The Carolina Panthers finished the 2018 preseason with a 39-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight www.panthersfootballauthentic.com ,and for the most part it was not a pretty sight at all. The defense struggled with tackling all night, the offense stalled in the first half, and the officials decided that a completely clean sack should be considered roughing the passer.All in all, it’s precisely what you would expect from a fourth preseason game.There were a few highlights, notably the combination of quarterback Kyle Allen and running back Reggie Bonnafon, but for the most part this was a disappointing effort all around. Thankfully, this game didn’t count in the standings.Trending upKyle Allen: He played well tonight and should find a job on someone’s practice squad.Reggie Bonnafon: He also played well, and could find himself on the Panthers’ practice squad unless someone poaches him off waivers.Mose Frazier: I like what I saw from him tonight. I don’t think he makes the roster, but I do think he should at least be in the conversation for that No. 6 wide receiver spot.Trending downLiterally every Panthers defender who was supposed to tackle someone: Seriously, it was bad tonight y’all. Comically bad, even.Blaine Clausell: Two holding penalties that negated quality gains by Kenjon Barner. That’s not a good look when you’re trying to make a final roster.Elijah Hood: I hate that he got injured in the first quarter because it deprived him of a chance to prove he belonged on the roster.Live updatesFINAL SCORE: Steelers 39 - Panthers 244th quarterTOUCHDOWN PANTHERS: Kyle Allen completes a pass to Bug Howard, who then fumbles it into the endzone and somehow recovers it at the same time as a defender to invoke the “tie goes to the offense” rule for the touchdown. The extra point is good. Steelers 39 - Panthers 24Kyle Allen and Reggie Bonnafon have looked good in the second half. It’s probably too little, too late for them, but they have performed well tonight.TOUCHDOWN PANTHERS: Reggie Bonnafon carries it in for the score. The extra point is good. Steelers 39 - Panthers 17Kyle Allen has looked good tonight. I’d expect him to get a few calls for practice squad spots if he doesn’t end up there in Carolina.TOUCHDOWN STEELERS: It’s too easy at this point for Pittsburgh. The extra point is good. Steelers 39 - Panthers 10The first play of the 4th quarter is either an interception or strip sack fumble returned to the one yard line. This is going swell, y’all.END OF 3RD QUARTER: Steelers 32 - Panthers 103rd quarterTOUCHDOWN STEELERS: Rudolph connects with Henderson, who makes an impressive one-handed grab in the end zone. The extra point is good. Steelers 32 - Panthers 10Daeshon Hall sighting! He bursts through the line to sack Mason Rudolph on third down to force a punt.FIELD GOAL PANTHERS: Gano drills it from 54 yards out to cut into the lead. Steelers 25 - Panthers 10Graham Gano out for a 54-yard field goal attempt.Allen has looked pretty decent so far.It’s the Kyle Allen show from here on out for the Panthers offense.The Panthers get the ball to start the second half. A nice return by Austin Duke is negated by a penalty Carolina Panthers T-Shirt , because of course it is.HALFTIME: Steelers 25 - Panthers 72nd quarterPanthers can’t get anything going and are forced to punt.TOUCHDOWN STEELERS: It’s almost like they’re playing against air at this point. Defense gets a penalty on the XP and the Steelers elect to move the ball to the 1-yard line and go for two. They convert. Steelers 25 - Panthers 7The Steelers are carving up this backup defense. This is not a good sign at all for depth.Strip sack on Gilbert causes a fumble that is recovered by the Steelers. Welp.Blaine Clausell has now had two holding penalties negate nice gains by Kenjon Barner, in case you’re scoring at home.Smh. . .FIELD GOAL STEELERS: Boswell drills it through the uprights to extend the lead. Steelers 17 - Panthers 7Somehow, the Panthers defense holds the Steelers to a field goal attempt.Apparently the tackling has been bad because it’s actually illegal to tackle. Two atrocious roughing the passer calls give the Steelers 1st and goal. Legit awful calls, those.The tackling is so bad, y’all.A nice run by Kenjon Barner is negated by a holding call against Blaine Clausell. It sets the Panthers back far enough that they are unable to make up the yardage and are forced to punt.Garrett Gilbert is in at quarterback.D.J. Moore back to return the punt, but he fair catches it—a