Texans vs Vikings

[Mattyman]

He's a project,, I get it. Brosmer. can sling it

[Still Hurtn]

Howell 11/13 105 yards and threw some darts. Yet not much love.. What gives?

[StickierBuns]

Howell 11/13 105 yards and threw some darts. Yet not much love.. What gives?

I wasnt surprised, he's a game guy....not a practice guy. KOC mentioned this earlier last week. He likes to compete, he'll do fine as a backup to JJ. I saw the both of them talking a bunch to each other on the sidelines of the Houston game.

[purplefaithful]

Howell 11/13 105 yards and threw some darts. Yet not much love.. What gives?

On his first possession as a Viking, Sam Howell moved the offense into field-goal range.

On his second possession as a Viking, Howell started on his own 6. Then, 14 plays later, he crashed in from the 1 for a touchdown.

Those were his only possessions Saturday, but they were revealing. He was accurate. He was decisive. He reunited with college teammate Ty Chandler to help the offense hum.

Howell showed his command of the Vikings offense during Saturday’s 20-10 preseason victory over Houston. Right down to calling the right protections.

“Obviously, the quarterback can give a little bit better perspective for the whole defense than we do up front, if we’re sliding one way with the pass protection, and he can recognize that a pressure is coming off the back side,” said center Michael Jurgens, who played against Howell and North Carolina while at Wake Forest. “We’d rather have one of us big fat guys taking him rather than the running back. He does a great job of confidently telling us to get it going the other way and pick up the blitz.”

Howell was 11-of-13 for 105 yards during his first-half appearance. This was not the Howell who has been throwing picks and struggling with the rhythm and timing required by Kevin O’Connell’s offense during practices. This was not the Howell who had seen Brett Rypien get some snaps with the No. 2 offense lately.

Rypien, by the way, was the only quarterback not to splash on Saturday. J.J. McCarthy looked comfortable in his one series. Former Gophers QB Max Brosmer fired up the crowd while going 5-for-8. When he found undrafted free agent Myles Price in the back of the end zone for a fourth-quarter touchdown, I expected the Minnesota Rouser to be played over the U.S. Bank Stadium sound system.

Howell needed Saturday’s performance to remind viewers why the Vikings believe he can capably back up McCarthy. Because practice reports have suggested otherwise.

“I’m getting better every day and getting more comfortable in the system every single day,” Howell said. “So it was good to get some live game action with him calling some plays.”

Perhaps Howell just needed to face something other than Brian Flores’ diabolical defense. Even O’Connell suggested that he had not seen that version of Howell until Saturday.

“I thought Sam’s one of those guys that, throughout the early stages of practice, you kept asking yourself, you know, I think we’re going to need to see him in game action, just to get a great feel for kind of what Sam can do,” O’Connell said. “And I thought, you know, there was great examples of that guy that has played, a guy that moved the team, and I was, I was happy with Sam.”

This is a reminder that training camp is a process that takes several weeks during the summer, and decisions shouldn’t be made solely based on interceptions thrown to teammates in practice. It’s all we had to go on until Saturday, and some of the alarms going off about Howell’s camp production as well as compiling lists of possible replacements were foolish.

During the 94-yard drive, Howell led the offense to seven first downs. He had the longest completion of the game when he connected with Jeshaun Jones for 20 yards. Howell didn’t throw a pick on Saturday and had a game he can grow from.

“He’s just going to keep getting better,” said Chandler, who caught three passes from Howell for 20 yards. “I wholeheartedly believe in him and believe in what he can do. So I’m excited for him. I’m excited for his career and future, and the best is yet to come.”

But assessing Howell shouldn’t flip to the other end of the spectrum. There are still two preseason games left. Opponents are playing vanilla defenses that aren’t close to the schemes employed during the regular season.

And joint practices with New England are scheduled for this week. Plenty of time for Howell to make his case to be trusted as the backup quarterback. Plenty of time for O’Connell and the Vikings coaches to gather enough tape and information to trust him.

Those alarms to search for another QB2 should be turned off. The coming weeks will determine if they should remain off.

startribune

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[pattersaur]

I didn’t realize he and Chandler were teammates in college. Xavier Scott looked great but he’s really going to have to force his way onto the roster I think. I hope he does it. 

And yeah Sam Howell looked great. Not sure why everyone is so worried about him to be honest. Huge upgrade over Mannion and I see him a bit like Case Keenum. A gamer who if his number gets called will come in and be fearless— for better or worse. That’s perfectly serviceable for a QB2.

