FRISCO, Texas – Maybe this stuck in the Cowboys craw, since now Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer was but a Cowboys consultant at the time, and as it turns out all these years later, likely in a good way.
The date was Jan. 8, 2023, the final game of the 2022 regular season, Cowboys-Commanders, 3:25 p.m. nationally televised game from Landover, Md., late Sunday afternoon at FedExField. Cowboys 12-4, Commanders 7-8-1. Washington was toast, nothing to play for. Coming in on a three-game losing streak, going to miss 10 starters in the game.
The Cowboys on the other hand were 12-4, already having beaten the Commanders 25-10 back on Oct. 2. The Cowboys playoff stature was on the line. A win, coupled with the 13-3 Eagles loss to the Giants with a simultaneous start time would give the Cowboys consecutive NFC East titles since they would end the season with a better division record tiebreaker than the Eagles.
But in my word, the Cowboys 26-6 loss was "flabbergasting."
In Dak's word describing their woeful performance, especially offensively, "crappy."
Know why?
The Cowboys lost to a Commanders team starting their third-string rookie quarterback making his NFL debut. Not just in starts. Not just in games played. But also in snaps, his line having zeroed out over the first 16 games of the season.
His name: Sam Howell, a mere fifth round draft choice out of North Carolina, 144th overall, 11 picks before the Cowboys selected Matt Waletzko at 155 to give you an idea of what was left on the board.
Ring a bell.
Must have since the Cowboys just signed free agent Sam Howell, now a fifth-year NFL QB who failed to even take one step on the field in 2025 for the Eagles as their third string quarterback, giving the Cowboys three quarterbacks on their 90-man roster after releasing the previous third QB Will Grier in somewhat of a simultaneous move.
But, despite Howell's 2025 inactivity, the 25-year-old quarterback has tons more NFL experience than what had been the presumptive backup Joe Milton until this move shaping up as a potential battle for backup duty. Milton's experience line is this: 2 years, 5 games, 0 starts, 53 NFL pass attempts, 112 snaps.
Howell checks in at: 4 years, 20 games, 18 starts, 645 attempts, 1,152 snaps – the majority of those numbers piled up starting all 17 games for the Commanders in the 2023 season, beating out Jacoby Brissett for the job, though going 4-13, the Commanders earning the No. 2 pick in the draft, selecting their QB of the future Jayden Daniels.
Now back to Jan. 8, 2023. Howell completed 11 of 18 passes for 169 yards in his NFL debut against the Cowboys, one 16-yard TD pass to Terry McLaurin, one nine-yard TD run. The TD pass came on his first NFL possession, the second play of his NFL career since Cowboys punter Bryan Anger fumbled away the snap at his own 19. Also, Howell drove the Commanders into field goal attempts missed on two other first half possessions.
And thanks to a Washington interception return for a touchdown, the Commanders were on their way to mauling the Cowboys, ending the regular season at 12-5, fifth seed in the playoffs while the Eagles beat the Giants to win the East that same day anyway.
"It was fun," Howell said a few days after signing that one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Cowboys. "Obviously I was super excited I got that opportunity the last game of the season just because I hadn't played a snap the whole year, wondering if I was going to play at all this year and getting to start the last game was fun against the Cowboys.
"I grew up a Cowboys fan, the Cowboys were my favorite team, so it was a cool moment to go up and play against them in my first start and obviously get the win . . . obviously an important win in my career, when I thought I could always do it but you never really know until you go out there and do it."
He did indeed, likely making an impression on the Cowboys.
- Beware The HBCU: That the Cowboys signed Rams free agent corner Cobie Durant, and no, not named after the most famous Kobie – his full name is DeCobie Durant – to a one-year, $5.5 million contract, but know he hasn't forgotten his HBCU roots grown at South Carolina State (2018-2021) after growing up in Lamar, S.C. Turned that college career into a fourth round draft choice of the LA Rams. "Coming from an HBCU school the game upped speed a little bit for me" Durant said of his early years with the Rams, but no matter, able to play inside or outside at cornerback as his career continued in LA. "It really doesn't matter what school you go to, it's the ability to go out there put it on film, that's the main thing." And just know Durant was named Black College Football Pro Player of the Year for the 2025 season. Got this feeling we are going to hear a whole lot more on this Cobie.
