Pittsburgh – The weather was nasty, windy, miserable. For Willie Parker, it was a record cold night.
Parker broke the Steelers’ single-game rushing record with 223 yards – a game better than either legendary Franco Harris or Jerome Bettis enjoyed – and Pittsburgh excelled as usual in cold weather by roughing up the Cleveland Browns 27-7 on Thursday night.
Parker, the first player in Steelers history to have two 200-yard games in a season, broke John “Frenchy” Fuqua’s record of 218 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1970.
“I don’t know too much about him, though coach (Dick) Hoak has told me all about him,” said Parker, referring to the running backs coach who coached both backs. “This (record) was nice, but all those accolades come – and then they go. The best thing was the win.”
The Steelers ran the ball so well, tackle Marvel Smith said, the Browns’ defensive players were yelling at each other in the huddle.
“There’s no better feeling than that, when they know you’re going to run it and they still can’t stop it,” Smith said. “We rammed it down their throats.”
The Steelers withstood temperatures in the teens, a wind chill that was below zero in the second half and an occasional snowflake to win their seventh in a row against the Browns.
