Willie Parker was the league's leading rusher last year and was obviously the top choice for the Pro Bowl.  In the blink of an eye, Fast Willie's best season to date came to a screeching halt when he broke his leg in St. Louis in Week 16.  Najeh Davenport was called upon to fill in for him.  I had predicted Najeh would do good, but boy was I wrong.  Davenport left town this offseason.

On Draft Day, I nearly punched the TV screen when the Steelers didn't draft a linebacker or an offensive lineman in the first round.  Damn you, San Diego for taking Antonio Cromartie!  Anywho, I was shocked when they drafted RB Rashard Mendenhall out of Illinois.  I thought it was one of the dumbest moves in a long time for Pittsburgh, until I realized they wanted someone to compliment Willie Parker since Najeh Davenport didn't cut it.  Then it all started to make sense.  Let's get a young RB who has played well in college as Parker's backup because we can't be 100% sure Parker will be back to form for the 2008 season.  Just in case he gets injured again, we have a guy we think can carry the load.

Willie Parker proved he had fully recovered when he ran all over the Texans and Browns respectively.  Now I know it's Houston and Cleveland, but if Parker wasn't back to full health he never would've run for anywhere near 100 yards even against those 2 teams.  Last Sunday in Philadelphia, there was basically no such thing as offense for either team, and Parker was held to a miserable 20 yards on 13 carries, yeesh!

Earlier this week, we learned Fast Willie had sustained a knee injury during the game in Philly, and will not play against the Ravens on Monday Night Football.  Ladies and gents, this is precisely the reason the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Rashard Mendenhall.  When the game got out of hand against the Texans, the Steelers let Parker take a breather and put Mendenhall in the game.  He carried the ball 10 times for 28 yards.  More importantly, Mendenhall didn't fumble one of those carries.  That was a huge problem for him in the preseason, when he fumbled a few times during the games.  In one of the final preseason games, coach Mike Tomlin thought "I'm going to teach this boy a lesson.  He's fumbled one too many times, and if he's going to be on my team, he's going to learn how to hold onto that damn football!"  So what did Tomlin do?  He pissed off the Steelers #1 pick by making him carry the ball over and over and over again, at least 10 or 12 straight plays.  You could tell Mendenhall was wondering "why are you doing this to me, coach?"  Here's the answer, Rashard, practice makes perfect.  So therefore, Tomlin kept making him carry the ball, and even though he was getting tired, Tomlin kept him in for a couple more plays.  Hopefully that little lesson has cured Rashard Mendenhall of his fumbleitis.

Mendenhall won't set the world on fire on Monday Night, but it won't be for lack of trying.  He's making his first start against a team that isn't all that great, but constantly mirrors the Steelers in their ability to stop the run, even though Baltimore isn't so good otherwise.  I'd say he'll score his first NFL touchdown and get a couple big runs.  I also say he won't fumble in this game, but will be lucky to rack up 75 yards.

BK over and out