Drew Allar
Drew Allar
There was a lot of excitement around the Pittsburgh Steelers’ two young quarterbacks going into their first preseason game of the year. Will Howard and Drew Allar performed up to the challenge, though. They both performed well, helping the Steelers beat the Green Bay Packers.
However, things weren’t perfect. Allar pointed to one part of his game that he isn’t satisfied with.
“I got a little bit of happy feet,” Allar said postgame via the team’s YouTube channel. “I’ve gotta go back and watch the film to understand why I did that. But when that happens, you almost have to take a deep breath. I didn’t have any pressure on that play, so I’ve gotta buy some time at that point, because I’m playing off rhythm, and try to work a scramble drill.
“That throw away, it was really a him-or-nobody throw where we’re either gonna have a touchdown, maybe a PI, or it’s gonna be incomplete. I screwed up in the first part of the read, but you don’t make a bad play worse is something that we always talk about… Gotta clean up the footwork on the first half.”
The play that Allar is referencing came with around nine minutes left in the 4th quarter. The Steelers were facing a 3rd-and-three at the Packers’ nine-yard line. As Allar says, he seemed to get spooked in the pocket early, ultimately tossing a ball up at the left side of the end zone towards Kaden Wetjen. However, the ball fell incomplete out of bounds, with Wetjen not having a chance to make a play.
Luckily, the Steelers got bailed out on that play, with the Packers getting called for a holding penalty. That gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs, and Allar hit Wetjen for a touchdown right after.
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However, that drive almost stalled out and the Steelers might’ve been forced to settle for a field goal. That wasn’t the only time that Allar pointed out that his footwork was bad, too, pointing to a different play where he could’ve been better.
“I’ll probably get a minus grade on one of my footworks. It was a crazy reverse-out on an under-center exchange.”
It’s unclear which play Allar is referencing exactly there, but it shows that he’s still got a lot to learn. His footwork was one of his biggest issues coming out of college. That’s also why it was one of the first things that Mike McCarthy started to work on with him. Videos earlier in the offseason captured Allar working to adjust his footwork.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s going to take some time for Allar to clean his footwork up. However, he still showed promise despite that in his first preseason outing. He finished the game with 10 completions for 153 yards, two touchdowns, and also a rushing touchdown.
It’s still only the preseason, so there’s no need to overreact. However, Allar has all the tools to be a quality NFL player. His mechanics need a lot of work, though. He’s a project, but this first game showed some of the reasons why the Steelers spent a third-round pick on him.
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