Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Fleet running back Willie Parker accumulated 209 yards total offense in a little more than three quarters of his first regular season start. Click photo for larger image. MORE COVERAGE After a shaky start, the Steelers' defense regained its focus and finished strong Steelers Notebook: Reed ties Anderson's field-goal streak Steelers Photo Journal More NFL coverage

That first-team Steelers offense that could not produce a touchdown this summer, that even had their head coach worried, could not be stopped yesterday.

They left summer stock to perform a smash Broadway hit as the Steelers played almost flawlessly on offense to throttle the Tennessee Titans, 34-7, and open the regular season in style at Heinz Field.

Ben Roethlisberger put every question about his poor preseason performance behind him in one quick swoop. He needed only 11 passes, the fewest thrown by the Steelers in nearly three decades, but completed nine for 218 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He became the first NFL quarterback in two years to compile a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

Halfback Willie Parker also lived up to his "Fast" nickname and more, breaking tackles and spinning through holes on the way to 161 yards rushing, the 12th most ever by a Steeler, and that did not include the screen pass he turned into a 48-yard gain. The second-year back, making his first start, bowed out after three quarters, and it may take a lot more than healing by injured Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis to get him out of the starting lineup.

"He's got some big plays in him every time he touches the ball," marveled offensive tackle Marvel Smith. "If we give him a little bit of room, he can burst through the hole and make a lot of people miss him and take it to the house."

Parker did that on an 11-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, breaking two tackles along the way. Titans hit him on several occasions in the backfield, and he still eluded them. He had runs of 45 and 25 yards in addition to his 48-yard screen pass and averaged 7.3 yards on 22 carries.

"He's not more powerful, he's just faster and he's slick," said Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, whose grip on Parker slipped once in the backfield. "I mean, it was like the guy had Vaseline on or something."

Roethlisberger and his receivers looked pretty slick themselves, and, if they kept an offensive line rating it too would be perfect -- Roethlisberger was not sacked and they piled up 206 yards rushing.

Everyone had reason to celebrate. Rookie tight end Heath Miller caught a 3-yard touchdown pass on his team's first drive. Jeff Reed tied Gary Anderson's team record by kicking field goals of 44 and 27 yards to give him 19 in a row without a miss. Antwaan Randle El, replacing the departed Plaxico Burress at split end, showed he can go deep, hauling in a 63-yard touchdown pass. Halfback Verron Haynes scored on a five-yard run. And the Steelers' defense had three sacks, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions.

"It was a great start," linebacker Larry Foote said.

Preseason? What preseason? Roethlisberger, who completed only 44.4 percent of his passes in the four exhibition games and turned in a 32.8 passer rating, played better than he did when he broke Dan Marino's rookie records last season.

"He's going to get compared to last year and he's not going to live up to anybody's expectations with where he set the bar,'' Cowher said.

Actually, he exceeded that yesterday.

Cowher wasn't happy that his defense allowed the rebuilding Titans to drive 61 yards on the opening series to take a 7-0 lead on Steve McNair's 1-yard pass to tight end Ben Troupe. McNair (who finished 18 of 26 for 219 yards and a 91.7 passer rating) completed nine of his first 10, and the other one was dropped.

"We didn't start off very fast at all,'' Cowher said. "We didn't tackle real well in the beginning of the game."

Cowher said his team did not play "a very crisp game," but, after falling behind, 7-0, they burned Tennessee to a crisp.

The Steelers responded by driving 77 yards on their first series to tie it. Roethlisberger rolled right and hit rookie tight end Miller for a 3-yard touchdown. Fullback Dan Kreider also flashed open short, but Miller got the call in the back right corner of the end zone.

"We kind of flooded the side. I came open in the corner, and Ben got me the ball," said Miller, who clutched that prized ball in a sack as he left for home.

The flood of points followed. Linebacker James Farrior forced a Travis Henry fumble that cornerback Ike Taylor, starting for injured Willie Williams, recovered. Reed followed with a 43-yard field goal that broke the tie.

Rob Bironas missed a 47-yard field goal that would have tied it back up, and, on the next play, Big Ben struck for six. Randle El flew down the left side and put a move on safety Tank Williams, who fell down. Randle El caught the deep pass at the 23 and ran uncontested 63 yards for a touchdown that staked the Steelers to a 17-7 lead.

"Ben gave me a shot," Randle El said. "He put the ball up there, and the safety couldn't find it."

The Steelers' defense gave and then took away on a second-quarter series with the game still in doubt. McNair hit Drew Bennett with a perfect, 53-yard pass to the Steelers' 12, but, two plays later, safety Chris Hope popped Bennett and the ball popped into safety Troy Polamalu's hands for an interception at the five.

"Chris Hope made a great play," Polamalu said. "We made some big plays, but I think great defenses have to play better."

That was the last hurrah for Tennessee. Parker ripped them for 25 yards two plays after the fumble, Jerame Tuman caught a 27-yard pass and Parker came back with a 15-yard run to set up Reed's 27 yard field goal and 20-7 halftime lead.

Parker ended a ferocious first drive of the second half by bursting off left tackle for his 11-yard score. He broke two more tackles on a 45-yard run on the next series that ended his day's work, allowing Haynes to come in and finish things off with his five-yard touchdown run.

How can Roethlisberger, Parker or anyone else on offense top this one over the next 15 games?

"I think for the most part it was a solid effort,'' Cowher said. "But we still have a long way to go.''