Something feel different about Sam?

8 comments

1. How often do we say what? Not everyone is going to watch the video.

2. I didn’t listen to the podcast (at work), but I’m in “cautious optimism” mode. As a long time fan, I’ve earned the right to be cynical and hard to convince! But here’s why my early optimism.

   It’s just just about the points he’s put up, or that our offense isn’t in the bottom 10 for a pleasant change. It’s that he is carrying this team on his shoulders. The D is bleeding points, he doesn’t have much of a run game (for a couple of reasons), and his OL is crap. Also, his HC has mostly checked out.

   When a guy is basically a “rookie”, he needs this stuff.

3. People thought TH was the guy? Lmao

4. It’s definitely been a while.

   Everyone on the planet except Ron knew Wentz was a disaster. Fitzpatrick was at best a 1-2 year stop gap. Heinicke didn’t have the physical tools. Haskins only had about 10 good quarters in his career. Smith was older and not playing well before suffering a catastrophic injury.

   Cousins didn’t break out until Year 4, so we never really got to enjoy him playing without an upcoming contract decision looming.

   RG3 was an insane few months, but Sam’s playstyle seems a lot more sustainable.

5. People are always gonna be optimistic about their team’s draft picks or pickups, regardless of how realistic that is. That’s just human nature and part of the joy of being a sports fan.

   I don’t think anybody with half a brain thought Heinicke was the future of the franchise. Most people thought he was a random flyer who ended up playing above what anybody thought his potential would be. Still not really starter quality for anyone above the bottom few “tank” teams.

   RGIII rookie season was great and injuries derailed him. Outside of Haskins, the QB’s we’ve drafted have been decent. Not the greatest, but Campbell and Cousins were certainly serviceable. Any hype surrounding them in the early days was completely valid. Maybe the coaching staff didn’t help them reach their full potential idk, but those weren’t bad picks. And you have to go back over 20 years to the big misses at QB.

   Howell has been passing over 40+ attempts per game recently while chasing games so of course he’s gonna have some yardage and TDs. I’ve been impressed with his accuracy/lack of picks in recent games while still throwing so much. He’s a league leader in many volume-dependent stats. But he’s still 21st in QBR. I’m cautiously optimistic, but the separation from him & any other mildly successful recent Washington QB (Campbell, RGIII, Smith, Heinicke) is still negligible and too early to determine.

6. Here’s a few things that you’ve seen if you watch all games that may be harder to see in stats or whatever and why he feels different. TLDR: Howell is that guy and he’d have to fail catastrophically over the next 7 games to change my mind that he’s that guy.

   1. QBs of old would have our entire offense get derailed when a play wasn’t made. Whether a drop, penalty calling something back, or an errant throw. With Sam those missed opportunities don’t derail us like they used to. Something as simple as Crowder’s drop on a 2nd 10 in the Seattle game could’ve meant the end of the drive, instead it became a 4th an 1 conversion. Or on the same drive the pass that was thrown behind Pringle would’ve been insane, but the ball was uncatchable. Fuck it, thread the needle on a TD on the next play.
   2. 2 Minute offense has been awesome. Whether its end of games of end of the half he will more often than not put is in position to tie the game or get some points before the half ends. Even in the Giants game where him and entire O played poorly, he put us in a position to tie the game at the end.
   3. Its clear the pressure doesn’t get to him. Aside from Buffalo, he can rebound from basically anything, including that awful INT in the Pats game, or the fumble on the run against Seattle. Dude has ice in his veins and it shows.
   4. His distribution of the ball shows he’s running the offense. He doesnt care who is lined up where, he calls the play, goes through his read and throws to his read. This sounds like something every QB does on every play but actually executing it is impressive.
   5. He’s improving. Obvious issues in the first few games. A couple turnovers, less than stellar pocket movement, not checking down and holding the ball too long, and taking sacks. The past few games have been a huge improvement. He’s dumping the ball when its not there, avoiding sacks more, and the sacks he is taking are more on the line than him holding on too long. Something you’d hope to see as your guy gets more and more looks and reps in game and starts developing patterns and recognition of what’s coming.

7. Sam Howell

8. The team won with him and at least always had a chance. Head to head he beat some of the best QB’s