Steelers Wrap Lackluster Preseason with Loss to Panthers

Steelers wrap lackluster preseason with loss to Panthers
By Alan Robinson
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/...#axzz3BkR3e8QM

Maybe this was the punishment for Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin made them play well into the second quarter of this game.
With no one playing close to a complete game, the Steelers earned an “I” for incomplete during another uneven preseason that wrapped up with another dreary effort, a 10-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night at Heinz Field.
It was the Steelers' first preseason shutout loss since 1992.
Only about half the starters got on the field — Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Cam Heyward and Heath Miller were among those who got nowhere near it — and most only briefly, with negligible results.
This was a night for Derek Moye and Justin Brown, Howard Jones and Chris Carter, David Paulson and Wesley Johnson and all those on the roster bubble. Even Brett Keisel, expected to play a lot in his first game since re-signing, was lifted long before halftime.
A week after their charges of marijuana possession created a distraction leading into a 31-21 Steelers loss in Philadelphia, Bell and Blount got carries with the second-unit offense, though not many. Bell carried twice for 8 yards, and Blount had three carries for 7 yards.
No. 3 quarterback Landry Jones, who threw three interceptions in playing the entire game at Carolina last year, was better this time while going 14 of 18 for 97 yards but couldn't produce any scoring.
Not that there were many witnesses. The announced crowd on a beautiful late-summer evening was 43,514, or about 22,000 below capacity.
With the season opener against the Cleveland Browns only 10 days away, this August didn't begin to answer the many questions the Steelers haul into September .
They didn't go winless like they did last August; They ended 1-3. But they followed up last week's defenseless loss in Philadelphia with an offenseless effort against the Panthers.
This preseason didn't begin to offer many hints about whether the Steelers are better than they were during an encouraging 6-2 end to their 2013 season.
And after an offseason devoted to further incorporating the no-huddle offense, Roethlisberger ran it for only one series in the final 21⁄2 exhibition games.
And the deeper, more physical running game with Blount backing up Bell, and Dri Archer catching the ball out of the backfield, got almost no work in the preseason.
At least the Steelers avoided major injury. On Thursday, cornerback Brice McCain (groin) and rookie receiver Martavis Bryant (right shoulder) didn't return after getting hurt in the first half.
The Panthers turned a fourth-and-1 conversion at the Steelers' 37 — Mike Tolbert's 2-yard run — into Graham Gano's 33-yard field goal following a 14-play opening drive, and that was it for the first-half scoring. And any starters on either side.
Carolina got back on the scoreboard when Joe Webb's 53-yard completion to Philly Brown led to Fozzy Whittaker's 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.