Howell, a young player who showed potential earlier in the season and was in the conversation to become a long-term starter, sputtered again Sunday and was benched — again. Jacoby Brissett came in and, for the second consecutive week, guided Washington to multiple touchdowns, seemingly silencing any talk of Howell being the guy going forward.
Merry Christmas, Commanders fans.
The good news: Brissett’s rally proved the offense still has some juice. But the defense made costly mistakes early — blown assignments, missed tackles, the usual — to give up 27 first-half points, and the offense played poorly to start, with disastrous plays on the opening drives that set a negative tone. And special teams were a dud — and it wasn’t because of the snapping this time.
So what can be gleaned from Washington’s latest loss? Perhaps some clarity and the bittersweet notion that the Commanders still have a grip on the No. 4 pick in the NFL draft.
Howell probably isn’t the guy
When Coach Ron Rivera decided to bench Howell late in the Commanders’ loss to the Rams in Week 15, it was a clear indication the team may not be all-in on the young quarterback for the long term.
Had Howell bounced back Sunday to appear more like the quarterback he was in, say, Week 4, when he impressed in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, perhaps some confidence would have returned. But he struggled more than ever and was benched again, this time in the third quarter after throwing a pick to Quincy Williams.
The offense’s poor play wasn’t entirely Howell’s fault, but many of his passes were late, and he lacked the decisiveness and sound decision-making that offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had said he hoped to see.
According to Next Gen Stats, Howell was 0 for 9 on pass attempts under pressure through the early part of the third quarter. Over the course of the game, he completed 6 of 22 attempts for 56 yards, two interceptions and a 1.7 passer rating. He also took one sack, his 60th of the season.
“I think it starts with me, and I need to be better and make better decisions,” Howell said. “I have to make better plays.”
Howell notched his second interception with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Wide receiver Curtis Samuel stumbled at the top of his route, and the ball sailed into Williams’s arms.
Howell headed to the bench and didn’t return. Brissett took over and promptly led the offense to its first third-down conversion of the game — a 10-yard pass to Jahan Dotson — then followed with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Logan Thomas. Brissett guided the Commanders to touchdowns on their next two drives to claim the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Bieniemy and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard said last week that Howell’s declining play over the past six weeks was due in part to him pressing. Often, he has tried to make a play that isn’t there or made a poor decision to try to save the team as it trailed.
“We didn’t help him early; we dropped a couple balls that we probably should have caught, and then that’s tough,” Rivera said. “Your confidence can sometimes get shaken, and that’s what I started to feel in the second half, and I was really concerned, and that’s why I made the decision I did.”
Asked whether Brissett will start the final two games, Rivera said the team would make a decision early in the week ahead. A bigger decision looms about the team’s future starting quarterback.
Brissett’s experience matters
Brissett, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, pushed back at the notion that his ability to get the offense going was a product of his experience.
“It’s just things work out sometimes,” he said. “Literally the same thing I did last week was the same thing I did this week. I’m talking to Sam: ‘Man, some of these things you don’t know. You learn as you go. You got to go through it.’ For me, it’s just going out there and just playing football and how I know how to do it best … and letting the results take care of itself.”
But there were some clear differences.
Brissett averaged 2.52 seconds to throw; Howell averaged 3.23 seconds. In the second half, the Commanders collected 64 rushing yards after recording 38 in the first half.
“When Jacoby got in, I feel like he took what was open, what we were giving him, and that worked for them,” Jets cornerback Michael Carter II said. “They were moving the ball better, so that opened up play-action and things like that, too. [He was] just getting the ball out of his hands quick and in a rhythm and stuff like that. I feel like that was the biggest difference right there.”
Carter added that Brissett capitalized on the holes in New York’s zone defense, perhaps another product of his experience. But part of Washington’s offensive rejuvenation was tied to the running game. Fourteen of the team’s 22 carries came in the second half.
Carter and others in the Jets’ locker room said they knew Washington could use both quarterbacks.
“Our coaches talked about it, that [Howell’s] leash was short and that the possibility of a switch could happen,” said safety Tony Adams, who picked off Howell in the first quarter. “We were prepared for it.”
No favors from Howell’s teammates
Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin said last week that many of the team’s offensive struggles came down to execution.
“We all have a hand in that, and those add up over the course of the game,” he said. “So if we could figure out how to make more of those plays than we missed, then I think we’re in a better position to win.”
The Commanders didn’t figure it out in the first half. Often, Howell dropped back and found not a single white jersey open down the field. Samuel dropped a pass on the first play, and Thomas lost control on the second play as the ball ricocheted into Adams’s arms. Dotson later tripped on a route.
After Howell’s first pick, the Commanders’ red-zone defense held up — cornerback Kendall Fuller broke up a pass by Trevor Siemian in the back of the end zone on third down — to force the Jets to settle for a field goal. But New York had little trouble finding the end zone a couple of minutes later.
Christian Holmes was penalized for a false start on a punt, and Jermaine Johnson II blocked the redo, speeding past punt protector Terrell Burgess to get straight to punter Tress Way. Wide receiver Jason Brownlee caught an eight-yard touchdown pass three plays later after a blown assignment by the Commanders’ defense.
Special teams weren’t special
This time, it wasn’t the long snapper; the Commanders released Camaron Cheeseman last week and replaced him with Tucker Addington. The issues were everywhere else. Holmes, who was penalized on Way’s first punt, was flagged again for an illegal touch on another punt in the first half. And Jamison Crowder, who had been otherwise steady as a returner, had a baffling fumble in the second quarter. He returned a punt 24 yards, then lost control amid a swarm of defenders, oddly tossing it up in the air for the Jets to recover. Byron Pringle also muffed a kickoff in the first quarter, but he recovered.
Despite the mistakes, Washington still managed to come back and threaten to win.
“It’s about the grit, the heart that those guys have in that room,” Rivera said. “They’re going to fight for each other; they’re going to play for each other. . . . It’s about being a professional, and that’s what these young men showed — that they are professionals.”
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