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CHARLOTTE (AP) — The Carolina Panthers can only hope the NFL preseason really doesn't mean anything.

If all the missed tackles, fumbles, injuries and mistakes carry over to the real games, there will be a new NFC South Division champion this season.

"It's nothing to worry about, you know, 0-4," safety Chris Harris insisted minutes after Carolina closed a winless preseason Thursday with a 21-10 loss to Pittsburgh. "The Lions went 4-0 in the preseason and went 0-16 (last year), so you can't read into the preseason too much. When it starts counting is when it will matter."

Harris, one of five Panthers to miss tackles on rookie running back Isaac Redman's 10-yard touchdown run Thursday, was part of a locker room trying to emphasize the positive. Coach John Fox even claimed the defensive performance was better than a week earlier, when Carolina fell flat against Baltimore.

"Our first team didn't get a whole lot of opportunities," Fox said.

The first team actually played a series longer than the Steelers' starting offense — and allowed Pittsburgh's backups to score. Carolina's offense managed one first down on seven plays and finished the preseason with one touchdown in about seven quarters of work.

But as Fox and the coaching staff prepare to trim 22 players from the roster by this afternoon, there is hope the Panthers will finally be healthy when Philadelphia arrives for the regular-season opener Sept. 13.

Middle linebacker Jon Beason, the Panthers' top tackler in each of the past two seasons and the leader of the defense, is confident he'll return from a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Beason, out since Aug. 22, indicated he would start running this weekend and plans to practice next week.

"I wasn't supposed to be playing," Beason said, defiantly.

The Panthers need some of that attitude on a defense still stinging from the loss of top run-stuffer Maake Kemoeatu, out for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon. Newly acquired defensive tackle Louis Leonard played some Thursday and could become the replacement starter, although much-maligned Nick Hayden did have a tackle for a loss and a shared sack.

Safety Charles Godfrey also hopes to play against the Eagles, with a cast on his broken left hand.

The offense was supposed to be the Panthers' strength after it carried Carolina to a 12-4 record last season. But DeAngelo Williams' 25-yard run against Miami was the only TD for the first-teamers. Receiver Steve Smith missed a couple of games with a shoulder injury and the Panthers threw to him little when he played.

Williams' backfield partner, Jonathan Stewart, is the biggest puzzle. The team has had 48 practices since the first April minicamp. Stewart has participated in eight of them — and none since Aug. 10 — with an Achilles' injury.

"Hopefully, I'll be ready for Philadelphia," Stewart said, "but we'll see how things play out."