Commanders' Eric Bieniemy on Offensive Struggles: 'It's Not a Lack of Effort!'
The Washington Commanders' season has gone south really quickly of late. Sitting at 4-10 and currently holding the No. 4 overall pick in the upcoming draft, it hasn't been the year many had hoped for in the nation's capital.
Over the last month, Eric Bieniemy's offense hasn't surpassed 20 points, while also having nine turnovers during that span.
Sam Howell has shown positive signs but the offense has struggled recently as he was benched for Jacoby Brissett against the Los Angeles Rams. But for Bieniemy, those struggles are due to a lack of effort from his players.
“We're not playing very well right now,” Bieniemy said. “But one thing that I do appreciate, guys are playing hard. We just not executing. It's not a lack of effort. We just need to play better. And when we're playing pretty good collectively as one unit, we have a chance. We haven't quite given ourselves the best opportunity over the past few weeks. So, we got to continue chopping wood. We got to continue addressing those issues, and we got to continue making sure that our guys are going out there and executing exactly what we want.”
One of the big talking points to come out of the 28-20 loss to the Rams was the benching of Howell for Brissett.
Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy says the struggles from his unit aren't due to a lack of effort.
USA Today
The second-year quarterback had one of his worst games of the season as he completed just 11 of his 26 passes for 102 yards, one touchdown, and one interception as Brissett took over and tossed two touchdowns while completing eight of his 10 passes.
Bieniemy revealed what went into the discussion with head coach Ron Rivera on taking Howell out of the game.
Said Bieniemy: “[Head] Coach Ron [Rivera], he basically said, ‘hey, you know what, let's rest him. Let's give him a break. Let's let him sit back and let's give him an opportunity to observe Jacoby. Let's give Jacoby an opportunity to go play.’ And so I agree with him. At that particular time, there was no hesitation.”
Washington has three games left in the season and while there isn't anything to play for but pride, the team will want to put some good things on film to take into the offseason.
With Howell still the team's starter, Bieniemy will no doubt be looking to see a response from his quarterback against the New York Jets...and it all starts with execution.
