We’ve heard from Ron Rivera about why he benched Sam Howell, and we heard from BMitch & Finlay with their thoughts on it, and whether or not it’s a good move for Howell’s future.
Here’s a question for the team as a whole, though: is the move too little, too late? Jeff Walker thinks so, but JP doesn’t seem to agree.
“I think it reached a point where they had to sit him, but I don't know that it was too late,” JP said. “I think you get to this point in the year, and if Ron was really chasing wins and they were trying to be a winning football team, when do you think you would have benched him? It was the second half against Dallas when things really started to fall apart, so maybe you could have gotten away from him at the bye week, but your season’s already shot. At that point, I think it is more important to see what this young guy has, but right now, he’s broken.”
“The way Sam played those last two games, it would be a crime to put him out there against San Francisco and Dallas, holding that ball like that. Any coach that would do that they should be arrested,” BMitch replied. “Those are two of the Top 5 defenses in the league, with pass rushers that will hunt your ass all day. People are acting like he was supposed to just leave him out there because he said it was about his development, but let’s stop worrying about what he said and look at facts.”
The facts, BMitch says, are surely the analytics, and basically any and every number that says Brissett is the better option right now…and to be fair, the better option matters more to the owners, who have to try to recoup their investment, than a regime destined to be unemployed in two weeks.
“They just spent the most money in the history of any of these franchises around the world, and they want to start recouping NOW,” Brian said. “If they have the possibility of doing that this offseason and can get the right name, they’re going to do that. Most teams are promoted by a certain name and normally it's a quarterback, so if they can get a top one, they will try to do that, to make their money back. You don't invest in something and then sit there; you want to get the biggest thing that could promote you and bring your money back quicker to you. So, if anybody thinks it was only Ron that has discussed it, listen I appreciate Ron saying I told the ownership what we were gonna do, but they were probably thinking they were gonna move on anyway.”
And after a caller chimed in, JP admitted that of course Rivera was going to say Howell was the guy and thy wanted to develop him, because that’s his job – but he then doubled down on the idea that this benching is the right move for all involved in a vacuum.
“I think they're actually helping Sam here. I think whatever his future is, at least a week off, and if I had to guess two weeks off, is gonna be good for him,” JP said. “If you watch the Jets game, throw out the two interceptions, he was still 6-for-20, and has happy feet in the pocket.”