Eagles using mo' Howard, who makes doubters look like stooges

I couldn't imagine how. Reid could. And he was right.

Given a reprieve, Howard dedicated himself to working out in the offseason, trying to reclaim a reputation as one of the game's promising pass rushers when he was in New Orleans. He lost 20 pounds. He worked out incessantly. And he put himself in what Eagles insiders said is the best shape of his brief career in Philadelphia.

"You ask any of our coaches or offensive linemen," said general manager Tom Heckert. "He was almost unblockable in training camp. It was crazy. He was our defensive end on the second team, so he was going against our 'ones' (starters) a lot and giving those guys all kinds of problems."

On Monday I found Howard in the Eagles dressing room shortly after noon. He was alone, getting dressed after a workout on an afternoon when he could've been home.

"I'm trying to prove something to myself," he said. "I don't have to be here (working out), but I want to because I'm trying to make myself better."

From where I sit that has already happened. He can play inside or out and is effective at both positions. He can play on the left or right sides. He has the strength to bull rush opposing linemen who outweigh him. And, most important, he has no lingering injuries holding him back.

In Sunday's defeat of Pittsburgh he had 1½ of the Eagles' nine sacks. He also had a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. In the season opener, he split a sack, had one tackle for loss and another quarterback hit. Afterward, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called it Howard's best game as an Eagle.

In three games, he already has more sacks than he did a year ago. More important, he looks like the player who aced the exam in training camp.

"So how do you explain it?" I asked Heckert.

"I don't know if I can," he said. "It's a tribute to him. He knows last year he didn't have a great season. It kind of turned into a bad situation because he was a little bit banged up and he wasn't playing great so he wasn't playing a lot for us.

"I think he just put it in his mind he didn't want it to happen again. I'm sure he thought, 'Hey, I better be careful or I'm not going to make it.' He saw that we went out and signed Clemons, so he probably was looking at the same thing that everyone else was: That it's going to be tough for me to make this team."

Howard admitted that crossed his mind, but said it motivated him. The long and short of it was this: He wasn't going fail. Even if he was going to play, say, 25-30 snaps a game as a sub he wanted to do it as an impact player -- not as the guy who limped through last season.

"When I first got here," he said, "I didn't understand what my role was because it wasn't clear. But now that I understand how we rotate defensive linemen I know where I fit in, and I know where I can contribute."

So far, so good, and the results were there again Sunday. I can't imagine the Eagles collapsing pockets as easily as they did against Pittsburgh, but I can imagine Darren Howard becoming a problem for offensive coordinators. In fact, he already is one, and here's to a comeback few people foresaw.

"It's all on him," said Heckert. "He did it all on his own. He came back in phenomenal shape, with a purpose and his attitude was great. He proved he can play."