No blink in their performance: A week after putting up big numbers, quarterbacks Will Howard and Drew Allar were unable to get the Steelers on the scoreboard against the New York Jets in the team's second preseason game.
The Jets came away with a 17-0 victory at Acrisure Stadium, but Coach Mike McCarthy came away with plenty to work off with the two young quarterbacks.
Howard, the second-year quarterback who missed his rookie season due to a hand injury, completed 10 of 15 passes for 74 yards, and threw two interceptions.
Allar, the rookie third-round pick out of Penn State, completed 11 of 23 passes for 110 yards.
What McCarthy liked about the two was their confidence, moxie and ability to not be impacted by adversity.
"Just to have a chance to look in their eyes on the sidelines, I have no concern so far," said McCarthy. "We've had two opportunities to compete. They've played at big schools. Both of those guys grew up playing quarterback. I don't see any blink in their performance.
"They communicate very well during our process of going over to Tom (Arth). We go through every picture. Everything is discussed. I can hear the conversations on the headsets. That's what I'm listening to while the defense is out there. We're getting better at our communication.
"This is our second game together. We can be better as a staff. We're working through that. There are things we did better from week one to week two.
"I'm still going through everything. Pregame there were a couple things. That's preseason. But yes, I wish we'd have performed better. I wish we'd have been more productive was really my message to the team."
McCarthy is a teacher, and one thing he appreciated from the game, is there are plenty of lessons to be learned.
"I think just the reality of taking a step as a football team, the scoreboard didn't reflect that, but we got great teaching film," said McCarthy. "We're a staff that loves to teach. When we have a chance, that's how we'll treat (Saturday), the first time (we have) an in-season (schedule). (Saturday) will be like a Monday. We'll go through that and clean it up. They'll be off Sunday.
"Monday and Tuesday will be two of our last training camp practices. We'll go really heavy and competitive there on the offense and defense.
"I wish we'd have been more productive. We'll definitely have an opportunity to grow."
Things to learn from: Quarterback Will Howard started the first game of his young NFL career on Friday night against the New York Jets at Acrisure Stadium, and he is the first one to admit he wants to make improvements in his next outing.
But that is what the preseason is all about.
Howard, the second-year quarterback, completed 10 of 15 passes for 74 yards, and threw two interceptions.
"Both of them were unfortunate," said Howard of the interceptions. "Just can't happen. Running a shallow cross, kind of drifted a little bit. The safety jumped it. Just got to see in front of that.
"There's other little things on the play. Maybe if we get a better pick for the rail route, maybe we can throw that early.
"That second one just got undercut. Just got to put it out in front of him.
"Things to learn from. Just performance wasn't up to par. Obviously just the little details. It's a shame because those were both good drives. I felt like we were moving the ball really well. Just one of the first things we talk about is protecting the football. Just got to be better and learn from it."
While Howard said his game wasn't 'up to par,' there were positives to come from his first start, and his second ever NFL game.
"I felt really comfortable in the pocket," said Howard. "I felt like I was going through my progressions well, especially early first and second down. Felt good about how I played.
"But those two turnovers really make it sour. It's a shame because, like I said, we were driving the ball, in the red zone the one time, kind of in the gold zone the other one. Making progress, getting the ball down there. We just got to be able to finish.
"I felt like there were some good things out there, but obviously if you don't win the game, you turn the ball over, that's unacceptable.
"Just need to learn from it and be better next week."
The Steelers take on the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night to close out the preseason, and Howard is going to take what he learned from the last two weeks to improve.
"There's a ton of plays out there that were positive," said Howard. "The third down, Ben (Skowronek) getting open on that dig route, that was great. A couple of those early throws to Roman (Wilson). I felt really comfortable back there, especially on the move.
"The naked game was good for us. I felt like we kind of started to get the run game going as that second quarter really started going.
"A game like this, I feel like it's hard to look at the positives. There's always positives. The issues are always there. Issues were there last week, but we won.
"It doesn't matter if you win, if you lose, you've got to come out of it with a growth mindset. When you lose, turn the ball over twice, it definitely makes it feel a little bigger.
"Just got to clean it up."
Relying on his process: Quarterback Drew Allar had the same type of mindset as Will Howard did following Friday night's 17-0 loss to the New York Jets at Acrisure Stadium.
In his thoughts, there were areas to improve on, as well as areas to learn from.
"Obviously, not good enough," said Allar. "Not being able to go up and put any points on the board. For me, I think it kind of started early. I just need to do a better job, especially early in drives, taking what's given.
"I feel like I passed up a couple opportunities early in drives that either set us back with an incompletion or a sack.
"If I just take what's there, even if it's catch-tackle, we're not in a backed-up situation. That's where I thought I could help the offense more. From there, it will help us play with more flow and rhythm and not constantly being backed up. I know I could have done a better job of that."
Allar finished the game completing 11 of 23 passes for 110 yards, when a week earlier he completed 10 of 13 passes for 153 yards and two touchdown passes, while also rushing for a three-yard touchdown, in a win over the Green Bay Packers.
Allar stressed the importance of remaining steady through the learning process.
"For me, it's always relying back on my process," said Allar. "No matter how good of a game I played, how bad of a game I played, win, loss, it's about the process, going through the same thing every week.
"If you change your routine every week based on how you played, I feel like that isn't going to help you get better throughout a season.
"It's just going back, studying the film, what I could have done better, what I did a good job of. Overall offensive notes that the coaches give us as a unit, take those and try to fix those and correct those, then build off the positive things that we did do, because we did do some positive things today. Obviously not enough.
"There's always going to be good and bad from the film. Just rely on my process."
