PFF’s analytics say Sam Howell is in the mid-20s in their rankings, below such luminaries as the since-injured Ryan Tannehill – who has two touchdowns and six interceptions for the 2-4 Titans.
And when Sam Monson called into the Junkies Tuesday, they wanted to know how that works?
“We’re still in the world of pretty small sample sizes right now and Sam had that terrible performance against Buffalo, so that's dinging his overall grade for the season,” Monson explained. “If you strip that game out, he's way higher than that. He’s been playing pretty well, and outside of the sacks, he’s actually looked good.”
Actually, Monson used another interesting word to describe Sam: fascinating.
“He’s a fascinating quarterback, because I'm not sure I can think of a more extreme example of a guy who has one cripplingly fatal flaw to his game, but it’s an unusual one,” Monson said. “He always has been an absolute sack magnet; this isn't a Washington phenomenon, he was like this in college as well, and it’s absolutely bizarre. He’s on pace to get sacked at a record-setting pace, and most of it isn’t on the line, it’s on him hanging in the pocket. He doesn’t have the feel of when he needs to get rid of the ball; occasionally he’s right and he’ll make a play with his legs, but when he just drops back and cuts loose and throws the football, I think he's been a good quarterback.”
According to PFF, Howell’s “turnover-worthy play rate is not massive,” in a case where middle of the pack is good, so his big plays aren’t being offset by bad decisions.
“He has a few of those, but by and large, even with the Buffalo game, that rate is perfectly manageable – it’s the sacks that are the problem,” Monson said. “I’m sure that’s something they can work on, a number you can move in the direction you need it to be in, but it’s been such a consistent thing with him throughout at least three different offenses in his football career – and it’s been such an outlier relative to everybody else. It’s so extreme in that direction that it feels difficult to imagine that going away and not being a problem at some point. I think it's always gonna be an element of his game, the question is, can they make it a small enough element that you're still happy to sort of work with it and say it’s a flaw, but he more than makes up for it with the good plays that he makes.”
Take a listen to Monson’s entire segment above, which also touches on the Commanders’ defensive issues, what to expect against the Giants this weekend, other big NFL news and more!
