Jacoby Brissett vs. Sam Howell: Commanders' Ron Rivera Confident in Either QB vs. 49ers
The Washington Commanders benched Sam Howell this week after a few rocky performances with veteran Jacoby Brissett named the starter. But Howell could soon be thrust back into the starting role against the San Francisco 49ers this week.
In an odd twist, Brissett revealed he was dealing with hamstring tightness and now is in a race against time to take his place against the 49ers.
If he can't go, it will be Howell who takes over. After being benched, to then possibly being back in the starting role, is head coach Ron Rivera concerned about Howell's mentality "if" he gets the start against San Francisco?
“Sam's played enough football this year that just being in those meetings, absorbing the game plan, and he looked fine out there taking the reps," Rivera said. "He did, he really did.”
With Brissett now having a question mark hanging over his status for Week 17, he and Howell have been splitting reps at practice.
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After having a poor month, Howell was set to get a reprieve for the season's final two games to watch Brissett run the offense and learn from what he was seeing. Now, Brissett is in doubt, Rivera stated that he will be monitored over the next few days, and if Jacoby can't go, it would be Howell who starts.
“I mean, we'd go with Sam," Rivera said if Brissett can't go on Sunday. "There's nothing we can do about it. I mean, he took some reps today, looked pretty good, still moving around, but if it's tightness and the last thing you want is for it to happen during the game. So, we got to be smart about this. We're going to monitor them the next 48 hours.”
Football is a funny thing and just a couple of days after being told he would be benched for Brissett, Howell could very well be starting his 16th game of the season.
With the Commanders having a 4-11 record, they need to get something going in these last two games to take some positives out of what has been a poor season.
Brissett was initially tasked with the responsibility, but now there's a real chance that Howell could get another chance to stake a claim for the starting role.
Rivera is confident in Howell's ability to do that, but all eyes will be on Brissett to see if he can go against the 49ers.