[badgervike]

Secondary is even a bigger of a concern after watching this game, guys like Blackmon, McGlothern and Zauughn who was hoping to see flash didn't impress at all.  Last year the pickups of Gilmore and Griffin, while they were both past their prime, they both had the veteran experience to help solidify the position.  We do not have that kind of experience this year.  I don't get the hype on Rogers who has been a 4/5 CB, how is he suddenly a #2?  Okudah definitely looks the part, really need the light to go on there.  And while we are paying Murphy as a #1, think many forget he has been a liability in coverage often.  At safety think it was a huge mistake letting Bynum go.  The secondary was was a weak spot last year and the guys filling in for Bynum, Gilmore and Griffin are not as good.  Want to feel optimistic in preseason, but do not understand how we have managed the personnel for this group.

The funny thing is that the Secondary was given an A+ rating for the game by at least one source

Secondary
Grade: A+

Six pass breakups and three interceptions make this group the star of the game. From start to finish they were making plays and as a result the Vikings never let the Texans get into the thick of things.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/report-...03765.html

[MaroonBells]

I didn’t realize he and Chandler were teammates in college. Xavier Scott looked great but he’s really going to have to force his way onto the roster I think. I hope he does it. 

And yeah Sam Howell looked great. Not sure why everyone is so worried about him to be honest. Huge upgrade over Mannion and I see him a bit like Case Keenum. A gamer who if his number gets called will come in and be fearless— for better or worse. That’s perfectly serviceable for a QB2.

He looked good on Saturday. But there are reasons people are worried about QB2. Howell throws a lot of interceptions and takes a lot of sacks. The year he started in Washington he threw 21 picks. 21!! And took 65 sacks, which was the most by any QB in 20 years. He also hasn't looked very good in camp. 

I'm happy with the way he played but it's 1/4 of one preseason game.

[greediron]

The only thing you want to see out of a preseason game is no significant injuries and your young players to flash. Score doesn't matter and you can't take much away from any particular unit that's not playing any starters. While I was surprised to not see the Vikings add another corner, Okuduh looks promising. I saw Donovan Jackson got put on his ass and almost into McCarthy lap on a play during that first drive in a "welcome to the NFL" moment. My only other real takeaway was Brosmer is getting closer to being QB3 and Tai Felton looked a little smaller out there than I expected.

Jackson got his heel caught on Kelly's foot.  Completely lost his base without it.  Won't say it isn't his fault, but it wasn't because he was overpowered.  May need to get used to the splits and be more aware.

Just glad JJ got his leg out of the way.  Defender was coming at his knee.

[JR44]

The funny thing is that the Secondary was given an A+ rating for the game by at least one source

Secondary
Grade: A+

Six pass breakups and three interceptions make this group the star of the game. From start to finish they were making plays and as a result the Vikings never let the Texans get into the thick of things.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/report-...03765.html

Unfortunately, all 3 interceptions and most of the pass breakups came later in the game with their 4th string QB with players who most likely will not be on the active rosters on either team.  The players we needed to see flash did not.

[Montana Tom]

He looked good on Saturday. But there are reasons people are worried about QB2. Howell throws a lot of interceptions and takes a lot of sacks. The year he started in Washington he threw 21 picks. 21!! And took 65 sacks, which was the most by any QB in 20 years. He also hasn't looked very good in camp. 

I'm happy with the way he played but it's 1/4 of one preseason game.

I'm going to re-frame your comment a bit:

"Howell THREW a lot of interceptions"

His rookie year with the Commanders he was 21/21 TD/INT ratio.  His completion rate was 62.6%.
Last year with Seattle, he simply didn't play much, but he had plenty of time to absorb the Seahawks offense and think about what he could have done better in Washington, I would surmise.
I think a statistical sampling of one (rookie) season is not a fair comparison against potential.

He did lead the league in sacks that 2023 rookie season...65.  That's a LOT of sacks. But not a record.
David Carr was sacked a total of 267 times during his NFL career, according to StatMuse. In his rookie season with the Houston Texans in 2002, he was sacked a league-leading 76 times.

I look at Peyton Manning's first season. They were 3-13 in Indy that  year. 
His completion percentage was 56.7%
He threw for 26 TDs...but threw 28 picks. 
Peyton Manning was sacked 303 times during his NFL career, but only 22 times his rookie year.

I am by no means comparing Howell to Manning.  No way.
I'm just saying that if you were to judge only their rookie year, it was an inadequate sampling of what could be in store for the future.

I was convinced that Howell would be QB3 at best, gone at worst, based on what I hear/read about practices.  I'm pleased he did well on Saturday.