Sam Howell entered the season as one of the favorites to be the first NFL quarterback to be benched. He had been named the starter for the Washington Commanders for the 2023 season, having had just one career appearance under his belt, having beat out veteran Jacoby Brissett for the rights to the job. In a revelation that pretty much no one saw coming, Howell is the NFL leader in passing yards after 10 weeks of the season.
Sam Howell Has Been A Revelation For Commanders
Leading NFL in passing yards doesn’t “mean much” to Commanders QB Sam Howell: “We haven’t won enough games”https://t.co/BB3VjYxFME
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) November 17, 2023
He started off with somewhat average numbers through the first few weeks, and had a tough showing in Week 3 when he passed for 170 yards and 4 interceptions. But Howell has been on a tear statistically since Week 5. The Commanders quarterback has thrown for over 300 yards in four of his last six games, including each of the past three. In Week 8 against the Eagles, he had his best game as a pro, throwing for 397 yards and tossing 4 touchdowns, but Washington came up short against their division rival in that contest.
And according to Howell, the stats don’t mean much to him if the team isn’t able to pick up big wins like that one.
The Commanders started off the season well in the win column, winning their first two games of the year before dropping three in a row. Since beating the Falcons on October 15th, they’ve won just one game, and their record currently sits at 4-6 entering Week 11. They are already a couple of games back of a potential playoff spot, and have some tough opponents coming up on the schedule in the Cowboys and Dolphins.
Yards Won’t Matter Without The Wins, Says Howell
Sam Howell’s fourth quarter TD pass last week is in the running for throw of the year. Threads. The. Needle. In an injured and underwhelming overall QB landscape, Howell is a breath of fresh air. Dynamic playmaker and deep ball thrower. Hope we see him for years to come. pic.twitter.com/rQzGhrNybH
— Ben Cummins (@BenCumminsFF) November 16, 2023
Howell leads the league in yards, but that doesn’t matter much to him if the team isn’t winning:
Honestly, I don’t really look at it a whole lot. It doesn’t really mean much to me. Obviously, I want to go out there every single weekend, play well and give our team a chance to win. Obviously, we haven’t won enough games. We haven’t won the games that I feel like we should have won this season. So that’s a little bit disappointing, but I really don’t look too much into what I’m doing on a personal level. I look more into what we’re doing as a team and just how I can improve for this football team and how I can put this football team in better chances to win football games.
Howell is in his second season out of North Carolina, and the Commanders selected him in the 5th round of the 2022 Draft. The first start of his career came during the final week of the season in 2022, playing in relief of Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke, both of whom were injured. Howell threw for 169 yards in that game and had both a touchdown and interception, but most imporantly, the Commanders won by a score of 26-6.
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