LATROBE (93.7 The Fan) – Last year at this time there was momentum around Will Howard. Aaron Rodgers was talking him up. Fans were noticing all the good, and then a hand injury knocked him out for the preseason and most of the regular season. Howard’s now healthy, and potentially battling to stay on the roster.
Since he was hired Mike McCarthy has praised Howard and his potential. This is a team though that is looking to win now as much as the future. Mason Rudolph has started 19 games in the NFL including a playoff matchup in Buffalo two years ago. Howard hasn’t played in the preseason.
Rudolph is currently getting the second-team reps after Howard got them in OTAs and mini-camp this spring.
“You are always competing, especially in this league,” Howard said. “You are always competing to keep a job and to get on the field. Every opportunity you get you have to maximize.”
Howard appeared to maximize those opportunities on Thursday. He worked with as the third and occasionally fourth quarterback on the field. Having a good day at St. Vincent College, Howard’s final pass ended practice. That pass caught by safety Sebastian Castro.
“Obviously didn’t finish well,” Howard said. “The guy picked it off.”
It was said with an edge, then hidden by a chuckle.
Another occasion to learn and he says he tries to pick up something every day from one of the other quarterbacks and coaches, including head coach Mike McCarthy.
“At the end of the day, we got a great room,” Howard said. “We enjoy spending time together. It’s not a toxic competition or anything, it’s all out of love and we are all trying to make the Pittsburgh Steelers better and each other better. I think at the end of the day, that’s what competition brings out of you, it brings out the best.”
To prepare himself for that competition, Howard worked on everything, focusing on the footwork that is emphasized by the Steelers coaching staff. He said every detail is poured over from dropping down the line to keeping the helmet stripe in the same place. He said McCarthy even has names for every step in the drop.
“I really love what he’s brought and love the culture he’s trying to instill in us,” Howard saiod. “He’s really trying to take the blue-collar, the grit of Pittsburgh and instilling that into this team.”
It’s all of this that Howard said elevates his game.
“I think it fits it really well,” Howard said about the new Steelers system and his abilities. “It kind of reminds me of the system I ran at Ohio State. It really does. The attention to detail, the footwork and the reads, the progressions. The different kinds of progressions and plays. It’s super-detailed and I think it fits my play-style and it really enhances my ability to play from the pocket.”
Howard threw for 1,150 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions in his four playoff games leading Ohio State. In the games against Oregon and Notre Dame he had a quarterback rating of over 200, but he’s done nothing yet at this level.
“I haven’t played in a real football game since the national championship,” Howard said. “I’m just, God willing, staying healthy and getting myself ready for those preseason games because I can’t wait to get back out there with the live bullets and step in the fire again. That’s why we play this game.”
It’s really in his hands. Will he maximize the opportunity?
How he described the competition, what he needs to do
How he described the competition, what he needs to do
