Steelers Seem Ready; Panthers Have a Lot of Work to Do

It's the fourth preseason game, which means the starters barely even put on their helmets and fourth-stringers get extensive playing time. But even if it is the most meaningless of the exhibition games, there still are roster decisions being made based on what happened Thursday night.

With that in mind, here are some thoughts on the Steelers' win over the Panthers.

Stefan Logan probably had already made the Steelers roster, but his 80-yard punt return obviously seals the deal. He made one cut and sped right through the middle of the Panthers coverage team for an seemingly easy touchdown. By the Steelers' next punt return, Logan was comfortably sitting on the bench -- no reason to risk an injury for a guy who looks to be a difference-maker. It's worth noting that Ike Taylor helped set up the return by throwing one of the Panthers' gunners to the ground.

Having watched the Panthers play each of the past two weeks, it's scary how bad this team has gotten so quickly. The Panthers announcers were trying to make the best of it by playing up every minor success and downplaying the bad. But the worst was their attempted explanation of why the Steelers' defense was shutting down the Panthers' second-teamers. "They've got a lot of first-teamers still in there," the announcers explained. At the time, not one Steelers starter was in the game.

Pittsbugh's battle for the seventh and eighth linebacker spot will be one of the most brutal. Keyaron Fox and Andre Frazier have definitely made the team, while Donovan Woods would seem to have earned a spot (he can play inside and outside while also contributing on special teams). But that still leaves Arnold Harrison, Patrick Bailey and Bruce Davis fighting for one spot. Bailey made the first argument for a roster spot by flying down to make a shoestring tackle on the kickoff to start the game. Bruce Davis gave a rebuttal by making the tackle on the second kickoff. But Harrison quickly answered back himself with a nice sack/strip/fumble recovery.

Tank Summers is battling Issac Redman for Pittsburgh's final running back spot, but it's not because of his ability at tailback -- Summers didn't get a snap at tailback all night. In his return after missing two games, Summers did convert a short-yardage play from the fullback spot, but his best work came as a blocking fullback. He showed good pop and very good awareness of picking out who to block. With Summers and Redman sharing the backfield, it made for an interesting battle -- whenever Summers laid a good block, he was helping spring Redman for good runs. Redman showed what he could do by breaking four tackles on a 10-yard touchdown run. But Redman's final stats were somewhat misleading--he had a 27-yard run on the final play of the first half when the Panthers were only worried about a Hail Mary pass. Redman also did cover punts, which is the first time I've noticed him play any special teams. If Redman has any chance of making the 46-man active roster, he'd have to be able to play special teams.

Most of the predictions on the Web have the Steelers going with Tony Hills as the backup tackle, but after watching Hills, Jeremy Parquet and Jason Capizzi, it's hard not to hope that Pittsburgh can find a veteran backup tackle on the waiver wire. On Mike Reilly's first snap of the game, Hills was badly beaten by Everette Brown on a spin move (although Ramon Foster wasn't looking all that good beside him as he got knocked on his back). It was a nice move for Brown, but on the next two plays he was handled by tight end David Johnson. Parquet didn't look any better when Charles Johnson ran right around him for a sack. And Capizzi was also beaten for a sack.

The Steelers were mixing and matching to try to see who will be the gunners on the punt coverage team. Keiwan Ratliff has looked good as a gunner throughout the preseason, but Mike Wallace looked solid in his one try at it this week (he had struggled in the past). Pittsburgh even gave Logan a chance to play gunner on one play, not surprisingly, he managed to slip past the blocking to quickly get downfield.

Speaking of Logan, he also saw his first action of the preseason at wide receiver. He ran a pair of reverses, but also let a pass go right through his hands.