterback Derek Anderson. They didn't blame Anderson, who threw for 276 yards and a score Thursday in his first NFL start but couldn't generate many sustained drives.
"I don't know what word I'm looking for, lack of maturity, or I don't know what it is," wide receiver Joe Jurevicius said. "But we've got to figure it out soon because I know with a lot of guys in this room, this doesn't sit well."
It went over well in the Steelers' locker room, where Porter was openly ridiculing the Browns. Cleveland is 10-18 over the last two seasons and 14-30 during the last three, getting swept by Pittsburgh each season.
Porter was especially critical of tight end Kellen Winslow, calling him by a derogatory name several times. Porter appeared to be upset by what he felt was a too-late block by Winslow against linebacker James Farrior during the second half.
"He came up and tried to shake my hand before the game, but he doesn't know me," Porter said. "You're not my friend, why are you trying to talk to me? He talks too much and doesn't do anything. He's weak, he's soft. He should move to wide receiver because he doesn't want to block anybody, he doesn't want to be a tight end."
The Steelers won their fourth in five games but, given their terrible start, are all but mathematically eliminated from the AFC playoff race given the number of teams ahead of them.
