Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. Carolina 14 at Pittsburgh 30 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Carolina Panthers: Rodney Peete did not fare well against the Pittsburgh defense. He completed just 14 of his 27 passes for 112 yards. He left the game in the second quarter after being shaken up by a Steeler sack. Chris Weinke was even less effective than Peete. He was sacked twice on his first series and looked tentative after that. He completed just 3 of 7 passes for 14 yards. Dee Brown could get no room to run the ball versus the vaulted Steeler run defense. He had one run for 12 yards and averaged one yard per carry on his remaining 7 carries. He did manage one catch for a touchdown. Pittsburgh Steelers: Tommy Maddox immediately showed improvement from last week on the opening drive which culminated in an 11 yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress. However, most of the day Maddox didn�t look as crisp as he had earlier in the year. He completed 20 of 33 passes and threw an interception that wasn�t his fault. Burress fell down on the pass and it resulted in the throw going right to the defender. Maddox later threw a couple passes that easily could have been intercepted but were dropped. 47 of his 209 passing yards came on a pass to Burress that was severely under thrown. Burress made a great adjustment to make the catch. Jerome Bettis looked like �The Bus� of old in this game. He rumbled, bumbled and stumbled for 73 yards on 18 carries. He scored 2 touchdowns and left the game after the first when he hyper-extended his knee. He came back in the game later and clearly gave the offense a boost. Plaxico Burress came up huge in this contest. He made a couple nice catches on the first drive and scored a touchdown. He caught 6 passes for 120 yards. His biggest contribution was the 47 yard reception in the 4th quarter on 3rd and long that completely shifted the momentum of the game. Hines Ward clearly played this game less than 100% with his hamstring injury. His stats of 3 catches for 39 yards don�t come close to showing his contribution. He made a fantastic catch during the first Pittsburgh drive in double coverage and his blocking on running plays and on Burress� touchdown was exceptional. He was targeted and open for a touchdown pass but the ball was slightly underthrown. The Steeler Pass Defense again looked like the dominating team of last season. They allowed just 126 yards passing despite Carolina trailing and throwing most of the game. They totaled 6 sacks and got an interception as well. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW Carolina Panthers QB: Rodney Peete did not fare well against the Pittsburgh defense. He completed just 14 of his 27 passes for 112 yards. He left the game in the second quarter after being shaken up by a Steeler sack. He came back in the second half and was no more or less effective. Halfway through the 3rd quarter, Carolina had managed just 8 total yards! Chris Weinke was even less effective than Peete. He was sacked twice on his first series and looked tentative after that. He completed just 3 of 7 passes for 14 yards. RB: Dee Brown could get no room to run the ball versus the vaulted Steeler run defense. He had one run for 12 yards and averaged one yard per carry on his remaining 7 carries. He did manage one catch for a touchdown. WR: Steve Smith lead Carolina�s receivers with 57 yards. He had one catch for 23 yards which accounted for nearly half of that. Muhsin Muhammad was fairly active with 5 catches for 39 yards but most of his catches were for very little gains. His biggest play of the day came on a reverse in which he rushed for 20 yards. TE: Wesley Walls left the game with a foot sprain on the 2nd play and did not return. Panther Pass Defense: This unit missed Julius Peppers as Maddox had a lot of time to throw and was only sacked twice on the day. They came up with only 1 interception despite having a couple additional passes that could have been picked off. Panther Rush Defense: They could not stop the Bus. Pittsburgh got 129 yards rushing and averaged 3.4 yards per carry on them. Panther Special Teams: Steve Smith could not follow up his incredible performance last week. He got very few return yards and fumbled a punt in the 3rd quarter which lead to a Pittsburgh touchdown. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** Pittsburgh Steelers QB: Tommy Maddox immediately showed improvement from last week on the opening drive which culminated in an 11 yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress. However, most of the day Maddox didn�t look as crisp as he had earlier in the year. He completed 20 of 33 passes and threw an interception that wasn�t his fault. Burress fell down on the pass and it resulted in the throw going right to the defender. Maddox later threw a couple passes that easily could have been intercepted but were dropped. 47 of his 209 passing yards came on a pass to Burress that was severely under thrown. Burress made a great adjustment to make the catch. RB: Jerome Bettis looked like �The Bus� of old in this game. He rumbled, bumbled and stumbled for 73 yards on 18 carries averaging over 4 yards per carry. He scored 2 touchdowns and left the game after the first when he hyper-extended his knee. He came back in the game later and clearly gave the offense a boost. Amos Zereoue did not look anywhere near as sharp as he has earlier in the year. He carried 14 times for 40 yards but slipped quite a bit in the turf. He did help the passing game catching 6 balls for 31 yards. WR: Plaxico Burress came up huge in this contest. He made a couple nice catches on the first drive and scored a touchdown. He caught 6 passes for 120 yards. His biggest contribution was the 47 yard reception in the 4th quarter on 3rd and long that completely shifted the momentum of the game. Hines Ward is an unsung warrior in the NFL. He clearly played this game less than 100% with his hamstring injury. His stats of 3 catches for 39 yards don�t come close to showing his contribution. He made a fantastic catch during the first Pittsburgh drive in double coverage and his blocking on running plays and on Burress� touchdown was exceptional. He was targeted and open for a touchdown pass but the ball was slightly underthrown. TE: Jeremy Tuman caught only one pass. Steeler Pass Defense: This unit again looked like the dominating team of last season. They allowed just 126 yards passing despite Carolina trailing and throwing most of the game. They totaled 6 sacks and got an interception as well. Steeler Rush Defense: This unit overwhelmed a well-respected offensive line, allowing only 50 yards rushing. Considering 20 of those yards came on the Muhammed reverse, this unit gave up only 2 yards per carry other than that play. They also forced and recovered a couple fumbles on defense and one on special teams.