Sam Howell’s atrocious pick-6 vs. Dolphins shows why his NFL-leading passing yards are so empty

The stats say Sam Howell is good. The eye test is a different story.

Entering Sunday’s battle with the Miami Dolphins, Sam Howell — yes, the very same Washington Commanders quarterback — was the NFL’s leader in passing yards with 3,339. But questions remained about Howell’s viability as a franchise quarterback and whether his gaudy numbers were kind of … empty calories? Yeah, let’s say that.

Howell’s awful start against Miami did little to quell these concerns.

After they punted on their first three possessions, Howell tried to launch a simple screen to receiver Jahan Dotson. The only problem was that Dolphins defender Andrew Van Ginkel read the sequence so perfectly that Howell threw it right to him for a backbreaking pick-six.

It’s unquestionably one of the worst pick-sixes we’ve seen all NFL season:

Woof that is so brutal, especially for a struggling Commanders team that’s lost three straight games.

Howell has occasionally impressed at quarterback. He has the capacity to drop dimes, and his processing is more advanced than you’d think for a player with only 13 career starts. But atrocious reads like this and numbers like his 10.2 sack percentage (yes, sacks are a quarterback stat) say he still has so much work to do.

So, kudos to Howell for being at the top of the NFL in passing yards. For the time being, on a terrible Commanders team, they mostly mean nothing.