Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera announced Wednesday that Sam Howell will be the starter Sunday against the Cowboys at FedEx Field.
The first question directed at Rivera was regarding who would start Sunday, and Rivera’s succinct reply was, “Yes, we are going to stick with Sam.”
When asked if it was due to his play last Sunday or Jacoby Brissett’s hamstring injury, Rivera responded, “Well, I think it’s a little bit of both. But I thought what Sam did, he did the things that we were hoping he would be able to do. He did some really good things. I thought he managed a couple of the drives very well, very nicely. I want to see him get an opportunity to finish it out.”
Rivera expressed that he thought early on Howell had been able to connect with Terry (McLaurin) and that was something he wanted to see, and that this Sunday gives them a chance again to do some more of that.
Rivera pointed out that Howell took his benching well during last week’s game preparation. “He handled it no differently than I thought he would. He’s a very solid young man, a very mentally tough guy, and I thought he handled it nicely”, expressed Rivera.
With this decision, it means it could most likely become the first season of Rivera’s four seasons where he was able to start the same quarterback all season that he desired to start in preseason.
Last season (2022), Carson Wentz was the starter for whom Rivera had traded in the offseason. Wentz started seven games last year, struggled at times and also suffered a broken finger on his passing hand against the Bears. Taylor Heinicke started nine games, with Howell starting the season finale against Dallas.
In 2021, Rivera made the decision to sign free-agent Ryan Fitzpatrick to be Washington’s starter. However, in the opening half of the opening game, Fitzpatrick badly injured a hip and was lost for the season. Heinicke then started the other 15 games.
In Rivera’s first season in Washington, he started Dwayne Haskins in the first six games, Kyle Allen received four starts, and Alex Smith made the other six starts. Heinicke then was the starter for the playoff game.