The Bus Is a Passenger on This Trip
Bettis' Teammates Help Send Him Out a Winner
Roy S. Johnson, AOL Black Voices Columnist,
"And you knew Willie Parker was going to screw up!"
Elsa, Getty Images
Jerome Bettis proved there was a little tread left on his tires, but it was his teammates that helped send him out a winner.
The voice came from the back of the pack, the pack surrounding "The Bus." Jerome Bettis was savoring every bead of sweat, every ounce of beer (poured onto his head), every question, and each hug of congrats in this, the final post-game locker-room of his career. He adjusted and re-adjusted the Super Bowl XL Champions cap that sat half-cocked atop his head. And he grinned that grin of a man feeling and living moments he never wanted to forget.
"And you knew Willie Parker was going to screw up, didn’t ya?"
The young man with the minicam at the back of the pack was grinning, too. Willie Parker wanted to record every bubbling image. He caught Ben Rothlisberger sitting alone in front of his locker. He caught teammate safety Chris Hoke teasing him because Parker, a former backup at North Carolina who gained all of 181 yards during his senior season, "didn't win nothing in college."
Now, Willie Parker was catching the imagery of brother Jerome for posterity.
And he had ever right because on this night, Willie Parker drove The Bus. He gave Bettis the first Super Bowl on the last night of his 13-year career.
Game Ball Goes To
Antwaan Randle El: Hines Ward won the MVP after catching five balls for 123 yards, but outside of Randle El's perfectly placed 43-yard strike, the Steelers passing game wasn't much of a threat. Randle El's pinpoint pass flattened the Seahawks like an empty Starbucks cup under The Bus' plentiful back bumper.
It All Changed When
Willie Parker burst through a hole big enough to fit a truck (or Bill Cowher's jaw) through and completed the Nestea plunge into the end zone 75 yards later. Parkers' touchdown put the Steelers in control after being outplayed through much of the first half.
More Yellow: Terrible Towels or Seahawks Penalties
Terrible Towels, but by a margin thinner than Seattle kicker Josh Brown's lone facial hair.
The stat box says Parker rushed for 93 yards on 10 carries in the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 triumph over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit. But the only number you need to know is 75, as in the 75-yard run Parker pulled off on the second play of the second half that woke up the knock-kneed Steelers, gave them a 14-3 lead, and all but clipped the Seahawks' wings.
"Counter play" is what it was called. The play is simply one in which the running back, Parker, takes the ball and runs outside the tackle. It's a grade-school play. Each blocker takes a man and seals a space for the swift second-year back. Right tackle Max Starks caught his man square; guard Alan Fanaca, who pulled from the left side, was the jack-hammer. "He just paved the hole," Parker said, "and it was just me and the safeties."
In theory. Parker was so far gone, nary a Seattle safety was in his area code.
The story line of the pre-game hype centered on Bettis, the hometown homie finally reaching the Super Bowl being played in his hometown. In the giddiness of the post-game locker-room celebration, the pack surrounding the sure-to-be Hall of Famer seemed to replenish itself with every new wave of teammates, admirers and inquirers.
Parker's name may not have ever been mentioned, or so it seemed. That he was the starting running back did not matter. That he'd gained more rushing yards this season than any other Steeler did not matter.
But there he was when it mattered, sprinting down the sideline for a game-turning TD in the game that mattered most.
It is now time for Atlanta Falcon QB Micheal Vick to fulfill his vast potential. BV Sports' Roy S. Johnson breaks it down.
Get Roy's Take
When Bettis saw Parker shouting and shooting he reached through the throng and gave his teammate a loving hug. In the last game of his football career, Bettis ran for only 43 yards with his 14 carries. There was no Bus moment, though the Steelers tried real hard to create one. In the second half they handed the ball to him three straight times as the Steelers sat within sight of the goal line.
But the Bus never got his Hallmark moment.
He ran for 12, four and zero yards before leaving the game with Pittsburgh at the seven and poised to take control of the game. Instead, Roethlisberger aimed a pass for wideout Cedric Wilson that settled softly into the hands of backup cornerback Kelly Herdon at the four-yard line. Herndon took it 76 yards to the Pittsburgh 20, the longest INT return in Super Bowl history.
The Seahawks scored and gave life to the 12 (or so it seemed) fans they brought with them. At least until Steeler wideout (and backup QB) Antwaan Randel El took an end around from Parker near the middle of the fourth quarter and found teammate Hines Ward wishing, hoping, pleading, praying for that ball to come down from the Ford Field sky and into his loving arms.
That play was called "counter right pass," and it worked once before, against Cleveland earlier this season. It worked then because the attacking safety just couldn't help but, well, attack the running back heading left. It worked this time because the attacking safety, Michael Boulware, bit like a rattlesnake and allowed Ward to run right past him to an open space and wait for that ball to come to Daddy.
After it settled and the 43-yard touchdown was on the scoreboard, Seattle fans were crying in their lattes.
Parker didn't miss much in the locker room. His own reality show was going to be a hit for years, but, once again, he was not the headliner. Yet and Parker was just where he was supposed to be: In the middle of it all but behind the lens, still making it happen for Bettis and the Steelers when it mattered most.
