Davenport helps Steelers beat Rams
Friday, December 21, 2007 11:36 AM PST
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The last time Najeh Davenport got this much work, he was also playing against the St. Louis Rams.
The career backup’s second-career 100-yard rushing game eased the sting, at least for a day, from Willie Parker’s season-ending injury in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 41-24 victory over the Rams on Thursday night. It was the first 100-yard game against the Rams all season.
Subbing for Ahman Green in 2004 for the Green Bay Packers, Davenport handled the Rams for 178 yards in a 45-17 Monday Night victory. After Parker limped off the field with a broken right leg following a 1-yard loss on his only carry of the game, Davenport rushed for 123 yards and one touchdown and caught two passes for 44 yards and a second score.
‘’I took it upon myself to put the offense on my back and carry it,’’ Davenport said.
Now the Steelers (10-5) need him to do it against somebody else if they want to make a playoff run. Pittsburgh overcame another spotty defensive effort with Ike Taylor’s clinching 51-yard interception return in the fourth quarter, and got three touchdown passes without an interception from Ben Roethlisberger, but Davenport’s effort was the big story.
The Steelers had lost three of five to fall into a tie with the Browns for the AFC North lead. They can clinch the division with a Cleveland loss at Cincinnati on Sunday, and can clinch a playoff berth if the Titans lose to the Jets.
Pittsburgh plays its regular-season finale at Baltimore next Sunday.
‘’It’s just a situation where you have to come out and play hard no matter what,’’ said wide receiver Nate Washington, who caught two touchdown passes. Parker leads the NFL with 1,316 yards, including eight 100-yard games. Parker, Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis are the only players in franchise history with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and he was selected to his second Pro Bowl earlier in the week. All of that went out the window after Parker broke a bone in his lower right leg when he was stopped by Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon.
He was injured so early in the game, the Steelers had plenty of time to adjust to the new reality.
Roethlisberger was 16-for-20 for 261 yards, his first 200-yard game in five weeks.
