Inside The Huskies

Browning-to-Sample TD pass Was First in NFL Involving Ex-Huskies

Jake Browning faked to his running back, rolled to his left and lobbed a pass to tight end Drew Sample, who chugged up the sideline with it until he crashed
Dan Raley|
Browning-to-Sample TD pass Was First in NFL Involving Ex-Huskies
Browning-to-Sample TD pass Was First in NFL Involving Ex-Huskies

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Washington Huskies

Jake Browning faked to his running back, rolled to his left and lobbed a pass to tight end Drew Sample, who chugged up the sideline with it until he crashed into a teammate and landed in the end zone.

On Sunday, this 11-yard touchdown play put the Cincinnati Bengals up 7-0 in what would be a momentary feel-good moment for them in a 16-10 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This connection also sent University of Washington football publicist Jeff Bechthold scrambling to determine that this was the first time former Huskies had been on each end of an NFL scoring pass.

Bechthold found that 15 ex-UW quarterbacks had thrown NFL touchdown passes and 47 one-time Montlake products from multiple positions had caught one — but this was the first Husky to Husky score in the pros. 

Making his first NFL start as a replacement for the injured Joe Burrow, Browning otherwise had a rough time against the Steelers. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 227 yards and a score, but he was sacked 4 times and threw a crucial interception deep in Pittsburgh territory. 

The TD throw was Sample's only catch of the game.

At the UW, Browning and Sample were members of the same recruiting class and teammates in 2015-18. They shared in 4 scoring passes during their time together in Montlake. 

In 2015 as freshmen, Sample caught a 3-yard TD pass from his quarterback in a 31-17 win over Utah State and a 1-yarder in a 34-22 loss to Utah. 

As seniors in 2018, Browning hit his tight end with a 15-yard scoring pass in a 35-7 win over BYU and an 11-yarder in a 27-23 win over Stanford. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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