Willie Parker missed his third straight day of practice Friday because of turf toe, making it likely that he will miss Sunday night’s game against the Chargers.
The Steelers will announce if Parker is questionable, doubtful, or out later Friday, but it’s very rare for someone to miss practice all week and play Sunday, especially for the Steelers.
Rashard Mendenhall, fresh off a one week benching for not knowing his assignments, will get plenty of work in a game the Steelers desperately want to win.
Mendenhall’s only career start was in a Monday night game last season against the Ravens in Week Four. He broke his shoulder (or Ray Lewis did to be more specific) and was lost for the season.
Expect to see plenty of Mewelde Moore Sunday night; it wouldn’t be a surprise if Moore saw the field more than Mendenhall, the team’s first-round pick in 2008.
There’s also a chance that Redman will be brought up from PS. I’d love to see him get some reps in to see if he can do some good, especially in short yardage. Can’t be any worse than what we’ve got to work with now. He was beast against our own defense in training camp….so I say give him a shot.
I’m personally excited to see how Mendenhall does. This could be his chance to take over the #1 spot @ running back for the Steelers. No matter who the running back is for the Steelers they will continue to deploy a 3 running back rotation, but it would be nice to know that the running back position is in good hands for the future.
same old parker hurt again
Do or die time Rashard. If he wants to be on the team next year, Sunday night is the night to show some stuff.
Mewelde Moore is the best back on the Steelers anyway. They should start him. Never gets utilized.
Mendenhall has been a bust to date. And the 2nd yr in he doesn’t know his assignment ? He is not a prototypical Steeler draftee.
Here’s hoping little Willie’s “boo-boo” gets better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34b8T44514
:^P
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# steeler-hater says: October 2, 2009 1:21 PM
Here’s hoping little Willie’s “boo-boo” gets better:
I don’t know which amazes me more.
The fact that you have absolutely nothing better to do ALL day than put your unbelievably mind-numbing imbecility on display, or the fact that you seem to have perfected it to an absolute art form.
Mendenhall gets his chance, hopefully he runs with it, literally. I dont want to see Tike(Isaac) Redman just yet. When/If they sign him to an active roster contract that would mean they are panicking, it’s nowhere near time to panic. The practice roster is where he needs to be right now.
MEWELDE is the man… Never used in Minny .not used enough in Pitts…there is no doubt he is the best RB they have. not even close
the Burg seems to have a huge problem drafting durable RBs, Parker has been injuried every year it seems like & mendenhall was just a stupid pick. mendenahall had 1 decent year in a weak college division & everyone knew he wouldnt last in the NFL. i cant believe they passed on Forte most of all but everyone knew guys like Rice, Smith or even Slaton was a 10x better then mendenhall.
“but it’s very rare for someone to miss practice all week and play Sunday, especially for the Steelers.”
Brian Westbrook does that every week…but Willie Parker isn’t Brian Westbrook by any means.
In order to get ‘turf toe’, don’t you need to do some actual running? Considering he gets stopped at the line 99% of the time, where is the ‘toe’ coming from?
Start Mendenhall, Moore on 3rd downs, and call up Redman in reserve.
Willie really hasn’t shown much since his first couple of seasons except turning up on the injury report.
Time for Mendenhall to show something. Maybe Coach Tomlin will see fit to bring Redman up if Parkers turf toe turns into a season long thing. With a bad turf toe, he could be done for the season.
mustbechris says: October 2, 2009 3:32 PM
“but it’s very rare for someone to miss practice all week and play Sunday, especially for the Steelers.”
Brian Westbrook does that every week…but Willie Parker isn’t Brian Westbrook by any means.
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Exactly – Parker has 2 rings and a Super Bowl rushing record. Westbrook? Not so much…
JRLC says:
October 2, 2009 3:30 PM
the Burg seems to have a huge problem drafting durable RBs, Parker has been injuried every year it seems like & mendenhall was just a stupid pick. mendenahall had 1 decent year in a weak college division & everyone knew he wouldnt last in the NFL. i cant believe they passed on Forte most of all but everyone knew guys like Rice, Smith or even Slaton was a 10x better then mendenhall.
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Unfortunately JRLC you are exactly right. I was HIGHLY disappointed with the Mendenhall pick. Admittedly I’m not a huge fan or follower of the
Big 10, but I never heard of the guy before the draft. Then seeing he only had one productive year, was just like WTF?!?! Passing on Rice and Forte is definetely a bummer seeing as what Mendenhall has done so far. I do think the guy is an amazing athlete, but he had one good year in college….so maybe the learning curve is a little greater for him? Or maybe he just never gets it? Hopefully it’s the former…only time will tell. He should (and better, unless he’s failing miserably) get a lot of looks Sunday night.
JRLC says:
October 2, 2009 3:30 PM
the Burg seems to have a huge problem drafting durable RBs, Parker has been injuried every year it seems like & mendenhall was just a stupid pick. mendenahall had 1 decent year in a weak college division & everyone knew he wouldnt last in the NFL. i cant believe they passed on Forte most of all but everyone knew guys like Rice, Smith or even Slaton was a 10x better then mendenhall.
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While I agree that Mendenhall isn’t looking great, my memory tells me that Mendenhall was rated higher than he was picked. Most had him number 2 after McFadden and he was expected to be drafted mid first round. Who is this “everyone” you’re referring to?
I hate when ppl get it wrong !!!!!!!!! JRLC i hope you arent a Steelers fan , if so i can see why everyone thinks Steeler fans are dumb . Parker wasnt drafted by the Steelers or anyone else in the league . He was signed as a UFA out of college . Please keep up on the in and outs ok ?
Mendenhall will be ok . He had one good season as a “starter” but also showed something previous seasons as a limited role . No one has any right to bitch about the running game considering that Walter Payton or Jim Brown would be average backs behind this bad O line .
I hope you’re right STP. Like I said I didn’t watch him in college, I’m not a Big 10 guy. So I knew very little about him prior to the Steelers. I hope it’s just a steep learning curve for him, and he eventually finds his way. I’m just saying that I’m not very confident that he will.
The Jimmy – I think he was “rated” higher as well, and there was a reason that he didn’t go earlier, which was his limited experience. It’s just my opinion that we sort of jumped the gun on him. I do hope that I’m wrong, and he turns out to be a great pick. If you read my post above I think the guy has a ton of potential, but right now it’s seeming to be all mental, and as we are seeing with Sweed, that can sink your ship in a hurry.
The Steelers won’t miss Parker. He’s barely showed up the first 3 games anyway.
I’m not disputing that Mendenhall has been disappointing and I agree with you that his problem seems to be mental. He has the look of a guy that is satisfied where he is. I just get a kick out of some guy saying “eveybody knew this” and “everybody knew that”. I don’t pretend to be a scout of any sort, but I do remember a few things that scouts were saying about the players in that draft. Ray Rice, who btw I loved in college, supposedly had a lot of miles on him already from being the only weapon on a bad team. Slaton was coming off a subpar season and only ran outside. Hindsight is always 20/20. My point was when they drafted Mendenhall (and Sweed) people were saying they were steals. I don’t remember all the “everybodys”.