A new segment on the Sports Junkies debuting today: the Sam Howell Evaluation, where the guys give Howell a letter grade for how well he played the previous day.
Howell was 19-for-31 for 202 yards and a touchdown, and added 11 rushing yards and a score on the ground, but also threw one interception, lost a fumble, and was sacked six times in Week 1’s win over Arizona.
The Junks say that while a win is a win, they pretty much graded him out as average to slightly above in that opener.
“I agree with Rick Snider’s flash grade, I’d give him a C-plus - saw a lot of positive when he had time, but you can’t escape the turnovers,” John Paul Flaim said. “I saw them jumping a lot of balls, so I don’t know if he has tells, but I do know that in college, some analytics said he was one of the worst at getting the ball out quickly. Took a bunch of sacks, and some of that was on the line, but some was on Howell – I saw him flat-footed in the pocket a lot when he doesn’t throw to his first read, which was another knock on him. He has the arm and the athleticism, but he could get himself into trouble because he takes hits. But overall, more good than bad.”
“I’d give him a C – I’d agree he made some really nice plays, but the turnovers and sacks count,” Jason Bishop replied. He has to get better there, and it’s going to get tougher and tougher. It’s kind of like his first start, because that Dallas game last year didn’t mean that much, but again, it’s a win.”
Johnny Auville, to that point, graded on a “slight” curve because of that first start last season, and he was slightly higher than JP and Bish.
“I’ll give him a B-minus; I was going to give him a C, but I’ll give him a tad of the benefit of the doubt. He was victimized by poor offensive line play, and by Bieniemy not moving him around and utilizing one of his strengths, which is his mobility,” Cakes said. “Please don’t just rely on five-step drops and hope he can hit his second and third read when he’s a young quarterback, and you might need to teak the offense to help him out. When Terry McLaurin is 100 percent and he’s playing in better conditions, that will help.”
And finally, Eric Bickel was right in between all of them.
“B-minus or C-plus, you pick,” EB said. “I saw a lot of things I’m super excited about; he’s a gunslinger who can make big-time throws and has no fear – he can make a horrible play and bounce right back. It’s going to cost him at times, and at the end of the day, you are judged by those turnovers, but he gave them two touchdowns. If he goes 2 and 1 every week, that’s 34 and 17…I’ll take it for basically a rookie quarterback, and if you look at QBR, he ranked 17th, middle of the pack, for a mediocre game. I think he’s going to perform better, but he has a higher QBR than Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson in his second career start. There’s a lot to be excited about, even with this mediocre effort.”
Take a listen to the entire segment above!
