Eric Eager of SumerSports made the rounds on Audacy DC airwaves Tuesday, peddling his thought that sack rate makes Sam Howell more of a “good backup QB” in the NFL rather than a long-term answer.
Well, our man Michael Phillips of 910 The Fan in Richmond (and soon the Washington Times) does agree that’s an issue, but as he told The Junks on Wednesday, it’s only a fatal flaw if Howell himself can’t undo it.
“I just add a caveat: if he doesn’t fix it. Because if he doesn’t, I don’t think he’s a guy long-term you can trust to get you to where you want to go,” Phillips said. “Think about what this ownership group has done and said in Philly – they won’t be okay with 9-8 every year. They want to contend for a championship. If a QB is taking 90 scks in a season, it will be very hard for them to do that.”
Phillips doesn’t think that affects this year, as the Commanders “are a team that will fight will make the playoffs, and Sam can make enough plays to get them there” – but it’s something he has to fix and fast, because this isn’t a brand-new issue.
“The concern here is we knew it was a problem at North Carolina,” Phillips said. “He’s only played seven NFL games so we can cut him some slack there, but this is an entrenched issue.”
Eager did mention Justin Herbert as someone who was sacked a lot in college but fixed it in the NFL, but there’s little precedent there – so, if Howell can fix it and take even 33 percent less sacks, EB asked, could better protection and maybe one more coached-up throw-away per game help mitigate those?
“Part two of that is he didn’t throw any interceptions on Sunday and that is huge, because not turning the ball over can buy you a lot of leeway,” Phillips said. “A drive that ends in a sack likely ends in a Tress Way punt and you flip the field, but one that ends with an INT will probably create points for the other team. So, that buys him a lot of wiggle room. I think there’s a broader point of fixable or unfixable – I agree with what Eager said, but it’s a really small sample size.”
As Phillips noted, when it comes to mobile QBs, the past archetype was a “complete package” like Michael Vick, but now, “everybody has to scramble – so I don’t know we have decades of evidence to say these guys are unfixable if they come out of college with issues.”
Take a listen to Phillips’ entire segment, which also includes thoughts on this Sunday at MetLife, the defense’s resurgence in Atlanta, and more!
