Washington Commanders QB Sam Howell Hasn't Lost 'Faith' Despite Loss vs. New York Giants
LANDOVER, Md. -- The Washington Commanders went into FedEx Field on Sunday surrounded by people who still believed they could turn it around.
The Commanders left and walked into a world that has widely given up on them following a 31-19 loss to the New York Giants that all but guarantees the team will not make a late run and certainly will not overcome steep odds to earn a playoff birth.
However, while the football-watching world has all but given up on Howell's coaches and many of his teammates, he's standing with his guys and believes in what Washington is currently building.
"I have faith in all my players and all my coaches around me," Howell says. "I know that we have everything in this organization that we need to be successful. Players, coaches, everybody, it's just a matter of we got to go out there and do it each and every day and get the results. We haven't done that this year, and I think we're definitely capable of it. We just got to fix it, you know, and it starts with me, and I got to do a better job of giving this team changes to win football games. But we have everything we need in that locker room to be successful."
Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell (14) passes the ball as New York Giants wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins (18) chases during the fourth quarter at FedExField.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Howell also went as far as to point out the issues plaguing Washington in its efforts to win, and specifically to win against the Giants.
"I just know the two games this year, you know, we weren't really playing the Giants, we were playing ourselves," Howell said. "We kind of beat ourselves in both of those games, and they took advantage of the mistakes we made."
The quarterback has a point. Nobody watching the two games the Commanders lost to New York this season will re-watch it and say the team fell because of anything their opponent did.
But the consistent problem dating to before this season is that Washington just can't appear to get out of its own way.
And new managing partner Josh Harris has the uneasy task of clearing the debris of the era that came before him.
If parts of this current Commanders team won't remove themselves from the path, it'll fall on Harris to do it.
For the good of the team, the city, and the young quarterback so many now have faith in.
