Sam Howell had really improved his level of play for the last three weeks.
Then came the second New York Giants game of the season at FedEx Field and a 31-19 Commanders’ loss. The Giants swept the Commanders by a combined 19 points in a four-week span.
Commanders head coach Ron Rivera has not lost faith in Howell. Rivera told the media Tuesday he still believes Howell has come a long way and is going to bounce back well Thursday in Dallas against the Cowboys.
“Oh, I just think because he learns, he learns from those mistakes. I mean, you think about it too. He stacked several good games in a row, so somewhere along the line, he was going to have one that he was going to struggle with. So, just anticipating him to get an opportunity to reset himself and get himself ready to go and just got a lot of confidence in who he is.”
Rivera knows, first of all, that Howell’s (bad) game Sunday was much better than the first NY Giants’ game. In that game, Howell only completed 52.4 % of his passes, 22 of 42.
Sunday, in the second Giants contest for 2023, Howell completed 31 of 45 passes for 68.9%. Howell did, however, throw 3 interceptions Sunday, including the last score of the game to Isaiah Simmons for a pick-six touchdown for the Giants.
It’s the second time this season the Commander must bounce back quickly, being ready to play a Thursday game. Earlier, after losing a hard-fought game in Philadelphia (34-31 OT), the Commanders then seemed unprepared as the winless Bears came to FedEx and slaughtered Washington 40-20.
Rivera conveyed there is some different type of preparation being put into place for this game, Thursday, in Dallas.
“Yeah, different thought process as far as I’m concerned in my messaging with the players, hopefully it’s the right one. I think our guys have gotten the message. I think they’ve come in and they had a good day today. They really seemed focused and brought some energy. They seem to be in a good place right now.”
“I think the biggest thing more than anything else is this is a divisional game and it’s against probably our archrival. So, it’s a different kind of messaging, it’s a different kind of outlook and approach, more so than anything else.”