Steelers And New Coach Close To Ready For Regular Season

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ There's one more exhibition game remaining, though it's not for the Pittsburgh Steelers who count. <br/><br/>Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, Casey Hampton and the

Monday, August 27th 2007, 3:03 pm

By: News On 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ There's one more exhibition game remaining, though it's not for the Pittsburgh Steelers who count.

Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, Casey Hampton and the other starters are pretty much ready for the regular season, even if they don't believe they're quite there yet.

The Steelers close out their longest preseason in nine years at Carolina on Thursday, one that will last seven weeks and five exhibition games before it finally ends. The regulars won't play much, if at all. But, the way they're talking, they've needed every game and every practice so far.

``We're definitely starting to take shape,'' Hampton said following a mostly satisfying 27-13 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday night. ``We are kind of seeing where we are. We're not where we need to be, but we're getting there.''

Mike Tomlin? Maybe he's getting there, too.

Tomlin is about to wind up his first training camp as a head coach, only a year after he was finishing up his first camp as a defensive coordinator, in Minnesota.

So far, the Steelers like what they see of a 35-year-old coach who isn't much older than some of the players. Most of all, they like what they hear from the coach they're not only learning from but learning about.

``I think it was good for us to have the Hall of Fame game,'' safety Ryan Clark said, referring to the Aug. 5 exhibition that gave the Steelers nearly an extra week of camp to prepare. ``Coach Tomlin could kind of get his feet wet and get his legs under him as far as running the game and, the rest of the team, coming in and playing together. It's about time to get started, I think.''

Parker is getting ready, too. He gained 32 yards on 10 carries Sunday, plus had three receptions for 40 yards _ statistics that will pretty much represent his entire preseason.

A sore knee limited him to four carries before the Eagles game, and he's unlikely to get more than a couple on Thursday. Coming off a 1,494-yard season, Parker is simply too valuable for the Steelers to risk in so meaningless a game.

That's why Tomlin wanted to give Parker a full half with the starters Sunday. Afterward, the coach was mostly happy with what he saw, except for a fumble at the Philadelphia goal line that cost the Steelers a touchdown and the opportunity to open up a big lead at the half.

``You don't like fumbles,'' Tomlin said. ``You don't like fumbles in the red zone, but he is a competitor. I understand that it happens, but we are not going to accept it. We are going to try to be perfect in this area. We have to be.''

Parker didn't try to explain away the fumble, but was glad he made up for it with an 18-yard touchdown run _ only the second TD by the Steelers' offensive starters in four preseason games.

``Right now, no, I wouldn't say we're ready (for the season), but we overcame some adversity,'' Parker said. ``I got into the end zone but I fumbled down at the end zone. I overcame adversity but I'm really not satisfied with how I played.''

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger felt the same way, pointing to the interception he threw and a couple of other poor passes that were nearly picked off, too. But he led three scoring drives in his final three possessions, and he'll take that going into the season.

``We've got one more week, but we're definitely ready,'' he said. ``We want to get this thing going.''

Ward feels the same way.

``Is there still a lot of room for improvement? There's tons of room for improvement, but we like where we're headed and how we came out and played against a great team,'' he said.

Notes: The short week means the Steelers will have only one practice in Pittsburgh before they leave Wednesday. ... The Steelers, who are 3-1, haven't won four games in a preseason since they were 5-0 in 1997. ... Second-round draft pick LaMarr Woodley got his second sack of the preseason during the second half.