- Dead Presidents: Was asked this week why the Cowboys haven't done what owner Jerry Jones said he was going to do about "busting the budget." Just know with this salary cap, when restructuring players contracts that indeed "busts budgets" when paying those restructure bonuses and prorating those totals down the road over several years. Just realize by paying restructure bonuses and prorating those totals over several years, if those players depart, all that money escalates into that year's cap. Take trading Osa Odighizuwa to the Niners. Osa still had $16 million in unaccounted guarantees paid. That goes into 2026 dead money against the cap. In fact, here is a "budget buster," led by Zack Martin, Osa and Trevon Diggs, the Cowboys are saddled with $42.7 million in dead money right now.
- Blast From Past: Saw where NFL safety Tom Brown passed away at 89 years old. Tom Brown, you guys remember him, right. It was Brown, at the time playing for the Green Bay Packers, putting an end to the Cowboys valiant comeback attempt in the 1966 NFL Championship game being played in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl by intercepting Don Meredith in the end zone with mere second remaining in the game to seal the Packers 34-27 victory and trip to what became Super Bowl I. The Cowboys had the ball at the Packers two, fourth and goal. But when bob Hayes missed a block on Packers linebacker Dave Robinson at the line of scrimmage, Meredith with Robinson draped all over him, desperately flung the ball into the end zone, ending up in the hands of Brown in that first playoff meeting between former New York Giants assistant coaches turned NFL head coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.
- You Come A Long Way: Twentysome years ago young college senior Rob Phillips landed on our DallasCowboys.com staff as a summer intern. Graduated from A&M midterm, returned to us as a part-timer, moved up to fulltime and spent the early years of his writing career as our valued colleague so many became acquainted with for his writing, radio and TV appearances and script writing for television specials. On Tuesday, Rob had his first book signing for "Stakeouts And Strollers," his first shot at writing a mystery novel. His 323-page novel became the winner of the Minotaur Books/Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Award, the story of an "amateur private investigator and new dad getting more than he bargained for when he agrees to track down a 16-year-old runaway girl's estranged father." Can't wait to dive in. Says Celeste Connally, a USA Today bestselling author, "Reads like a twenty-first century Rockford Files." Way to go our man Rob.
- Off The Cuff: Great restricted free agent re-signing for the Cowboys, T.J. Bass inking his $5.76 million second-round, one-year tender, giving the Cowboys at least backup insurance at guard and center, and who knows what happens at left tackle, a potential left guard starter if Tyler Smith must move out to tackle . . . The NFL announced its 2025 Performance-Based Pay Distributions, and the Cowboys had 11 players with league-funded bonuses, led by rookie linebacker Shemar James ($764,652.46), second-year center Cooper Beebe ($728,692.89) and first-year slot corner Reddy Steward ($686,457.53) . . . Irony, though, Nahshon Wright, the corner the Cowboys traded to Minnesota for Adrew Booth and then signing with the Bears in 2025 to lead Chicago in interceptions, led the league with a $441,397 million bonus . . . Good to see Sam Williams get one more chance with the Cowboys, re-signed for one year at $2.5 million, and hopefully he understands if he wants to be more than a pass-rushing defensive end on the nickel, he must improve setting the edge and playing the run.
And to further expound on the Cowboys signing of Howell, let's hear what the fifth-year player having spent time with Washington, Seattle and Philadelphia had to say for why the free agent quarterback did sign with the Cowboys for this week's last word.
"Shoot, I've done a lot of moving and obviously that's been good," Howell said. "I've learned a lot the last couple of years. I've been to a lot of different places, learned a lot of different perspectives on the league. Dallas seems like a great place and I'm excited to get there and work with Schotty. He's a guy I have a lot of respect for, obviously. Dak is a guy I've got a lot of respect for. Dak, just the way he plays the game and how much success he's had.
"Shoot, I'd love to have an opportunity to be here as long as they want me here."
Guessing he'll get that chance to prove his long-term worth.
