Coming off a win in Week 1, Sam Howell is now 2-0 as a starting NFL quarterback. But how well did he do in the 20-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals? The quarterback spoke for himself on Wednesday and head coach Ron Rivera spoke, too. Craig Hoffman had some thoughts on all of this and you can get the complete story from everyone on the audio player below!
After watching his film, Howell said, "Definitely a lot of things to clean up. I just think offensively we, there's a lot of things that we learned on film and things that we expect and hope to do a better job of this week. But now starting today, we've turned the page and we're starting to focus on Denver."
The QB also addressed holding onto the ball: "I think at the end of the day. it just comes down to trusting my feet and my. feet will always keep me on time and my progression and so I think I've done a really good job of that in practice. And I did a good job for most of the game. There were just some plays here and there where I just gotta continue to trust what I'm taught and trust my feet and trust my progress."
On the sacks, Howell said, "I mean I'm always gonna air on it was my fault just because I think I could've done a better job. I mean, there were some of 'em where I just ran out of bounds at a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage which is just dumb. You know, just throw the ball away. And you know, obviously the strip-sack for the touchdown, that was on me. I was just trying to do too much, especially down there backed up. Don't try to reverse out and spin out of it. just be smart.
"But for the most part, I think there was places to go with the ball. I just gotta do a better job getting the ball outta my hands. And the o-line did a good job throughout most of the game. Obviously, the stats don't show it but. I gotta do a better job helping those guys out."
Here's what the head coach said abut how Howell has looked since the game on Sunday: "I think he learned. I think he grew. He understood and he knows, he and I had a couple of conversations and one thing that he said in our first conversation, he knows he's got to play better. He knows that he missed some opportunities, but at the same time, I also know that he knows he made some plays.
"And again, we just got to make sure we protect the football and as a team, as a unit, we just got to protect the quarterback. That includes him too. He's got to understand he's got to protect himself as well."
