PITTSBURGH Staley remains on sidelines as injuries take toll

Willie Parker has the starting tailback role for the Steelers.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Duce Staley can't seem to find a team that will give him the football.
Staley was a 1,000-yard rusher with the Eagles in 1998, 1999 and 2002. Unhappy with sharing the ball and playing time with Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter in an uncommon three-man rotation, he left Philadelphia after the 2003 season.
He knew immediately where he wanted to go: Pittsburgh, where the running game always comes first. With Jerome Bettis more prone to injury as he got older and the Steelers looking for a new primary running back, Staley quickly reached terms on a $14 million, five-year contract.
For the first half of last season, the move worked out exactly as Staley and the Steelers planned. Staley averaged 101 yards in seven games -- compared to a 27-yard average over the same span with the Eagles in 2003 -- and was on pace for one of the best seasons by a Steelers running back.
Hamstring pulled
But a hamstring injury before the Eagles-Steelers game Nov. 7 all but sidelined Staley the rest of the season, as he got only 41 more carries. Bettis responded to Staley's absence by rushing for at least 100 yards in each of his six starts and, by the playoffs, was the primary back again.
Since Staley ran for 80 yards on 21 carries as a backup in two playoff games, he hasn't seen the ball.
He needed knee surgery after one day of training camp, an injury that pushed undrafted free agent Willie Parker into the starting job initially envisioned for the 30-year-old Staley. Bettis has been the backup, getting the ball mostly in the fourth quarter when the Steelers want to run down the clock.
Staley? He's right back where he was in Philadelphia, one of three running backs who want to play for a team that believes it can go deep into the playoffs. But with coach Bill Cowher saying recently that Staley's knee may not be 100 percent this season, Staley's outlook is cloudy at best.
Right about now, with the Eagles' running game in such disarray that Donovan McNabb threw 54 times in a 20-17 win Sunday over San Diego, Philadelphia must be looking very good to Staley.
"It's definitely odd," Staley said as the Steelers prepare to host Baltimore on Monday night. "But I can see what's going on and I just have to wait for my shot to get in there and do what I do."
It looked as though Staley might be ready to play before the Steelers' 24-22 victory at San Diego on Oct. 10.
But, by the end of the practice week, Cowher wasn't convinced Staley was ready and elevated Bettis on the depth chart. After Parker was held to 26 yards, Bettis came off the bench to carry on seven of 10 plays of a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
On the bench
Staley hasn't been any closer to playing since. Parker bounced back by gaining 131 yards as the Steelers beat the Bengals 27-13 Sunday, with Bettis adding 56 yards as the running game produced 221 of the team's 304 yards.
"It's good to know you still have Duce back there, feeling better and better," Cowher said. "Every time I'm on the sideline, he's there making sure I see him and reminding me he's still there. I like the fact he's doing that."
Regardless, standing and sitting are growing old for Staley, who has only 62 carries in the Steelers' last 17 games, counting last season's playoffs.
Does it remind him of Philadelphia?
"I can't really speak of that," said Staley, who has 5,637 yards rushing in eight seasons. "Those days are over with. I don't even remember what happened. I've got amnesia."
Unless Parker or Bettis get hurt and Staley is needed to make a major contribution over the final half of the season, it is all but certain the Steelers won't pay Staley $2.6 million next season to be a backup. He is making $2.15 million this season.