Halfback Willie Parker may need surgery to his injured shoulder after the season, but he's likely to play against the San Diego Chargers Sunday at Heinz Field.

Parker has a torn labrum in his shoulder, but sources told the Post-Gazette he likely will return after missing the game yesterday.

"We are hopeful that he will be well enough to play next week," coach Mike Tomlin said after the game.

Parker's latest injury occurred last Monday night in Washington, when he ran 21 times for 70 yards. It's his third significant injury in his past five games. His fibula was broken in the 15th game last season, and a sprained knee in the third game this season kept him out until last Monday.

Mewelde Moore replaced him and ran 24 times for 57 yards and two touchdowns in his fourth start in the past five games.

Moore leads the Steelers with 377 yards rushing and six touchdowns, five of them rushing. Parker has 333 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley, second on the team with 9.5 sacks, missed his first game because of a calf injury. Woodley was originally hurt against the New York Giants two weeks ago, but played last Monday night against the Redskins.

Lawrence Timmons made his first pro start at left outside linebacker in Woodley's place. Timmons moved to his familiar spot at inside linebacker in the nickel, and Brett Keisel moved to left end in that formation, where Woodley normally would be. Travis Kirschke played Keisel's spot at right end in the nickel.

Timmons and nose tackle Casey Hampton, though, did not play much in the second half as the Steelers went most of the way using their dime defense against the Colts, who deployed three wide receivers and tight end Dallas Clark.

"That is just the route that we went in the second half to try to contain [Clark]," Tomlin explained.

Another familiar sight occurred yesterday when cornerback Deshea Townsend's right hamstring was injured in the third quarter. He walked stiffly and slowly off the field and did not return.

"When you play corner, and you see a guy go down like that, it is generally not good," Tomlin said. "We will cross our fingers."

With Bryant McFadden out with a broken forearm, it left the Steelers without two of their top three cornerbacks. William Gay replaced Townsend, and Anthony Madison moved up to play the nickel.

The Colts' defense, which does not start a player who weighs more than 274 pounds, held the Steelers' usually tough running game to just 55 yards on 26 attempts in their 24-20 victory yesterday.

Their greatest stand came with the Steelers having a first-and-five at the Colts' 5 about five minutes into the fourth quarter.

After Moore gained 4 yards to the 1 on first down, two consecutive runs by Moore netted zero yards.

Both stops on the play were by Colts rookie defensive tackle, Eric Foster, who hammered Moore right in the hole on third down to stop him cold. The Steelers settled for a 24-yard Jeff Reed field goal to take a 23-17 lead with 8:05 left in the game.

"Hats off to their defense," said Moore.

"They made plays. They made key plays at big moments in the game."

Following that stop, the Steelers stopped the Colts. But, on their ensuing possession, Tim Jennings intercepted a Ben Roethlisberger pass at the Steelers' 38, setting up the Colts' winning touchdown.

The Colts came into the game ranked 25th in the league against the rush.

• With Najeh Davenport's release Saturday, Gary Russell took over the job as kickoff return man.

• Aaron Smith's sack of Peyton Manning in the first quarter for an 11-yard loss gave him 40.5 for his career, moving him into eighth place in Steelers annals ahead of Ernie Holmes, who had 40.

• Reed's 42-yard field goal in the second quarter was the 147th of his career, second most in team history. That moved him out of a tie with Roy Gerela.

• Russell's 39-yard kickoff return early in the second half was the longest return for the Steelers this season, by 12 yards. His four kickoff returns covered 103 yards.

• Hines Ward became the first Steelers receiver to top 100 yards receiving this season. It was the 17th 100-yard game of his career, moving him into second in that category ahead of Louis Lipps. John Stallworth leads with 24.

• Roethlisberger moved into second on the team career-passing list with 13,359 yards. He passed Kordell Stewart, who had 13,328. Terry Bradshaw leads with 27,989.

• James Harrison recorded his 11th sack of the season, four short of Mike Merriweather's single-season record.

• In allowing three touchdowns yesterday, the Steelers' top-rated defense gave up more in four quarters than it had in the previous three games. The Cincinnati Bengals, Giants and Redskins scored only two touchdowns combined.

• Despite playing with a banged up secondary all season, Indianapolis has allowed only two touchdown passes.

• The Colts, who were blistered by 100-yard plus rushing performances in their first three games, have allowed only one 100-yard rusher in the last six.

• The Steelers have failed to produce a 100-yard ground performance in six of their past seven games.

Steelers: No 3 quarterback Dennis Dixon, cornerback Bryant McFadden, running back Willie Parker, linebacker LaMarr Woodley, offensive tackle Tony Hills, offensive tackle Marvel Smith, tight end Heath Miller, defensive end Orpheus Roye.

Indianapolis Colts: defensive end Kelvin Haden, defensive back Jamie Silva, linebacker Jordan Senn, linebacker Buster Davis, center Steve Justice, wide receiver Roy Hall, tight end Tom Santi, defensive tackle Daniel Muir.