McCarthy confirms 4 quarterbacks make Steelers' roster
Mike McCarthy will carry Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar into Week 1 — a first in his coaching career — as the preseason closes with a 28-27 loss at Buffalo and the Steelers get healthier before hosting the Falcons.
McCarthy locks in four quarterbacks, hurt or not
Mike McCarthy has coached twenty years without ever carrying four quarterbacks into a season, and he made it official this week when asked point blank about Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar all sticking on the 53-man roster. "I think that's a very accurate evaluation on your part, yeah," McCarthy said, via Steelers Depot. "I feel good about the quarterback room. I've been saying it for quite some time. I think they've shown it on the field. We got two veterans that we can win with, and we got two young guys that we're real excited about their future." It landed in the middle of a cutdown week that already cost 11 other players their jobs, a group Adam Schefter listed out by name — Jaheim Bell, Greg Crippen, Jaylon Guilbeau and eight others among them.
Steelers HC Mike McCarthy said it’s “very accurate” to expect Pittsburgh to keep four quarterbacks on its 53-man roster. More via @bepryor: t.co/i9oFlEnaKt
The quarterback room isn't as settled as the number suggests. Howard, the presumptive backup to Rodgers, didn't finish Thursday's finale at Buffalo — he's being evaluated for a possible concussion, Alan Saunders of SteelersNow.com reports. Rudolph didn't play at all in the finale, which tells you McCarthy already knows exactly what his fourth quarterback is. That left Allar, the rookie, as the only one of the four actually auditioning, and he did it clean: 9 of 18 for 88 yards, no touchdown, no interception, in a game Pittsburgh lost by a point.
The preseason ends with a shootout, not a whimper
Pittsburgh closed the exhibition slate 1-2 in the preseason, dropping the finale 28-27 at Buffalo on August 27 with Rodgers out of uniform for the night and the reserves running the scoreboard. Allar ran the huddle for most of it, and while the box score won't make anybody forget it, a clean two-minute-style outing against a Bills team still trying to win is exactly what a rookie fourth quarterback needs on tape in August.
Bills27-28
Jets0-17
Packers28-9The names worth remembering came out of the backfield and the return game. Eli Heidenreich carried nine times for 35 yards and a touchdown and added 47 yards on two kickoff returns, while Kaden Wetjen turned four punt returns into 61 yards and a score, plus 17 more on a kickoff return and a catch. Germie Bernard hauled in a 13-yard touchdown, Kaleb Johnson got five carries for 11 yards, and Riley Nowakowski chipped in a seven-yard catch out of the backfield. It's the kind of stat sheet that decides practice-squad spots more than it decides games, but for a handful of those guys, Thursday night was the whole audition.
Metcalf, Pittman and Ramsey trend toward full strength
DK Metcalf agreed to a restructured contract this week, Field Yates of ESPN reports, even while he's still working through an undisclosed issue — the kind of move a team makes when it's committing to a receiver past just this season. Michael Pittman Jr., working back from a right ankle problem, was in pads and going through stretching at Monday's practice, per Alan Saunders of Steelers Now, which reads like a guy on schedule for Week 1 rather than one still searching for a return date.
On the other side of the ball, Jalen Ramsey is set to come off the active/PUP list Monday, McCarthy told Chris Adamski of TribLive.com. None of these are highlight-reel moves, but stacked together they're the difference between opening the season with a top corner and two established receivers or opening it without them.
Pittsburgh opens as home favorites against a Falcons team that just won on the road
The regular season opens with Sunday afternoon vs. the Falcons at Acrisure Stadium, and Pittsburgh comes in favored — the line opened at 3.5 points, with the total set at 42.5, a number that's reading low-scoring rather than a shootout. Atlanta finished its own preseason 2-1, capped by a 17-12 win at the Dolphins, so the Steelers aren't catching a club that limped into September.
It's the first real evidence anybody gets on either team, which is exactly why the quarterback math matters so much heading in: whichever of Pittsburgh's four arms is under center in Week 1, he'll be doing it against a Falcons defense that closed its preseason with a win. The odds card below has both sides.