"Football is football. We can compete with anybody," Howard said. "We showed that in a lot of games last year. The Vikings, the first game they beat us by three points. The Lions beat us by three points. The Packers, we struggled with the first game; the second game we almost beat them. We can compete with anybody in the NFL. You've always got to be confident. If you're playing the game, you might as well be confident. If you're not confident there's no reason to play."