Sitting 11th in the ladder, the Magpies must win their Friday night clash at the SCG against the Swans to keep their title defence alive.
On paper, the win seems feasible with Sydney in free-fall.
The league leaders have lost five of their past six games and were left rattled after a monster 112-point loss to Port Adelaide last time out.
Collingwood, meanwhile, have strung their first back-to-back wins since round 14.
But vice-captain Howe, who will celebrate his 250th game on Friday, won't be lulled into a false sense of security.
"(We're) not expecting the Sydney of last week," Howe said on Thursday.
"I don't read too much into their past results.
"We understand Sydney didn't present the best last week but the proud club that they are ... we expect their best tomorrow.
"They're such a dominant side and clearly they've been sitting at the top for pretty much the whole year."
Swans coach John Longmire made four changes, welcoming back Dane Rampe (calf) and Joel Amartey (managed), while also recalling Braeden Campbell and Caiden Cleary.
Aaron Francis, Sam Wicks, Peter Ladhams and Corey Warner were all axed.
Collingwood named Joe Richards to replace Jordan De Goey, who suffered a season-ending hamstring injury last week.
Snatching a win against Sydney to celebrate Howe's milestone achievement will be an extra incentive for Collingwood.
The 34-year-old, drafted by Melbourne in 2010 before changing jumpers in 2015, will trigger a clause in his contract that will extend his stay at the club to next year.
His contract was set to expire at the end of this season.
"For me, as long as I'm physically and mentally in it, I feel like I'm willing to keep playing," Howe said.
"Yes, the clause will be activated on Friday night, but conversations are always happening, so we'll cross that when we need to."
His 250th milestone will be even more cherished given he had contemplated hanging up the boots after a nasty arm injury against Geelong in last year's opening round.
Howe eventually returned in round 15 before playing every game en route to winning the 2024 grand final.
"That was one that I probably didn't think I was going to make a full comeback from," he said.
"We had no idea what it was going to look like, so I just took every day as it came.
"As boring as that sounds it was really important for me to treat it with the respect it deserved.
"It was a pretty traumatic injury and took me a little bit to get going.
"I think I missed 14 games, and was lucky enough to cap off the year, which is something that I'll never forget."
18°C