Allar continuing to show improvement

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Coming off the field for the final practice of preseason Tuesday, quarterback Drew Allar didn’t know how much he was going to play Thursday night in Buffalo. Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said he was going to talk to the team about it Tuesday afternoon. What did Allar think of his performance in Game 2?

The rookie finished 11-23, 110 yards with no touchdowns or turnovers and a 61.9 rating against the Jets. There were a couple of dropped passes that lowered the completion percentage. He was sacked three times, one or two might be more on him and that’s where he believes the improvement can be for facing the Bills.

“There’s just opportunities to be cleaner in progressions in general,” Allar said. “Just stay disciplined to everything. Trust the progressions, trust the footwork. Just get back to the basics, I felt like I passed up a couple of early completions, especially my first couple of drives in the game. If I take it, it’s going to be second-and-five or third-and-four, a lot more manageable situations for us that put us more at an advantage opposed to the defense.”

Steelers offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio said he was pleased with how Allar went through his progressions for the most part. While there were times he could have gotten rid of the ball, there were others Allar was praised for his scrambling.

“You saw he did a great job moving out of the pocket, hitting Lake [McRee] down on the left side,” Angelichio said. “That's something we talk about – listen to your feet, go through your progressions, and that's part of playing the quarterback position.”

Once the regular season begins, McCarthy plans on keeping the quarterbacks for long days as there aren’t the same NFL rules restricting time together. They can go back to some of the things they taught in QB school, although Allar believes he’s incorporated a lot of that into his game now where he can just read and react and not think about where his feet need to be.

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“I think it’s just continuing to build off the fundamental success I’ve had and keep stacking,” Allar said. “Keep finding ways to get better. The good thing about Friday, even though I didn’t go out and play as clean as I wanted to, it gave me a lot of things to learn from and really grow from.”

“Especially focusing on these last couple of practices of camp giving me opportunity to not just see all the positive stuff. Just really hone in on things I need to stay on top of no matter if I’m playing well or playing bad.”

The third-round pick from Penn State said he’s started studying game tape from the Bills. No matter how he plays, Allar will be on the roster, but there still is a lot to play for as the preseason closes.

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“I think just building off success and learning from mistakes I have made and continuing to show improvement with operation and handling procedures and operations,” Allar said. “Building off the things I’ve done well and also just correcting the things I’ve messed up on or slipped up on.”