There are no moral victories in the NFL. That’s what Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell said after Sunday’s 34-31 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
It was Washington’s second consecutive loss, but this week had a much different feeling than last week’s 37-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
While the Commanders lost the game, Howell came out as a winner. In last week’s loss to Buffalo, Howell was sacked nine times and threw four interceptions. After that game, head coach Ron Rivera said he kept Howell in rather than remove him because he wanted him to grow from it.
Howell said all the right things after last week’s game. A few days later, Howell told reporters that wasn’t him and that he was a better player than he showed. When someone asked him if that performance was one of the growing pains of being a young quarterback, Howell didn’t miss a beat.
“I can’t go out there and make the excuse that I’m young because the teams we’re playing, they don’t care,” Howell said. “The scoreboard doesn’t care.”
That’s a mature answer.
But none of that mattered if Howell came out against the Eagles, took nine sacks again and turned the ball over multiple times.
He didn’t. In fact, Howell was one of the primary reasons the Commanders took the game into overtime. The final drive of regulation, when Howell took Washington down the field and, with no time remaining, found Jahan Dotson in the end zone for what would be the game-tying touchdown.
In overtime, Howell threw a dime to Terry McLaurin on the sideline that was initially ruled out of bounds. However, multiple reviews looked like McLaurin may have been in bounds, but it was close the officials stayed with the call on the field.
The Commanders wanted to win the game but, in the process, may have found their quarterback. Yes, it’s still way too early to crown Howell. He has five career starts, but it feels like every week he must clear another hurdle.
How would he respond to his first terrible performance? Some young quarterbacks never recover. Howell proved what everyone continues to say about him: that he’s calm, cool and collected. Unflappable.
Regardless of how many times he was under pressure against the Eagles, Howell kept his eyes downfield, made accurate throws and kept Washington in the game when it appeared Philadelphia had delivered the knockout blow.
For years, when the Commanders won, it was in spite of the quarterback. Could they finally have a guy who can put them on their backs? One game, or five games, doesn’t determine a player’s future. But Howell cleared one significant hurdle on Sunday in bouncing back from a day he’ll never forget.