Winless Steelers focused on Miami

Running back Willie Parker signed a four-year extension with the team.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Carolina Panthers' starters may play a series or two, but no longer. Some of the Pittsburgh Steelers' regulars may not get on the field.
It's the last exhibition game for both teams tonight, but does anyone really care? The Steelers started preparing for their Sept. 7 opener against Miami earlier this week, and coach Bill Cowher never draws up game plans for any preseason game.
Not that either team figures to show anything that the other might use when they play a game that counts Dec. 17 at Carolina. As this game illustrates, preseason matches have essentially become fancy practices attended by a lot of fans in which player evaluation, not winning or losing, is what matters.
Or does it? Cowher said this game may not figure that much in cutting the roster by Saturday.
"You have to be careful about taking too big of a last impression or a first impression," Cowher said. "You want someone who what you see is what you are going to get, play in and play out, week in and week out. It could be just a game and a matchup that existed that particular night" that leads to a good or poor performance.
Preseason too long?
One thing's for certain, though: fans must pay regular-season prices for a game that clearly means nothing to either team, one reason why some in the league are calling for the preseason to be reduced to two games.
The NFL schedule is partly to blame for that attitude, too. Previously, the Steelers had 9-10 days between the last exhibition game and their opener to cut their roster and get ready to play for keeps.
Now, they'll have only a week off before a Thursday night opener against the Dolphins and, to Cowher, that changes everything.
It's why quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and running back Willie Parker might not leave the sideline -- and, even if they do, it will be for no more than a series.
"The scheduling will play a factor," Cowher said. "In the past, we've had 10 days of rest. This will leave us with basically seven days and that will play a major factor in some of the decisions we make."
Contract extension
Parker, the former college backup who was an undrafted rookie before becoming a Super Bowl standout, signed a $13.6 million, four-year contract Wednesday that runs through the 2009 season.
Parker, who rushed for 1,202 yards in his first season as an NFL starter last year, was an exclusive rights free agent who was effectively bound to the Steelers for at least two more seasons. He would have become a restricted rights free agent next year, with the Steelers able to match any offer to him.
The Steelers have a policy of not negotiating contracts once a season begins, so any new deal for Parker this year needed to be done by Sept. 7.
By signing Parker now, the Steelers get a proven runner with exceptional speed at a price below what the league's top backs get. He gets a $3.75 million signing bonus besides a $425,000 base salary this year, plus $3.6 million in base salary in 2009. The middle two years of the deal are worth a combined $5,825,000.
Roethlisberger has played only four series in three preseason games for the Steelers, who, if they don't win tonight, will go through only their third winless preseason since 1965.
Neither of the standout wide receivers, Steve Smith of Carolina nor Hines Ward of Pittsburgh, is expected to play. Both have had hamstring injuries that have lingered for most of the preseason, and Smith also has an ingrown toenail. Ward has missed only one game to injury in eight NFL seasons, but hasn't played this month.
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