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.”