Willie Parker Suffers a Setback

Just when it looked like Willie Parker was fine, he may be back to square one.

Parker reaggravated his sprained MCL during Monday's practice and was held out of practice on Wednesday. Although the Steelers aren't saying anything publicly, it seems pretty likely that Parker will now miss Sunday's game, especially since the Steelers don't want to do anything that risks losing him for the long term.

What makes this a little less disconcerting is the emergence of Mewelde Moore, who showed against the Jaguars that he's very capable of filling in for Parker. In fact, it's a pretty safe bet that Bengals fans would be happy to trade Moore for Bengals starting tailback Chris Perry, who is averaging a whopping 2.6 yards per carry.

Parker has been a pretty healthy tailback for most of his career, but this would be the fourth game he's missed in the past eight. Although a setback sounds back, the reality is that three weeks is a pretty quick return from an MCL tear, so another week may be all that's needed, which would get Parker back in time for the Giants game in a week and a half.