Sam Howell and the Washington Commanders took the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles to the brink twice in the last five weeks. Unfortunately for the Commanders, it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset either time. The Eagles won the first meeting, 34-31 in overtime, and last week’s rematch, 38-31.
After the two NFC East rivals played in Week 4, Philadelphia Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay came away impressed with Howell.
The Eagles may have won the rematch, but Howell impressed another Eagles star: All-Pro center Jason Kelce
In the latest edition of the “New Heights” podcast, along with his younger brother Travis, Jason Kelce praised the Commanders, specifically Howell.
“Sam Howell, man, when he’s on, it was impressive, it was methodical,” Jason Kelce said.
Travis Kelce, too, was impressed. “He can sling it, man. He can sling it. The Fighting Bieniemy’s, man,” the younger Kelce said.
But Jason Kelce wasn’t done praising Howell.
“Yeah, but it was like, typically, when you’re playing quarterbacks that are not well known if you make them drive the field and do, like, short dink-dunk passes, that’s hard to continually do,” Jason Kelce said.
“Not for Sam Howell. He was very on-point, he was executing it, he was taking some shots occasionally, but a lot of it was, it felt like it was death by a thousand slants. I’m like, ‘What are we doing here?’ Can we get into something for a slant?’ All I do know is that Sam Howell has played two really good games against us. The Commanders have played two really good games, offensively, against us. I asked Eric Bieniemy after the game, ‘I’m like, yo brother, what do you seeing, EB? How do we stop this thing? What are you doing to us?’ They’ve kind of had our number.”
Earning praise and respect from opposing players means much more than a PFF grade. While Howell must consistently string these types of performances together to show the Commanders he can be the guy moving forward, he’s already impressed two of the NFL’s best players.
You can watch the full podcast here. The Commanders’ talk begins around 36:53.