NFC Notes: Sam Howell, Brandin Cooks, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Former Commanders HC and current Rams offensive consultant Jay Gruden had high praise for QB Sam Howell‘s resiliency after taking big hits. 

“It’s an incredible trait to have,” Gruden said, via Ben Standig of The Athletic. “You can tell it affects their feet in the pocket — but doesn’t with Sam. That’s what I like most about Sam’s game right now.”

Commanders DT Jonathan Allen thinks the organization found its long-term answer at quarterback with Howell. 

“He’s our quarterback. And I think we found our next one for the (next) five, 10 years,” said Allen

Howell said he’s always carried a “next-play” mentality and moves on from bad plays. 

“For as long as I can remember, this is how I’ve always been,” Howell said. “My dad would always tell me it’s always about the next thing. It’s not about what just happened; it’s always about what you’re going to do after it.”

Cowboys

• Cowboys WR Brandin Cooks isn’t feeling discouraged about his lack of activity this season and is confident he’ll build better rapport with Dak Prescott: “I’m not going down that path. Early on in my career, I went down that path and its not going to do any good. When I’m saying trusting everything, trust the coaches, trust Dak, I’m trusting the offense. It’s going to come, and when it comes, you’ll know,” per Todd Archer. 

Giants

Giants DC Wink Martindale was hurt when he heard DB Xavier McKinney‘s criticism of him and said that he’s never heard a player speak that way about him during his 36 year tenure as a coach.

“Yeah, it surprised me because it’s the first time it’s ever happened in my career that a player would make a statement like that,” Martindale said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “I think it was a case of the kid is just frustrated from losing. We spoke. We cleared it up. The example that he gave me of what he was talking about was an in-game adjustment. It really took a while for him to point out exactly what it was. But I think you grow from that, and I just told him that is something that it hurts the locker room. It hurts the defensive room when you say something like that.”

Martindale added that he has an open-door policy and even sets aside time weekly for players to air out their grievances.

“It did [hurt],” Martindale said. “It did because I’ve always been open, and I’ve always been honest with players. I think if you have a problem, it’s just how we handle things in that room.”

Giants LB Bobby Okereke said he hasn’t felt like the team leadership wasn’t being heard, as McKinney suggested, but didn’t want to discount how his teammate felt either.

“That’s not my perspective or interpretation of what we got going on,” Okereke said. “But I never want to invalidate his perspective and how he feels. I know him, Wink and [Daboll] talked about it and got to some type of agreement, understanding. Just from stuff like that when things go on it’s best to handle it in-house. Keep family business, family business, from a distraction standpoint.“