The Washington Commanders fell just short in their game against the Seattle Seahawks over the weekend, losing 29-26. The loss dropped the team’s record to 4-6 on the season, as some struggles early on put the team in a hole that was ultimately too deep to climb out of.
Washington scored 14 points in the fourth quarter after managing only 12 points in the first three. Despite coming up short, there was a lot of praise shown for starting quarterback Sam Howell after the game.
“Head coach Ron Rivera said Sam Howell put the team “in a position to win” and right guard Sam Cosmi said “it’s like, wow” when discussing Howell’s development in his first year as the starter in Washington…” wrote Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.
Howell finished the game with an excellent stat line. He completed 29-of-44 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns, adding two rushes for 17 yards. However, his fumble on the team’s second possession of the second half stopped what looked like a promising drive that could have resulted in more points.
While his coaches and teammates were happy about the performance Howell had, he wasn’t as celebratory. He was more focused on the slow start and missed opportunities early on than the success at the end.
“Obviously, we did some good things there at the end, but . . . we had plenty of opportunities for us to take control of that football game; didn’t make the plays that were needed. . . . It just seemed like we were waiting, [like] someone was going to take control of the game,” Howell said, via Ben Standig of TheAthletic.com. “We made some plays down the stretch, but got to be better throughout the game to beat good teams like that.”
The Commanders are entering a very important stretch in the final eight weeks of the season. A lot of people will be playing for their jobs, as Washington is under new ownership and it would not be surprising if major changes were made in the offseason.
Howell is one of the players who will be under the microscope, as he needs to prove he can be the long-term answer at quarterback. Rivera is also under some pressure to perform, as any holdovers from the last regime cannot feel 100 percent safe about their job security.
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