{"id":810009,"date":"2026-08-11T11:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810009\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:58:13","slug":"kozora-my-viewpoint-on-pittsburghs-quarterback-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810009\/","title":{"rendered":"Kozora: My Viewpoint On Pittsburgh’s Quarterback Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the horse race that\u2019s dominated the summer. Who is looking better? Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Drew Allar? Who is making the team? Who is getting cut? Could Pittsburgh keep all four?<\/a><\/p>\n

The intrigue is valid. Pittsburgh\u2019s in a unique situation with two young and talented prospects in Howard and Allar next to Rudolph, an ideal No. 2 ready to jump in at a moment\u2019s notice. Giving the group attention is reasonable.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where I differ from most others \u2013 and I speak about \u201cothers\u201d in the broadest sense: fans, local media, national pundits. I get asked and see it all the time. Who is ahead? Who is winning the race? Who had the better practice?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not how I frame things. I\u2019m not hyper-focused on the day to day. There\u2019s ebb and flow that exists at every other position where you can bounce back and forth between answers and feel crazy for it. I suspect that\u2019s not how the team is calculating things either.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what matters. Start and end points. Where Howard and Allar began when the team reported in late July compared to where they finish on Aug. 30, cutdown date. What is the level of progression both show? That trumps all. The arc of their play, not the snapshots in time, is where my energy gets spent.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say we can\u2019t evaluate both quarterbacks in the present. We can and have. Allar got off to a good start and immediately flashed all the physical tools that saw him drafted in the third round. His arm is a weapon. Intangibly, he\u2019s showing poise and command of the line of scrimmage. Howard\u2019s play is on the upswing. He lacks the \u201cwow\u201d moments Allar brings but shows touch and far better accuracy and consistency, especially in the short and intermediate game.<\/p>\n

Both have their shortcomings. Allar is too scattershot underneath. Howard needs to be able to drive the ball down the sideline and has had too many exchange issues in recent days. There\u2019s give and take day to day, and I\u2019m not interested in scoring daily results. It\u2019s like asking who won the game in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n

There are three preseason games<\/a> to be played. Key contests to put these guys in stadiums and new environments against uncommon opponents. Opposing defenses are unlikely to run any zany coverages, but how Howard and Allar look in game environments is crucial to the evaluation. Even then, we should use the same barometer of progress. How each looks in the opener versus how each fares in the finale.<\/p>\n

Everything remains on the table. Aaron Rodgers and Allar will obviously make the team. Rudolph could remain the top backup. Or it may still be awarded to Howard. Keeping all four quarterbacks is increasingly likely, especially if Pittsburgh can free up an extra roster spot by cutting inside linebacker Malik Harrison.<\/a><\/p>\n

My viewpoint is focusing less on the battle between quarterbacks and watching them in a vacuum. Evaluating their play to a man as opposed to versus someone else. There will be a time for that call to be made. It\u2019s not for a couple of weeks, which means declaring a frontrunner right now doesn\u2019t have much merit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the horse race that\u2019s dominated the summer. Who is looking better? Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Drew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[40548,1321,99,3795,31714],"class_list":["post-810009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-drew-allar","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-will-howard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}