solid business decision in my opinion.THE DEFENSE GOT A STOP!TOUCHDOWN PANTHERS: Heinicke hits Mose Frazier for the score! Gano’s XP is good. Steelers 14 - Panthers 7Panthers offense is starting to move. Heinicke hits Evan Baylis for a nice gain to put the Panthers in the red zone.END OF 1ST QUARTER - Steelers 14 - Panthers 01st quarterA few positives on offense - Curtis Samuel, Cameron Artis-Payne and Damiere Byrd all look good so far tonight.TOUCHDOWN STEELERS: Dobbs launches one to Tevin Jones for the 27-yard touchdown. Boswell’s extra point is good. Steelers 14 - Panthers 0The backup defense is so bad, y’all.The drive stalls at midfield. Palardy on to punt. 31-yarder. Steelers take over inside their 20.Cameron Artis-Payne having a solid outing on this first drive, showing that he deserves a spot on the roster.Taylor Heinicke in at quarterback.Damiere Byrd with a decent return on the kickoff. Panthers offense to start at the 20.TOUCHDOWN STEELERS: Dobbs scores on a quarterback keeper. Steelers 7 - Panthers 0The Steelers are moving down the field at will. The backup defense is not looking good at all tonight. Elijah Hood is injured on the coverage of the kickoff. It looks like a left knee injury. He’s helped off the field and can’t put weight on his leg. Yikes.The Panthers kick off to start the game. The Panthers are in Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers tonight in the preseason finale. It’s mostly the battle of the backups for both teams, but it should be fun to watch some guys compete for a spot on the 53-man roster.Stay tuned for live updates!PregameThe Panthers travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday night to close out the 2018 preseason in the yearly matchup between the two teams. Due to a change in ownership of the Panthers, a game that was once called “The Annual Richardson-Rooney Cocktail Party” by a very handsome and intelligent Panthers blogger will now be known as the “Tepperware Party”.You know you love it.Anyway, this one doesn’t mean much except for the guys who are battling for roster spots. Because of that, we shouldn’t expect to see any key players in this meaningless game.But you’re still gonna watch, aren’t you? Admit it: You love the fourth preseason game even if it doesn’t mean jack squat. You love it because it’s still football.Because you’re gonna watch, here’s the info so you can tune in.Game day informationWhat: Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh SteelersWhen: Thursday, August 30 at 7:30 p.m. ETWhere: Heinz Field (Pittsburgh Carolina Panthers Hats , PA)TV: Panthers TV; Mick Mixon, Mike Rucker | NFL Network (replay 8/31 at 10 a.m. ET)Radio: 1110 AM WBT (local)Weather: 77掳/62掳 / Scattered T’Storms / 6 mph NNW wind / 60% precip. (Complete forecast)Miscellaneous informationOnline StreamingIf you don't live in the Panthers television market, you can stream all NFL preseason and regular season games on demand if you purchase NFL Game Pass. It's a little pricey at $99, but it also includes access to All-22 film. If you're just desperate to watch the Panthers game there is a 7-day free trial, but sign up at your own risk if you're one of those people who forgets to cancel before the free trial is over.*Note: You cannot watch regular season games live with this option. You have to wait until after the games are over before you can stream them. You can find more information here.TV ReplaysNFL Network will air condensed replays of every preseason game throughout the week. To see when the Panthers’ game will be replayed, you can check NFL Network’s preseason schedule for more information.Roaring Riot Watch PartiesIf you’re unable to watch the game via live tv or streaming, or if you prefer to watch in the company of fellow Panthers fans, check out the Roaring Riot to see if there is a watch party in your area. Membership is not required to get in the door, but if you’re interested in purchasing a membership you can find all the information you need here.UniformsThe Panthers will wear white uniforms for this game.OddsIf you're into that sort of thing, you can find info on NFL game odds by clicking here.Stay tuned for a live update thread when the game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET tomorrow night!Panthers 2018 preseason scheduleWeek 1: at Buffalo Bills; Thu, Aug 9, 7 p.m. ET Week 2: vs Miami Dolphins; Fri, Aug 17, 7:30 p.m. ETWeek 3: vs New England Patriots; Fri, Aug 24, 7:30 p.m. ETWeek 4: at Pittsburgh Steelers; Thu Carolina Panthers Womens