Sam Howell’s sack rate, and how it maybe makes him not a viable long-term answer at QB, is THE topic of discussion among many around the Commanders this week.
JP Finlay had sent a clip to some folks where Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus was discussing the Commanders’ offensive line grading highly but still taking sacks, and Brian Mitchell can only wonder why that dichotomy exists.
“I think we've tried everything in the world to try to because he's a young quarterback, and we try to give Sam so many passes, but Sam is gonna have to start doing this himself,” Brian said. “Once you get to the NFL level, you have to take ownership of your profession; not just the coaches, not just the people that drafted you or whatever, it has to be the person himself.”
Brian played the clip, and of course, he had some thoughts on something Sam might be doing wrong:
“What we're seeing there, and I’ve discussed this many times, is where the guys are taught to block and form a pocket, and they're trying to push the guys past the quarterback,” Brian said. “When you hear me say climb the pocket, I mean by that is slide up into the pocket closer to the line of scrimmage; that should be what your safe haven is, and if your interior line is handling their business there, you can step up and deliver the ball, and if you see the pocket breaking down, you can try to get out of it.”
Here’s the problem with Howell:
“Sam has a tendency to want to reverse out and try to get outside of the tackles. But what are the tackles doing? They're blocking the ends up the field outside and past,” BMitch said. “Now, If you were to step up and the guys keep pushing them by, that's a bed in the pocket – but if you don't step up and you reverse out, you're normally gonna run into the defensive lineman.”
So that’s why the linemen are grading out well, but Howell is on pace to be sacked at a record rate – and in Brian’s eyes, “the line is going to block for two or three seconds, tops, and any longer than that, they’re probably holding.”
“Sam Howell has shown a lot of promise, and I like the kid, but he has to start watching more film,” BMitch continued. “You have to self-scout, and do multiple plays to see how many times you're holding the ball past three seconds, reversing out, and getting sacked; that's not on your offensive line, as much as we want to say it. They’re not great, but they’ve been good.”
Howell has to find a way to protect himself, Brian added, and he thinks Howell is “a smart kid who is going to figure this out” – but also knows “the coaches are gonna start getting impatient.”
Take a listen to BMitch’s entire soliloquy above!
