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Preseason games are supposed to be meaningless.

But that's not true in the case of the Steelers' 16-6 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night, in front of 57,251 paying customers at Heinz Field.

What the Steelers' ragged performance means is that the players will be pushed and prodded even harder by coach Bill Cowher when they return to training camp at St. Vincent College on Sunday. They have a lot of time to fix their mistakes; the next game is Sunday, Aug. 18, against the Redskins in Washington. Ands that's good for their sake because there are a lot of mistakes to fix.

At least, the Steelers' timing was good. Unlike the last time the Steelers were on the field in the AFC Championship game, this one didn't count.

"It's good for the first game," Pro Bowl running back Jerome Bettis said. "You have something to work on tomorrow. It's always good for the coaches when you don't have your A-plus game."

The Steelers had no running game and scored no touchdowns, even though they had first-and-goal at the 1 in the second quarter. Bettis, who played in the Pro Bowl last season, was stopped three times inside the 3, and was given seven chances to run the ball overall before going to the sideline for the rest of the night early in the second quarter.

Quarterback Kordell Stewart completed 5 of 7 passes for 80 yards, but he badly overthrew 6-foot-5 wide receiver Plaxico Burress in the first quarter, giving Jets free safety Damien Robinson an easy interception. That led to a field goal.

Tommy Maddox relieved Stewart after two series, completing 12 of 16 passes for 147 yards. Charlie Batch, trying to wrestle the No. 2 job from Maddox, was 6 of 8 for 60 yards. Tee Martin finished the game, but — like the three quarterbacks before him — he couldn't get the Steelers into the end zone. Martin was 2 of 6 for 18 yards and an interception.

The Steelers scored only on two field goals by Todd Peterson, from 21 and 31 yards.

Stewart's only encouraging moment occurred in the second quarter, when he lofted a high pass to Burress, who reached over 5-8 cornerback Ray Mickens for a 40-yard catch to the 1.

At that point, offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey turned over the keys to Bettis, who found no room to run on three ateempts into the Jets defense. He was stopped for no gain on a run over right guard. Then, he tried both ends, and lost 1 yard both times.

Worse yet for the Steelers, they lost a 33-yard catch by veteran Terance Mathis in the third quarter, when Oliver Ross, playing right tackle at the time after starting the game at right guard, lined up illegally. Guard Keydrick Vincent was called for unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter, nullifying an 11-yard reception by rookie fullback Verron Haynes.

Special teams contributed to the misery, getting penalized for having too many players on the field in the first quarter — leading to the game's only touchdown — and allowing a blocked punt in the second quarter.

"It's like anything else," special teams coach Kevin Spencer said. "It's still like spring training. You need to continue to work together. Things will get better. You'd rather not have started like that, but I guess, hell, I'd rather have it happen now than when it counts."

But don't blame just the special teams. Backups looking for steady work also struggled. In the fourth quarter, with the Steelers across midfield looking for the tying touchdown, running back R.J. Bowers lost a fumble and Jets linebacker Joe Cooper recovered at the 45.

The Steelers had two final chances to tie the game in the fourth quarter, and failed miserably both times. First, cornerback Nijrel Eason intercepted a pass at the Pittsburgh 27 with 5:34 left in the game. But the Steelers, with Martin behind center, couldn't move past the 30 and punted.

Then, Martin threw a pass that was intercepted by rookie cornerback Marcus Floyd at the Steelers 47. The Jets took over and ran out the clock.

The meaningful aspect of the game is that the Jets chewed up the Steelers' first units, offensively and defensively, while taking a 10-3 lead at halftime and, finally, cruising to victory in the fourth quarter without much trouble.

The Jets' first score — a 1-yard touchdown run by backup running back LaMont Jordan with 6:22 left in the first quarter — was preceded by three key third-down conversions:

Quarterback Vinny Testaverde hit wide receiver Santana Moss for a 13-yard gain on third-and-9.

Testaverde rolled out for a 7-yard gain on third-and-3.

A screen pass to running back Chad Morton on a third-and-14 gained 16 yards and gave the Jets first-and-goal on the 3.
It was all made possible by a special-teams gaffe, something that is becoming all too familiar to the Steelers. The Jets were punting after recording only one first down on their first possession, but the Steelers were flagged for too many men on the field that gave the Jets a first down, new life and, eventually, a touchdown.

Overall, Testaverde completed 6 of 8 pass attempts for 61 yards before giving way to Chad Pennington after the first series.

When the Steelers got the ball back after the Jets' touchdown, Stewart overthrew Burress and Robinson's 22-yard return to midfield set up a 33-yard field goal by John Hall.

The Jets had a 10-0 lead with 14:11 left before halftime, and it was nearly 14-0, but Moss couldn't hold onto to a Pennington pass in the end zone, despite a diving attempt.

The Steelers' best weapon on offense early in the game was their passing game, with rookie wide receiver Antwaan Randle El converting 11-, 12- and 4-yard receptions into first downs in the first half. He finished with four catches for 33 yards, one reception behind Mathis, who totaled 87 yards and led a contingent of 15 different Steelers pass catchers.

The Steelers lost another scoring opportunity with 17 seconds left in the first half when rookie Lee Mays fumbled after a 21-yard reception to the 13. Jets cornerback Jamie Henderson recovered at the New York 15-yard line.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, when Peterson's 31-yarder was answered by Hall's 40, giving the Jets a 13-6 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Jets' Danny Boyd kicked a 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to set the final margin.

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