Steelers' Mike McCarthy Calls Out Roster Bubble Candidate For Completely Screwing Over Will Howard

The Pittsburgh Steelers did not need another preseason interception from Will Howard to make the quarterback discussion any more complicated. They got one anyway, but Mike McCarthy’s postgame explanation shifted the spotlight away from the passer and toward Lake McRee. What initially looked like Howard forcing another bad throw was instead, seemingly according to McCarthy, a route-adjustment breakdown that left quarterback and tight end reading the play differently.

The timing could hardly have been worse for McRee. Pittsburgh’s undrafted rookie is fighting for one of the final roster spots in a crowded tight end room, and Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills was his last clean opportunity to convince the coaching staff he deserved to survive final cuts. For part of the first half, he did exactly that.

Howard found McRee for a 5-yard touchdown late in the opening quarter after play action created space underneath. The rookie left his feet, finished through contact and gave Pittsburgh a 14-3 lead. It was the kind of preseason moment bubble players chase all summer: touchdown, ball secured, résumé enhanced. The same pairing soon produced a very different piece of film.

Early in the second quarter, Howard targeted McRee again and the pass landed in Buffalo’s hands. The turnover appeared to come from another miscommunication, an uncomfortable theme after Howard’s two interceptions against the New York Jets one week earlier. Howard had already spent several days answering questions about route timing and whether his receivers were arriving where the offense expected them to be.

During his postgame press conference, McCarthy was asked about the interception and acknowledged a route adjustment had changed the picture.

“Yeah, definitely. We had a change there and, you know, so those things happen with route adjustments and so forth. So we, yeah, we were not on the same page there,” McCarthy said.

The comment was not a public demolition of McRee, and McCarthy did not spend 30 seconds assigning percentages of blame. His explanation did confirm the turnover was more complicated than Howard simply firing the football to the wrong jersey. The adjustment required both players to see the same thing, and they did not, which is hardly comforting for a player fighting to keep his locker.

An undrafted tight end rarely wins a roster spot because coaches believe his mistakes are understandable. McRee entered camp with a real path to the roster because of his receiving ability, toughness and opportunity behind Pittsburgh’s established options. He now reaches cutdown weekend needing the staff to decide whether the good has outweighed the communication errors that can wreck an NFL passing concept.

Thursday’s sequence was almost comically cruel. McRee caught a touchdown from Howard, then later helped turn another first-half possession into an interception. A bubble candidate can spend three months trying to create separation, only for his best and worst arguments to arrive roughly one quarter apart.

Howard still completed 9 of 15 passes for 69 yards with two touchdowns and one interception before Pittsburgh changed quarterbacks at halftime. His preseason ended with three picks over the final two contests, which guarantees the raw numbers will attract criticism as the organization decides how many passers to keep. McCarthy’s explanation, however, adds important context to at least one turnover.

The young signal-caller is responsible for protecting the football, and not every mistake can be escorted over to somebody else’s locker. Route-adjustment errors are different because timing is built around an agreement between passer and target. If one player changes the route while the other expects the original landmark, a reasonable throw can suddenly look reckless.

That communication becomes even more demanding for reserves. McRee has been learning multiple responsibilities while competing for limited snaps, and preseason lineups constantly changed around him. None of that makes the mistake disappear, but it helps explain why McCarthy has spent the summer obsessing over details that seem boring until one becomes an interception.

The roster implications make the play especially painful. Pittsburgh’s current depth chart places McRee fifth at tight end, and the club does not need to keep everyone in that room. His receiving talent has created a legitimate chance, but bubble players usually need to prove they can be trusted when the assignment changes after the huddle breaks.

Steelers Need McRee's Talent To Come With The Same Picture

McRee has done enough this summer to make the decision interesting. He has flashed as a pass-catcher, produced against live competition and capped his preseason with a touchdown. For an undrafted rookie, simply becoming someone worth debating is already an accomplishment.

The interception complicates the final evaluation because it attacks the part of the job coaches cannot tolerate for long. Athleticism can create a completion after the snap, while communication determines whether everybody is even running the same play before the ball leaves Howard’s hand.

McCarthy’s comments should also factor into Howard’s evaluation. Pittsburgh now has direct confirmation that the turnover was tied to a route adjustment and a disconnect with McRee, rather than another clean example of the quarterback misreading the defense. That does not erase Howard’s other preseason mistakes, but it keeps this particular interception from being dumped entirely into his file.

For McRee, final cuts are close enough that every mistake arrives carrying a calculator. He gave the Steelers one more touchdown to remember Thursday, then supplied a communication error they will have to weigh against it. Howard and McRee were on the same page once in Buffalo, and it ended with six points; the second time they needed the same answer, somebody turned to the wrong page.

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