Panthers Roll By Steelers In Preseason Finale 23-6
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jordan Todman ran for a long touchdown and Carolina's defense shut down the Pittsburgh Steelers backups in a 23-6 win on Thursday night in the preseason finale for both teams.
Todman had a 49-yard sprint in the second quarter and Joe Webb found tight end Marcus Lucas for a 23-yard score just before the half as the Panthers rolled. Carolina finished up a 3-1 preseason by outgaining the Steelers 454-191.
Pittsburgh ended an extended exhibition season just 1-4 and has a week to prepare for defending Super Bowl champion New England and quarterback Tom Brady, whose four-game suspension for his role in "Deflategate" was overturned by a judge on Thursday.
Most of the starters who will take the field in Week 1 didn't play in this one if they bothered to get in uniform at all.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger donned a baseball cap and a T-shirt. Carolina counterpart Cam Newton pulled over his No. 1 jersey to warm up, but did little else as the two division winners a year ago tried to sort out things at the bottom of their 53-man rosters.
Derek Anderson, who signed a contract extension on Wednesday to remain Newton's primary backup through 2017, completed 4 of 7 passes for 35 yards. Webb went 12 of 17 for 193 yards, including a pretty throw to Lucas for a touchdown to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive with 5 seconds left in the first half.
The Panthers have struggled running the ball at times during the preseason, coming in with just 276 yards rushing in their first three games. They nearly matched it against Pittsburgh, piling up 226 behind Todman and rookie Cameron Artis-Payne. Todman led Carolina with 72 yards on the ground, including his scoring dash in the second quarter in which he took a draw from Webb and raced nearly untouched to the end zone. Artis-Payne ran 12 times for 67 yards.
Newly acquired Carolina wide receiver Kevin Norwood caught two passes for 40 yards just days after arriving in a trade with Seattle. The Panthers are in serious need of depth at wideout after losing Kelvin Benjamin and Stephen Hill for the season with torn ACLs.
Steelers quarterback Michael Vick completed 3 of 5 passes for 24 yards and was sacked three times. Martavis Bryant had one reception for 10 yards in his final performance before serving a four-game suspension to start the regular season for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.
The only real competition for a starting spot in Pittsburgh is at punter, where fellow Australians Brad Wing and Jordan Berry have been locked in a tight battle for the better part of six months. Berry received the majority of the work in the finale, averaging 50.6 yards on five kicks with Wing's one kick going 46 yards.
Pittsburgh's only points came on a pair of field goals by Josh Scobee, brought over from Jacksonville on Monday following a hamstring injury to Garrett Hartley. All three of Scobee's kickoffs went through the end zone.
The Panthers get 10 days to prep for the regular-season opener at Jacksonville on Sept. 13. The Steelers begin the league's most difficult schedule in New England next Thursday, where Brady will await now that "Deflategate" appears to have gone in his favor. Pittsburgh is 0-3 on the road against the Patriots with Brady under center, losing by an average of 20.3 points.
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