The Washington Commanders and head coach Ron Rivera put their hopes for the 2023 season into the hands of second-year quarterback Sam Howell. Howell, who entered the year with one NFL start, has had a mixed bag for results through the first three games.
At the top of his struggles is how often he has gotten sacked. So far this season, Howell has been sacked a league-leading 19 times through three games. That puts him on pace to shatter the NFL record for most times sacked in a season.
Former Houston Texans QB David Carr, Derek Carr’s older brother, was sacked 76 times during the 2002 season. Howell is on the path of being sacked 107 times.
Carr set the record in a 16-game schedule during his rookie season. Howell is essentially playing his first year in the league after sitting the first 16 games last year. While Howell’s pace includes an additional 17th game, his mark would be 101 in 16 games.
Naturally, fans and some pundits want to blame the sacks on poor blocking by the offensive line. No one is apologetic for Washington’s line. But Howell holds some responsibility for why he has gotten hit so much.
Sunday’s 37-3 loss against the Buffalo Bills is proof. The Bills defense sacked Howell nine times. Howell also threw four interceptions. But Washington’s offensive line was not solely to blame for Howell’s sacks.
The Commanders’ first offensive possession
Howell got sacked on back-to-back plays during the Commanders’ opening possession. On the first sack, Howell has time, as left tackle Charles Leno kicks out Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd off the edge. Washington’s wide receiver Dyami Brown sweeps through the formation and is open in the flat.
Commanders running back Antonio Gibson gets by the Bills cornerback, dropping in cover 2. Gibson gets open in a short window between the now-cornerback and the over-the-top safety.
Howell briefly looks at the check down to Dyami before patting the ball. By then, the pass rush got to him to bring him down.
The second sack of the game occurred as Howell had a run-pass-option. On the snap, the blocking was clean. Leno got A.J. Epenesa out wide. Faking the ball to Gibson, Howell misses Brown to his left wide open as the coverage sunk away. Howell pulled the ball down and tried to escape the pocket. Yet he was brought down for the sack.
Howell completed the drive by throwing an interception to Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard over the middle on 3rd-and-19. Howell targeted Brown. But Howell had a high arch on his release, rainbowing the pass into the sinking linebacker for the interception. In the play, Gibson is open in the flat for a safe dump-off.
Howell is eyeing Brown to see him get open. Meanwhile, defensive tackle DaQuan Brown eventually gets past Commanders left guard Saahdiq Charles to apply late pressure, as Howell releases the football.
Bills linebacker blitzes wreaked havoc
Sack No. 3 on Howell was off a delayed blitz from Bernard, overloading past fellow Bills linebacker Matt Milano. Washington lined up, splitting three wide receivers to the strong side with tight end Cole Turner solo on the weak side.
Buffalo lined in nickel, with both linebackers up at the line. As the ball snapped, Buffalo was in a single-high safety look. Milano rushed through, forcing Gibson to pick up in pass protection. Bernard was too fast for Charles to chip, and the LB got home to sack Howell.
The first significant negative play for the Commanders directly tied to immediate pressure occurred on Howell’s second interception.
Milano came off with a delayed blitz as Gibson dropped to the flat. The Commanders’ offensive line protection slid left, leaving Epenesa with a free rush to Howell. The QB panicked and threw the ball before Gibson cut off his route, and Bills safety Micah Hyde perfectly read the check-down to the flat to intercept at the 29-yard line, setting up a field goal for Buffalo.
The Andrew Wylie problem
The Commanders trailed 16-0 at halftime but opened the third quarter with an impressive drive that got into the red zone. Washington marched 68 yards to the Bills’ 15-yard line. Then, on play ten, disaster struck.
Buffalo’s defense dropped into a Cover 3. Howell had his eyes on Curtis Samuel against cornerback Tre’Davious White in a zone match. Defensive end Greg Rosseau beat Commanders right tackle Andrew Wylie with an in-and-out juke to get his hands up in the face of Howell as the QB released another high-arc pass. White highpointed the throw over Samuel for the interception in the end zone.
There was no throw to make, as everyone was blanketed, including Gibson in the flat.
The Commanders’ defense got the football back with a Kendall Fuller interception. But Washington’s offense imploded with another series, allowing back-to-back sacks by Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd.
On the first of Floyd’s sacks, Howell called out the protection on Bernard blitzing from the linebacker spot. Gibson scanned through and picked the block up. Howell alertly took off through the gap available. However, Wylie did not hold his block on Floyd, who chased down Howell behind the line of scrimmage.
On the very next snap, Floyd beat Wylie untouched with a speed rush off the edge to sack Howell. The motion by tight end John Bates didn’t deter Floyd’s rush off the edge.
While the offensive line shouldn’t get all the blame, it’s pretty evident the weakest link along the line in pass blocking is right tackle Andrew Wylie. Washington signed the veteran from the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason. Wylie’s signing kicked Sam Cosmi from tackle to guard.
Cosmi has been a good fit at right guard. However, it’s hard to remember Cosmi struggling at right tackle as much as Wylie has through three games.
Sam Howell’s most egregious mistake
The dagger in the game came on Howell’s most egregious play of the day. Down 23-0, needing something positive in the fourth quarter. Howell put an end to Washington’s day with a huge mistake that resulted in a Buffalo Bills pick-six.
On 3rd-and-5 from Washington’s 30, Howell took the snap out of the shotgun. Commanders wide receiver Jahan Dotson runs a crosser ahead of the Bills sinking second-level defense. The throw should be there about a yard short of the first down. With the Bills’ defense backpedaling, an on-time throw allows Dotson to turn up for the first down.
During that play, Gibson runs clean in the flat with no Bills defense without eight yards of him. A dump down to the RB gives him a chance to get to the sideline and the first down marker.
Instead, Howell holds the ball and reads Dotson across the formation. There is no pressure from the Bills front, as the Commanders’ offensive line is holding up well. Howell breaks through the contain with his legs. Just when Epenesa drops down, Howell tries to lob a pass to Dotson. By then Dotson is in a bracket of three defenders.
Epensa leaps and snags the football before going 28 yards to the end zone for the Bills touchdown.
At that point, the game was out of reach at 30-0. Howell got sacked four more times, as Washington tried to muster anything positive to take back.
Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard pointed to Howell’s vision or lack thereof, and his tendency to lock on his first read, “He just didn’t seem to go through his full progressions. There was no ‘one, two, three, check-down with him.”
Bernard had two sacks, an interception, and fumble recovery in the game.
Sam Howell takes accountability
Last week was just Howell’s fourth NFL start. His performance against the Bills was by far his worst. He will have his growing pains for sure. The offensive line will look much better as Howell matures and trusts his progression.
“It’s my job to get rid of the ball before I get hit,” Howell said, per Matthew Paras of The Washington Times. “For the most part, those guys are doing a good job.”
Another issue with the sacks is the spacing by the Washington wide receivers. There isn’t much. Howell’s first reads are often covered. Still, Howell has to learn to get his eyes around and find easier throws before the pressure gets home.
“I don’t make any excuses for myself,” Howell later said, per John Keim of ESPN. “I expect to play much better than I played Sunday. The team and organization deserve for me to play much better. I can’t make the excuse I’m young. The team we’re playing doesn’t care; the scoreboard doesn’t care.”
As offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy put it on Wednesday, the blame should go all around. The only personnel change to consider is the right tackle. However, Wylie is in the first year of a three-year, $24 million contract. It’s hard to justify not playing an offensive tackle who will make $9.5 million this year.
