Lies, statistics and damn statistics! Or is it stats and rats?

NFL preseason data sometimes is the worst barometer of things to come in the regular season. Often, they are as valuable as spring-training home runs in baseball.

Some players pile up statistics in the second halves against inferior competition. Others have more yards, more tackles, more this or that because they play longer than anyone else.

Most preseason games are meaningless when it comes to indicating how a team will perform when it counts. But the one Thursday night in Carolina may be the most meaningless of all. The object in that game is to keep everyone healthy, and that usually means keeping the first team on the bench for 99 percent of the snaps.

A look back

Undrafted rookie Gary Russell seems headed for the Steelers' preseason rushing title, a dubious distinction. He has 129 yards rushing on 28 carries. Last year, Duce Staley led the Steelers in the preseason with 92 yards on 42 carries, and everyone knows what happened to him. John Kuhn was second with 80 yards on 18 carries and opened the season on the practice squad before making the roster later in the year. In 2005, Noah Herron led the team with 149 yards rushing and was cut. Russell is competing for a roster spot behind Willie Parker and Najeh Davenport at halfback. If the Steelers keep five backs, that means Russell must beat out fullback Dan Kreider, halfback/fullback Carey Davis or halfback/fullback Verron Haynes. It says here it will come down to Russell vs. Haynes.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has thrown no touchdown passes and one interception. In the 2005 preseason, he threw no touchdown passes and two interceptions and completed only 44.4 percent of his tosses. He had a 32.8 passer rating that preseason. Roethlisberger has had a mixed preseason in 2007, but, as history shows, it's way above the one he had in 2005 before leading his team to a Super Bowl victory. The way the coaches have experimented in the line, and without Parker for the first two games and most of the time in the third game, it would be tough for any quarterback to shine under the circumstances. Still, Roethlisberger should have hit Hines Ward at the 2 for a 19-yard touchdown pass Sunday. Ward was open on a slant, and Roethlisberger threw it behind him. Charlie Batch has done everything right in the preseason, topped by a brief appearance Sunday in which he was 3 for 3 for 65 yards. He has completed 18 of 23 passes for 289 yards with no interceptions and one touchdown. In his case, the stats measure the standards of his play.

Philadelphia's John Runyan has been a good NFL tackle and is entering his 12th season. Rookie LaMarr Woodley, rushing from the Steelers' left side, made Runyan look old. He brushed past Runyan, who made a pitiful attempt to block him. Woodley might do that to a lot of right tackles this year and could be an important piece to the Steelers' hopes of improving their pass rush. They had three sacks in the first half Sunday night, four total, and Woodley got one of them -- his second -- along with a forced fumble.

Again, consider that they are preseason statistics, but Mike Barr has outpunted rookie Daniel Sepulveda. Sepulveda has averaged 43.9 yards a punt with five of his 12 punts going inside the 20 -- not counting the one Sunday night that went out of bounds at his own 20. Barr averaged 45.0 yards on six punts with two of them inside the 20. Sepulveda may be the Steelers' punter for a long time. But Barr, who ended his fourth summer with the Steelers when he was cut yesterday, has shown he can be a competent punter in the NFL.

Willie Reid likely will make the Steelers as their fifth wide receiver. He may not make it at his specialty, punt-returner. Reid muffed another punt Sunday night -- he recovered and lost 5 yards -- and has done nothing to back up his exceptional statistics as a return man in college. Cedrick Wilson has shown a good ability at returning punts and could get first crack at that in the regular season. He has averaged 13.8 yards on four returns and looks confident doing it.

Nobody is complaining about Nate Washington dropping passes anymore. After dropping two in the preseason opener, Washington has caught virtually everything thrown to him. Sunday night, he snapped up Batch's perfect throw on a post route and tried to stretch the ball over the goal line as he was tackled. He came up a yard short, but that went down as a 30-yard catch to go with his other of 18 yards. He and Hines Ward are tied for the preseason lead with eight receptions.

Rookie Lawrence Timmons did not turn into Lawrence Taylor in his most extensive action of the preseason. If he had been practicing throughout training camp, his performance Sunday night might be described as disappointing for the Steelers' top draft pick. For all the progress he was said to have made in his two weeks of practice after missing so much time with a groin injury, it did not show -- and it should not have been expected. He missed virtually all spring with the injury and most of training camp. It was his second preseason game. Timmons made a great tackle on a punt return, and, perhaps, that will be where he helps them out the most early, in the kicking game.