Hoodie , Aug 30, 7:30 p.m. ET The Panthers defense yesterday was as much the story of their loss to the Falcons as it was the story of their victory over the Cowboys a week ago. Tevin Coleman became the first back in 22 games to rush for over 100 yards against Carolina. Matt Ryan did his best Cam Newton impression to the tune of 2 touchdowns. Luke Kuechly missed a tackle that allowed Tevin Coleman to rush for 27 yards down the Panthers’ sideline, y’all. That isn’t going to happen every day.The optimistic takeaway from yesterday isn’t that the Panthers held Julio Jones to under 300 yards receiving, its that the Falcons won because the Panthers defense had a one in a million fluke game. Its that the offense is still struggling to figure out how to use its best players — or to best use its players — and yet they were still a few drive-stalling drops away from taking control of that game.Take a step back and look at the coverage leading up to Sunday. We couldn’t stop talking about the injuries to the Panthers offense. Greg Olsen is missing and freshman offensive coordinator Norv Turner was tasked with making a game plan around an offensive line whose healthy members couldn’t get jobs as stunt doubles if Keanu Reeves decided to remake the Replacements. We aren’t talking about that today because they did a serviceable job. That is phenomenal.Newton threw the ball from clean pockets a few more times (read: even once) than I expected. Christian McCaffrey and CJ Anderson had room to run sometimes. The problem was that the same could be said for Ryan and the Falcons. It would have been nice if the Panthers had recorded even a single sack.The defense seemed a step behind the Falcons on every play that the Falcons didn’t run perfectly. The Falcons ran too many plays perfectly. It was not a combination the Panthers were able to beat — except that they were. Newton threw one of the most accurate passes I’ve seen in his career on a Hail Mary attempt that would have seen most passers range between bouncing the ball short of the end zone and sending it way out of bounds. Newton’s ball bounced off of DJ Moore’s arm in the middle of three defenders. If you thoughtMoore caught that ball at first then you are not alone.The only time the offense was truly frustrating was when they spent the opening half racking up false start penalties. I’m looking at you, Torrey Smith. Between those penalties and the drops by your teammates, Newton was once again let down by his team. Punch one more game like that and he gets a free, disappointing lunch at Texas Roadhouse.The trick to remember is that Smith is a veteran. He’ll get that under control. The Panthers don’t come nearly as close in their comeback without a few of his catches. Jarius Wright, Anderson, and Ian Thomas share as much blame as he does.The Panthers were able to beat the Falcons yesterday, they just didn’t. The combination of things it took the Falcons to pull off that victory is a rare thing and that’s great news for the Panthers in a division where the Bucs may actually be a team again. The Falcons may have won, but they didn’t look like they could have played much better. The Panthers have obvious leaps and bounds they can take.Division games are always crazy and this one took place in week 2. Teams hardly know who they are at this point. All we know is that the Panthers have displayed, at times, a dominant defense and a competent offense. Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl with only half of that combination. Joe Flacco did too. Do any of you really think Newton is in such a lowly tier as either of those guys? Of course you don’t. Newton’s is averaging more than 65% completions this year. I hear that’s elite.The Panthers have all of the pieces to play meaningful football through January and guys besides that are busy getting healthy to shore up the obvious weaknesses. We know they can play defense. We know Cam Newton is great at more than throwing passes for his receivers to drop. The start of a season is always weird as injuries and realities define the tension between what a team wants to do and what it is capable of doing.For now, the recipe for success in the Carolinas seems pretty simple. Newton needs to keep being himself. Kuechly needs to learn how to tackle. DJ Moore needs to continue his progression from week to week. The Bengals will teach us a lot about the reality of this team and the bye week will come just in time for the Panthers to address that before the rest of the season.