Rookie Drew Allar threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another during an impressive debut as the Pittsburgh Steelers surged past the Green Bay Packers 28-9 in the preseason opener on Thursday night.

Steelers Offense Clicks

Allar, a third-round pick from Penn State, was 10 of 13 for 154 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Wetjen and a 4-yard flip to Riley Nowkowski. Allar, who entered the game to calls of “Drewwww!” also sprinted into the end zone for a 3-yard score as the Steelers made coach Mike McCarthy’s debut leading his hometown team a successful one.

The 22-year-old Allar wasn’t the only Pittsburgh quarterback who seemed to have a handle on McCarthy’s offense. Will Howard, a sixth-round pick last year, guided the Steelers to a touchdown while deftly operating the 2-minute offense. Howard was 7 of 9 for 86 yards, including a handful to former Packers tight end Robert Tonyan, who caught four passes for 61 yards.

Packers Struggle

Green Bay starter Jordan Love was 3 of 5 passing during one series of work while leading the Packers on an opening drive that ended with the first of rookie Trey Smack’s three field goals. Love wasn’t hit during his cameo, a welcome development after he injured his left (non-throwing) hand against the New York Jets during the preseason last year.

Pittsburgh star Aaron Rodgers, who said this week he doesn’t think he needs to play during his 22nd and final training camp, caught up with Love and other Green Bay players and staff and then watched from the sideline with a headset on as his last NFL team faced his first.

The game had all the trappings of a preseason opener, including some sloppy play on both sides. Pittsburgh was flagged 11 times for 135 yards while the Packers were penalized nine times for 76 yards.

The Steelers outgained Green Bay 385-160 and collected yardage in huge chunks at times on plays that had receivers running wide open against a vanilla defense more focused on fundamentals than elaborate schemes for a game that didn’t count.

Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.