Washington Commanders' Sam Howell 'Doesn't Believe in Moral Victories' After Philadelphia Eagles OT Loss
The Washington Commanders put up a serious fight against the Philadelphia Eagles in the 34-31 overtime loss at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sam Howell orchestrated a superb 12-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a touchdown as time expired, but it was Jalen Hurts and the Eagles who would emerge triumphant.
Washington was all heart in their attempts to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season, and they will lose no admirers for their performance.
But Howell isn't interested in moral victories when accessing his own game.
“I think I did some good things out there, but at the end of the day, we did not win," Howell said. "I think it is my job to win football games for this organization, for this team, and we did not do that today. We will go back this week on a short week, playing on Thursday night, and we are excited for that opportunity. Definitely, I don’t believe in moral victories or anything like that. We lost the game, and I feel like we should have won.”
Washington did have a 17-7 lead during the second quarter before the Eagles came roaring back.
Needing a touchdown to tie the game as the fourth quarter was coming to a close, Howell went to work.
He completed passes to Curtis Samuel (11 yards), Bryon Pringle (15 yards), Dyami Brown (16 yards), and Terry McLaurin (twice for eight and 11-yard gains before finding Jahan Dotson for the game-tieing touchdown as time expired.
Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell
ERIC HARTLINE/USA TODAY SPORTS
The two-minute drive was executed well by the offense despite giving up a seven-yard sack, and Howell credited coordinator Eric Bieniemy for making the whole operation run smoothly.
“Obviously, the crowd was loud, the clock was running, and we didn’t have any timeouts so just trying to get the play called and everyone lined up," Howell said. "Thankfully, we had a good play where the corner was playing so far off of [Commanders WR] Terry [McLaurin], and we had a good completion over there to him. But yeah just trying to calm the storm, the things we work on in practice. Credit to [Commanders OC Eric] E.B. [Bieniemy] for giving me a call fast enough where I could go out there and make it right with those guys. It’s one of those things we work on the entire time.”
Washington gave it everything against one of the best teams in the league and fell agonizingly short. While Howell isn't interested in moral victories, no doubt the Commanders will take a lot from this game as it showed that the team can match it with the best.
That will mean little right now as Washington had chances to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season; they just couldn't deliver that final blow.
