Steelers' Will Howard Is Making An Amazing Throw Look Almost Boring

The Pittsburgh Steelers saw plenty of obvious good from their quarterbacks in the preseason opener. Completions moved the chains, the two-minute offense produced a touchdown and the final box score looked clean. Charlie Batch, though, came away impressed by something that did not make many highlight packages: the way one young passer kept getting his body back into throwing position while moving the wrong direction.

That passer was Will Howard, and the detail Batch noticed helps explain why Pittsburgh can feel better about his first NFL game action than seven completions on a stat sheet might suggest. Howard spent several snaps buying time to his left against the Green Bay Packers, then repeatedly managed to square himself enough to deliver accurate throws instead of letting his momentum drag the football with him.

Howard finished 7 of 9 for 86 yards in Pittsburgh's 28-9 win, and he closed the first half by directing an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive with 1:53 remaining. It was his first preseason appearance after a hand injury wiped out all of his exhibition work as a rookie in 2025, so the Steelers were finally getting game-speed evidence.

Batch was less interested in simply applauding the completion percentage. During a recent breakdown on The Snap Count, the former Steelers quarterback focused on the mechanics Howard used when the pocket pushed him left.

“When you’re drifting, buying time to the left, in order to be accurate, you have to get your shoulders around. And he was able to do so and make those throws. And that’s why people were looking around like that wasn’t a difficult throw. Well, have you ever thrown a ball drifting to the left? It’s very tough in that particular manner, but he was able to do that,” Batch said.

The awkward part is easy to miss because a good quarterback can make the recovery look almost boring. For a right-handed passer moving left, the body is traveling away from the cleanest throwing platform, so the upper body has to recover quickly enough to get the shoulders positioned for the target. Quarterbacking occasionally becomes a geometry assignment with defensive linemen trying to erase the chalkboard.

Howard did not always have the luxury of planting in a perfect pocket, taking a postcard-ready drop and firing from a stationary base. When pressure or coverage forced him to extend the rep, his feet and shoulders still had to arrive somewhere useful before the football left his hand.

That is especially interesting because Mike McCarthy has spent months drilling those details. Howard has described Pittsburgh's quarterback school as relentlessly focused on the first step of the drop, consistency in the lower body and keeping the helmet stripe in the same place. The Steelers even use a “Build a Drop” drill to reinforce those movements.

Pittsburgh's detailed footwork training can sound painfully basic until a game forces Howard off script. Perfect mechanics are easiest against air. The useful test comes when the pocket bends, the quarterback has to relocate and the throw still needs to arrive before an NFL defender closes a window.

Howard's preseason debut provided several of those snapshots. His night included some early unevenness, but he remained composed enough to finish with an efficient line and guide the offense through its best situational drive of the first half. McCarthy later praised the way Howard played through the peaks and valleys and specifically highlighted his work in the two-minute drill.

For Howard, the subtlety of Batch's praise may be the best part. Anybody can point to 7-of-9 passing and say the quarterback was accurate. Batch identified why some of those completions demanded more than they appeared to, giving the Steelers evidence that the mechanical work is surviving once a defender starts ruining the original picture.

That becomes important in Howard's larger evaluation. Aaron Rodgers is Pittsburgh's starter, while Mason Rudolph provides veteran security and rookie Drew Allar has created his own excitement after a strong preseason debut. Pittsburgh's initial depth chart placed them in that order, with Howard third and Allar fourth, so one clean evening will not settle how a crowded quarterback room eventually shakes out.

Howard's developmental argument cannot be built entirely on big-arm throws. NFL quarterbacks spend too much time operating from imperfect platforms for that. A passer who can slide, drift, reset his shoulders and remain accurate has a better chance of keeping a good play alive when the defense wins the first two seconds.

Steelers Can Learn More From The Throws That Look Ordinary

Preseason football has a funny way of making the spectacular memorable and the technically difficult invisible. A 40-yard shot gets replayed, while a quarterback moving left, correcting his body and completing a routine-looking throw can disappear before the next snap.

Batch saw the second category, and his experience at the position gives Pittsburgh fans a useful reason to revisit it. Howard was not simply escaping trouble. He was maintaining enough control over his platform to throw accurately after the pocket changed where his body wanted to go.

The next two preseason games can show whether that movement remains consistent. Defenses will give Howard different pressure pictures, and there will inevitably be snaps when his feet become rushed or his shoulders fail to catch up. Pittsburgh does not need perfection from a second-year quarterback finally receiving extended NFL game work, but it does need repeatable evidence that the teaching is becoming instinct.

McCarthy's quarterback school has spent months obsessing over inches, steps and body position because those small details become very large once a pass rush arrives. Against Green Bay, Howard turned a few uncomfortable platforms into throws that looked much easier than they were, exactly the kind of quiet progress Batch believes deserves more credit.

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