PITTSBURGH - One drive was enough for Carolina's Jake Delhomme to get ready for the season. It turns out one quarter wasn't enough for Pittsburgh's Tommy Maddox.

Rod Rutherford's 57-yard completion to Eugene Baker in the fourth quarter set up John Kasay's third field goal, and the Panthers beat the Steelers 16-13 Thursday night to finish their second consecutive unbeaten preseason.

The Panthers are hoping there is some precedence there as both they and the New England Patriots went unbeaten in exhibition play last year before winding up in the Super Bowl. Carolina was the only team without an exhibition loss this year.

The Steelers (2-2) led 13-10 after Rod Bironas' second field goal, but Carolina recovered Pittsburgh rookie Richard Colclough's fumbled punt early in the fourth quarter and turned that into Kasay's tying 34-yarder.

Rutherford, the former Pitt quarterback who is fourth on Carolina's depth chart, started the Panthers' next possession with his deep throw to Baker, and Kasay kicked a 24-yarder five plays later for the game-winner.

"I think any time you go out there you are trying to win," Panthers coach John Fox said. "It is motivation for those guys to go out there and accomplish the goals we set this training camp."

Pittsburgh appeared ready to win it in the final minute after No. 3 quarterback Brian St. Pierre hit Chris Doering for 16 yards and a first down at Carolina's 6, but rookie Willie Parker's fumble was recovered by Ricky Manning and Carolina ran out the clock. Parker, an undrafted free agent looking to sneak onto the Steelers' roster, had 28 yards on 13 carries after running for 106 against Philadelphia last week.

Carolina had tied the game in the third quarter when Chris Weinke hit Keary Colbert on an 87-yard touchdown pass play.

"I wasn't really pleased," said Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who kept his starting offense in for half the second quarter after previously saying it would play only a quarter. "I thought we were sloppy. We missed some opportunities (for interceptions) on defense. I thought, overall, it was not up to the standards we had set the previous two weeks. We have some things we have to clean up and a short time to do it."

Delhomme played long enough against New England last week to throw 31 passes - an uncommonly high number for an exhibition game - but played only one drive Thursday, though it was a long one.

Delhomme drove the Panthers from their 9 to the Steelers' 7 before the 18-play drive stalled on consecutive false start penalties and Kasay kicked a 29-yard field goal. The long drive was a welcome change for the Panthers, who were held to 51 yards rushing on 17 carries by New England. They had 71 yards on 30 carries against the Steelers.

"I thought it was great, and if we had scored it would have been one of the best drives we've had in a while," Delhomme said. "Holding the ball for about nine minutes was great. We killed ourselves with a couple of penalties, but we changed the field position and the guys made plays."

It wasn't the way the Steelers' defense wanted to start, but linebacker Joey Porter said, "We had enough strength left at the end to hold them to a field goal. At the same time, you never want to start a game and give up an 18-play drive."

The Steelers were coming off consecutive victories over the Texans and Eagles in which their starting offense was dominant at the start, but they punted on their first two drives Thursday.

That prompted Cowher to send Maddox and the other starters out for the opening possession of the second quarter. They responded with the Steelers' only touchdown drive of the game, a 69-yarder keyed by Maddox completions of 20 yards to Jay Riemersma and 19 to Antwaan Randle El. Verron Haynes finished it off with a 6-yard run.

Maddox finished 5-of-7 for 56 yards for the game and 17-of-25 for the preseason - fewer passes than Delhomme threw last week. Rookie Ben Roethlisberger played long enough to find Lee Mays on a 38-yard completion to set up the first of Bironas' two field goals in the second half, a 20-yarder. He later kicked a 48-yarder.

The Steelers haven't had a winning exhibition season since going 3-1 in 2001. They were 2-2 this year and in 2002 and 1-3 in 2003.