It feels slower, but I swear it isn’t.
It’s an awkward, irritating, pointless time. For decades, contemptible ownership obstructed any chance to enjoy football, and now that the tumor has been excised, unenjoyable football loiters alone as the problem. You could hibernate until Jan. 6 or 7, when the agonizing season will end against the Dallas Cowboys, and miss little beyond formality. At 4-10 and regressing in every tangible area, the Commanders have created their version of an out-of-office reply for the remainder of the year.
Ron Rivera, the coach and top personnel executive, is more babysitter than architect at this point. This was supposed to be a dignified way to exit. This was supposed to be viewed as the new ownership group showing Rivera respect for helping to hold the organization together by allowing him to finish out a year of wild but promising change. Yet like everything else, the timing of Rivera’s departure seems inconsequential now.
Why keep Rivera? Why fire him? Why do anything besides spike eggnog, eat Christmas cookies and watch sentimental holiday movies? As long as Josh Harris and the new ownership group are prepared to move decisively through a tricky search for a new general manager and head coach, they can delay the inevitable.
Clearly, Harris wants to remain the anti-Daniel Snyder. He wants to be methodical and set a proper organizational tone with how he treats people in a cutthroat sports business that flashes success and failure on a scoreboard. He doesn’t want to be the rash man in charge, to exhaust this honeymoon period with the kind of heedless hiring and firing whims that have tarnished the reputation of Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper. If Harris and the rest of Washington’s new would-be saviors are using the long evaluation period to refine their standards for franchise stability, then this cumbersome period will be forgotten quickly.
Nevertheless, the wait stinks.
The defense, which Rivera took over after firing coordinator Jack Del Rio three weeks ago, allowed the Rams to gain 445 yards. If the Commanders hadn’t forced two fumbles from running back Kyren Williams and played solidly in the red zone in the first half, they would have allowed more than 28 points. Los Angeles converted seven of its first eight third down attempts and finished 9 for 16 for the game. Williams ran for 152 of the Rams’ 196 rushing yards. Quarterback Matthew Stafford did what he wanted during a clean 258-yard, two-touchdown performance. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp discovered his 2021 form, catching eight passes for 111 yards and burning Washington’s benevolent defense for a 62-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
On special teams, Washington long snapper Camaron Cheeseman — the sixth-round pick Rivera’s front office traded up to draft in 2021 — was terrible all afternoon. Late in the second quarter, he delivered a snap that went dribbling to punter Tress Way, who got clobbered and suffered a back injury and was evaluated for a possible concussion. The Rams turned the mistake into a 27-yard Lucas Havrisik field goal just before halftime.
“That’s not good enough,” Rivera said of Cheeseman’s performance, “and we’re going to evaluate that.”
It’s hard to muster much emotion about whether Rivera will cut a long snapper when the Commanders’ boat is so full of leaks. Cheeseman’s struggles are just another annoyance to throw into a pile of aggravating issues. He was just the player on this day who signified the poor personnel decisions that left Rivera’s team incapable of scaling mediocrity before the collapse this season.
Sadly, someone else figures to be an avatar for mismanagement next week. That’s how the year has gone.
Young quarterback Sam Howell had been reason for hope, and overall, he still has had a productive season for a first-time starter. But for those who were ready to anoint him the franchise quarterback, it’s time to calm down. Howell isn’t putting up deceptively flashy stats anymore in coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s offense.
He completed 11 of 26 passes for a season-low 102 yards against the Rams, connecting on less than 50 percent of his passes for the first time this season. He also threw an interception. In his previous game, on Dec. 3 against the Miami Dolphins, Howell recorded only 127 yards and completed an inefficient 12 of 23 passes in a blowout loss. He has thrown at least one pick in his past four games. During that span, he has two touchdowns and six interceptions.
Since surpassing 300 yards during a splendid three-game stretch against Philadelphia, New England and Seattle, Howell hasn’t been the same player. He looks like a quarterback who has absorbed 59 sacks and been asked to do too much to overcome Washington’s offensive line woes and Bieniemy’s disregard for balance.
On Sunday, he played so poorly that Rivera sat him in the fourth quarter, with the Rams ahead 28-7. Backup Jacoby Brissett proceeded to lead Washington on two touchdown drives that made the game interesting. Afterward, Rivera said Howell remains the starter. There is no quarterback controversy, and if there were one, well, everything is about to change anyway.
“Just trying to take care of him a little,” Rivera said of the switch. “We were pinned back and didn’t want to see anything crazy happen.”
Never knew the phrase “didn’t want to see anything crazy happen” was in the Quarterback Endorsement Guidebook.
“It is what it is,” Howell said. “I’ve got to play better, execute better. I know I’m not defined by this one game.”
The 2023 season was defined a month ago. It’s all over, except for the record keeping.
Limbo is such a joyless predicament.
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