Allar Howard Pressure
Allar Howard Pressure
Recently I took a closer look at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line. It showed that Pittsburgh’s unit has had some of the worst statistical results through two preseason games, largely because of the backup linemen.
This got me curious to look at and provide a statistical view of how the younger quarterbacks have fared from a stats perspective in pressure situations.
Here are Will Howard and Drew Allar’s QB ratings and PFF passing grades when under pressure, along with the rest of the NFL for context (min. seven pressure dropbacks):
Under duress, Allar has clearly delivered better results through two games. On 12 under-pressure dropbacks, Allar’s 73.4 passing grade ranks fifth best out of the 53 qualifying quarterbacks. He was also well above league average with a 92.7 QB rating that ranked 13th. Adding the fact that Allar’s been the last QB in the game, and playing with a lesser supporting cast makes this all the more encouraging.
In comparison, we see a stark difference for Howard, particularly with an ugly 27.5 QB rating that ranks 43rd on seven under-pressure dropbacks. His 54.1 under-pressure passing grade landed slightly above the mean for QBs, but still considerably lower than Allar at 20th.
Let’s see what a deeper dive into the under-pressure stats looks like:
Allar: 65.5-percent completion rate, 9.3 YPA, 0/0 TD/INT.
Howard: 40.0-percent completion rate, 7.6 YPA, 0/1 TD/INT.
Allar has the clear edge across the board. One of Howard’s two interceptions last game was under pressure, which is a main reason for such a low under-pressure QB rating. But clearly not the only one either.
This fuels many people’s desire to see Allar start in the preseason finale and see what his play looks like with higher-depth-chart players around him. Will the Steelers go the other way and start Howard again to see if he can improve his resume for the QB2 job?
It’s all wait and see, of course, but it is crucial leading up to 53-man roster cutdowns. Will the team break historical precedent and just keep all four QBs instead? One thing’s for sure: Allar has stepped up to the pressure, and we can’t wait to see how things transpire in the preseason finale.