WHAT WENT RIGHT
* After a 46-yard punt by Jordan Berry, Ross Ventrone tacked on 6 yards to the net yardage when he tackled returner Damiere Byrd for a loss.

• On a fourth-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 45-yard line, Panthers quarterback Joe Webb ran for 4 yards, but the play was nullified by an illegal formation penalty on left tackle Nate Chandler. Carolina then punted, and Dri Archer's fair catch gave the Steelers the ball at their own 10-yard line.

• For the second straight game, Jordan Berry took advantage of his one half of punting, and the ineptitude of the Steelers offense gave him plenty of opportunities to show off his strong leg. Berry averaged 52 yards on five first-half punts.

• The Steelers defense forced a Carolina punt on the opening possession of the second half, and on the attempted punt Roosevelt Nix used an inside move to get himself to the punter, and he blocked Brad Nortman's kick. The Steelers got possession at the Panthers 30-yard line.

• Later in the possession, the Steelers faced a fourth-and-1 at the Carolina 21-yard line. Josh Harris found a big hole just to the right of center Chris Hubbard and picked up 8 yards for the first down. The possession ended with a 27-yard field goal from Josh Scobee that cut Carolina's lead to 17-3.

• He didn't have many attempts where the protection was solid, but it was on a third-and-3 early in the fourth quarter when Landry Jones dropped a pretty 42-yard pass into the arms of Sammie Coates who had a step on Carrington Byndom. The play put the ball on the Carolina 18-yard line. The possession ended with another 27-yard field goal from Josh Scobee that made it 23-6 with less than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

WHAT WENT WRONG

• The Panthers, unlike the Steelers, started portions of both their offensive and defensive lines, and Mario Addison took advantage. The Carolina defensive end, who finished 2014 with 6.5 sacks, had two sacks in the first quarter, one on each of the Steelers' first two possessions.

• In the first quarter, the Steelers were outgained by the Panthers, 111-24. The Steelers also finished the quarter with one first down.

• The first half statistics clearly reflected the Panthers' 17-0 lead through two quarters. The Panthers had more first downs, 16-2; the Steelers were 0-for-5 on third downs; the Panthers had the edge in total offense, 285-39; and the Panthers had the edge in time of possession, 20:01-9:57.

• With 1:44 left in the third quarter, the Panthers had four sacks to none for the Steelers.

• On the final drive of the game, Landry Jones quarterbacked the offense to a first down at the Carolina 12-yard line but was knocked out of the game with 55 seconds left to play. With Ben Roethlisberger not in uniform, the Steelers had to put Michael Vick back into the game. But because Vick was done for the day, his helmet with the sideline communicator in it already had been stowed away in the locker room. That mean Vick had to wear Martavis Bryant's helmet, and the plays were sent in to him via hand signals.

• On the game's penultimate play, Will Johnson plowed for 1 yards to the Carolina 1-yard line, but as the players unpiled, Mitchell Van Dyk and B.J. Finney both were lying on the turf with ankle injuries. Not wanting to put any players at risk, Coach Mike Tomlin had Mike Vick take a knee to run off the final four seconds.