A win from a loss
PITTSBURGH — The Carolina Panthers went 4-0 in the preseason. The Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers went 0-4.
Regardless of the results, both teams felt the same following Carolina's last-play, 15-13 exhibition victory Thursday in Pittsburgh. Panthers coach John Fox's succinct summary more than adequately expressed the mood.
"It's over," Fox said.
And, he might have added, thank goodness for that.
The Panthers and Steelers escaped serious injuries to key regulars, partly because neither team gave their top players a chance to get hurt in a game decided by John Kasay's fifth and final field goal.
Years ago, teams used their final exhibition game to give their regulars plenty of work on timing and execution to take into the season. Now, with so many big salaries in the sport and no team wanting to risk ruining its season by getting a top player hurt in a meaningless game, the last exhibition game is essentially for the backups and the backups to the backups.
With the Steelers' Sept. 7 opener against Miami a week away, only their offensive line regulars played a few snaps. Fifteen healthy starters didn't get on the field, including Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker and all the defensive regulars.
To coach Bill Cowher, the new way of thinking is this: Practice, not preseason games, makes perfect.
"It's hard," cornerback Deshea Townsend said of sitting out. "But a lot of our guys are veterans, and we understand how to work in practice, how to get yourself prepared for a game. It's always good to have a real game, but we know how to work and get better in practice."
The Steelers went winless in the preseason for the first time since 1987 and only the second time since 1965, not that anybody seemed to care.
"I don't like losing, I'll say that," Cowher said. "I never will like losing, but that's not the objective of the preseason. We got through it without any major injuries."
The Steelers looked like they might win it when rookie QB Omar Jacobs found Walter Young on a 46-yard completion to set up Cedric Humes' 4-yard touchdown run with 3:41 remaining, putting them up 13-12.
The Panthers then rallied behind backup quarterback Brett Basanez, who drove them from their 20 to the Steelers' 11 to set up Kasay's 29-yard field goal. The drive appeared over when Basanez threw incomplete on fourth-and-14 from the Carolina 32, but a roughing-the-passer penalty on Tyrone Carter gave the Panthers another chance. Basanez later hit Justin McCullum for 20 yards to the 11.
"I thought we played well, we just couldn't get into the end zone," Basanez said. "We just kept getting 3s, getting 3s. That's all about the defense — any time you don't score a touchdown and come away with a win, it's all on them. The biggest thing is us winning this game and going 4-0 in the preseason."
Even if none of the Steelers felt going 0-4 meant anything.
"It's nice to be done with it and to go on to the season," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "I think we're going to be really good as long as we can stay healthy."
The best-known Steelers player to get substantial playing time was running back Duce Staley, who carried 19 times for 46 yards. He averaged only slightly more than 2 yards per carry in the preseason, and Cowher felt he needed some work after getting meaningful playing time in only two games last season.
"He did some good things," Cowher said. "I thought he got better as he ran, with what he had to work with out there."
