You can tell the Washington Commanders and New York Jets aren’t hated rivals. After Sunday’s game, in which the Jets beat the Commanders on a last-second field goal, multiple New York players spoke to the media about Washington and were complimentary of the team and several of its players.
Veteran defensive end John Franklin-Myers and safety Jordan Whitehead shared a sack of Commanders quarterback Sam Howell on Sunday. It was New York’s only sack of the day.
It was memorable from a Washington perspective because it was the 60th sack Howell has taken this season.
The second-year quarterback’s play has slipped in recent weeks. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy believes Howell is pressing, something quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard and head coach Ron Rivera agreed with. So, in each of the last two losses in which Howell has played poorly, Rivera benched him in favor of Jacoby Brissett.
Brissett came in during the second half of both games, leading multiple touchdown drives and getting the Commanders back into both games before ultimately losing.
After Sunday’s game, Franklin-Myers was asked what his impressions of Howell were before the game.
“He’s the most-sacked quarterback, and it’s not for a lack of trying, I’ll say that,” Franklin-Myers said via Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “Because he’s elusive, he’s slippery, he can make every throw. He just made some mistakes. I don’t think he’s a bad player. I think he’s a great quarterback and will be a good quarterback and is just somebody who does a good job of breaking sacks. To see that he got sacked that many times is crazy because he does a great job.”
An interesting perspective from an opposing pass rusher on Howell. Howell is a much better athlete than people realize, and he’s strong. He’s evaded pressure to make plays multiple times this season. Off-schedule plays are a strength for Howell.
Through the first half of the season, Howell was on a pace to shatter David Carr’s single-season NFL record for most sacks taken by a quarterback. That’s drastically improved lately, but, unfortunately, his overall level of play has slipped, too, since his performance in Week 10 at Seattle.
It’s always interesting to get an outside perspective on how others view Washington players, and while Howell has struggled recently, there are many who believe he can play.