Sorry, Commanders fans, but Sam Howell had to be benched again on Sunday, and benched when he was…because it was what was best for the other 50-plus guys on the roster.
At least that's the take both BMitch & Finlay gave Tuesday morning when Joe from PG County called in and couldn't believe Jacoby Brissett relieved Howell so early on Sunday, thinking "unless he's broken something," Howell had to stay in for evaluation purposes…and because him stinking it up, and losing the game, helps the Commanders' draft at least.
Brian Mitchell is NOT having that.
"He was lost, basically outplayed, and you gonna leave him in the game?" BMitch asked. "With Dwayne Haskins, they said it's unfair to the rest of the players to let a guy stay in if he's not playing well, so I'm telling you it's true – it's unfair to the rest of the damn players, who are out there trying to win the game, if the quarterback is not living up to the way he can play. You saw in the last two games he wasn't learning and at that point you have to make a change. At that moment, a change needed to be made."
Brian admits he's never been one to treat a QB differently because of the position, but in this case, something had to be done.
"If I gotta worry about him, his thought process, his feelings, he may not be the mentally tough guy for the job. That's any quarterback," BMitch said. "If you cannot handle the tough things and tough times…every cornerback in the league is an expert at it. How you get burnt for seven and then the next play you're talking trash? That's what I needed my quarterback to be like: throw an interception, forget about it and let's go do something. Don't let it fester and become a big snowball coming down the hill."
"I am…I don't want to say stunned, because we live in a crazy city with crazy fans, but I am consistently surprised by the amount of still very dedicated Howell fans that, want a left tackle at number three and let Sam develop," JP replied. "I'm not closing the door on him, but he completed five passes in the first half. It was not working."
Brian believes the guys in the locker room felt the same way, and seeing just how well Jacoby Brissett played in his half-dozen series over the last two weeks showed that Howell still has the fatal flaw of holding the ball too long, even if that's now showing up in a sack total the way it was earlier this year.
"After he threw the second pick, I said, you gotta pull this dude, he's broken, but just look at the numbers: he's never played this many games in a season, thrown this many passes in a season, thrown this many interceptions, taken this many sacks and hits," JP said. "I think physically, he's beat up at best, and I think he's beat to bleep, frankly – and I think at this point he's broken, and everyone is culpable – the organization, the offensive line, skill players, coaches…but this is also on Sam, he's also culpable."
JP explained what he saw in the Jets game and how things went downhill and why, and where Howell failed quite a few times to execute and had sloppy mechanics,
"His arm is a goddamn rocket, he's a super nice young man, he's everything you want in a locker room and works his ass off…but they had to pull him," JP said. "I don't know what his future is or what he could become, and h has shown flashes of greatness, particularly off-schedule, but at some point, you gotta be good on-schedule, too. And, if you want to tell me you gotta give Howell another chance because he deserves it…how much in life is about deserving something?"
"He may deserve it, but that's not what the NFL is about. Look at my rookie year, I had a good season, and who do they draft the next year? Ricky Ervins, a kick-returner too. And who they draft the year after that? Desmond Howard, the Heisman Trophy winner who returns punts and kicks," Brian replied. "I had to battle that, and I did because I'm a competitor. But the ultimate thing is we feel that we're supposed to just give people stuff; it's about earning things. This league is about earning a job and you earn your job by proving every time you get a chance you are far better than you are bad."
