“He likes to take chances,” corner Isaiah Oliver said. “I felt like he could read coverages pretty well, and [he] kind of knew what we were in, but just sometimes, he would make poor decisions.”
Several 49ers praised Howell’s toughness, mobility and arm talent, the same attributes that earlier this season gave Commanders fans hope Howell could be a long-term answer at quarterback. The defenders acknowledged Howell was in a tough position — starting after being benched, having three offensive linemen out — and emphasized that the Commanders lost, 27-10, for reasons bigger than Howell.
“We just have better players,” safety Logan Ryan said. The 49ers seemed to understand Howell’s occasional daredevil impulses, considering the talent disparity between the teams and San Francisco’s big second-half lead.
“He can develop into a good quarterback as long as he keeps working, keep grinding,” corner Charvarius Ward said.
But can he? It’ll be a big question this offseason for Washington’s new regime, especially considering the team could pick as high as No. 2 in the NFL draft. It seems unlikely the Commanders will go into the 2024 season with Howell as the starter, but it’s not inconceivable, and even if they draft a top quarterback prospect, Howell could stick around as the backup — which in the modern NFL, with record quarterback turnover, has become an increasingly vital role. The Commanders’ next head football executive will have to parse Howell’s struggles: How much was on him, the line, the supporting cast, the game planning, the play calling and the defense? The last two have made it difficult to play complementary football all season.
In that evaluation, it’s valuable to look back at what defenders have said about Howell.
Perhaps surprisingly, most defenders said their top priority against the Commanders was to stop the run. Washington was one of the pass-heaviest teams in the NFL, but San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa and Miami linebacker Duke Riley both said the run game was the strongest part of the offense. They knew if they made Washington one-dimensional, Howell could scramble and hit explosive plays — but the negatives would outweigh the positives. Some defenders said Howell struggled to diagnose coverages pre-snap and adjust if the looks changed post-snap. They said they knew he’d eventually make at least one big mistake; Howell leads the NFL in interceptions (19) and sacks (61).
No defense had more success against Howell this year than the New York Giants’. In the first game, coordinator Wink Martindale beat him with a blitz-heavy, man-to-man coverage scheme, and in the second, he backed off and played more zone coverage. In two games, Howell went 53-for-87 (60.9 percent) for 505 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. He took 10 sacks.
“It all just started with trying to be physical and make him feel us back there,” Giants corner Nick McCloud said in Week 11. “We wanted him to be thinking instead of just playing. On the back end, the DBs were playing well and giving looks and making him question what he was seeing a little bit, too.”
Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux said the defense wanted offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy to lean on Howell because “pressure breaks pipes.”
Sometimes, the sputtering offense wasn’t on Howell. The line struggled to pass block. Receivers had key drops. In the first 10 weeks, Bieniemy’s unit threw the ball 62.5 percent of the time in “score neutral” situations, tied for the third highest rate in the NFL, which made it difficult to play complementary football.
In early December, Howell threw a pick-six for the third straight game. Miami linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel said he’d anticipated the wide receiver screen because of the way Commanders right tackle Andrew Wylie had come out of his pass set on screens. The play required decisiveness and a strong throw from Howell, meaning he could do little to prevent the interception.
On Christmas Eve, several New York Jets defenders said their game plan emphasized disguising coverages pre-snap because, if they could make Howell hesitate, the defensive line could get home. It was the exact counter to what Bieniemy and others were coaching Howell to do: Make decisive throws, and don’t try to be perfect.
“[Howell] does have a really good arm and can get the ball really anywhere on the field, so when you switch up the picture, you can get him to hold onto it,” Jets corner Michael Carter II said.
But the linemen who hit Howell came away from those games impressed.
“I got a lot of respect for him,” Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II said.
“He’s elusive, he’s slippery, he can make every throw. He just made some mistakes,” Jets defensive end John Franklin-Myers said. “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.”
The 49ers’ defenders were just the latest to give the same scouting report on Howell. And they insisted this didn’t mean his career as a productive pro were over.
“People have to remember he’s a young quarterback,” Ward said.
“He’s a really talented quarterback,” Oliver said. “He’s got a talented arm, he can move, he can make every throw. It’s really just making better decisions with the ball. That’s probably the only little thing.”
For the rest of Howell’s career, though, it’ll be a really big thing.
Nicki Jhabvala contributed reporting.
This website aggregates and curates news articles, blog posts, and other content from a variety of external sources. While we aim to link back to the original source, this site does not own or claim ownership of any articles, posts, or other content indexed on this site. The views, opinions, and factual statements expressed in each piece of aggregated content belong solely to its respective author and publisher. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of aggregated content. Visitors are advised to verify facts and claims through the original source before reuse or redistribution.
