The Washington Commanders lost to the Seahawks 29-26 Sunday before a sell-out crowd in Seattle.
However, they found a quarterback for the near future and possibly beyond.
Sam Howell went 28 of 42 for 253 yards, throwing two touchdown passes and no interceptions. More importantly, he brought the Commanders back from one-score deficits twice in the fourth quarter.
Howell displayed the traits that made him one of the best college quarterbacks in the nation for two years before a sub-par junior season caused him to fall to the fifth round of the 2022 draft.
Howell gave the Commanders the early lead in the first quarter when he hit Brian Robinson on a short pass that Robinson turned into a 51-yard touchdown run. Joey Sly missed the extra point but Washington was ahead 6-0.
The teams would trade field goals for the remainder of the first half, the game was tied 9-9 at halftime. It wasn’t until Seattle took its first lead that Howell really started to shine.
With 9:43 left in the third quarter, and trailing 12-9, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith threw short to Kenneth Walker III. Defensive back Danny Johnson stumbled trying to make the tackle and Walker was able to run 64 yards for a touchdown to give Seattle its first lead, 16-12.
The score brought the crowd to life and seemed to give a lift to the Seahawk defense, which appeared a little quicker than before. Seattle sacked Howell twice in the second half.
But trailing 19-12, with the game on the line, Howell responded.
With 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Howell put together an eight-play, 73-yard scoring drive, culminating with a touchdown pass to Antonio Gibson to tie the game at 19.
Seattle came back and retook the lead as Smith hit Tyler Lockett on a five-yard touchdown pass to make the score 26-19. The touchdown came after the Commanders seemed to have stopped Seattle on a fourth and five play on the Commanders 39-yard line but Benjamin St-Juste was called for pass interference, keeping the drive alive.
But Howell refused to fold and drove the offense back down the field. He found his former college teammate Dyami Brown in the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown to tie the game at 26 with 52 seconds remaining.
Washington couldn’t get the defensive stop it needed, however, and when Geno Smith hit D.K. Metcalf on a 27-yard completion down to the Washington 25-yard line the game was all but over.
Seahawks kicker Jason Myers booted a 43-yard field goal as time expired to give Seattle the win.
Watching Howell in those high-pressure drives late in the game had to have made an impression on the Josh Harris ownership group.
Howell is becoming more comfortable in offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s system by the game. The question is, what to do with the current organization which has all football control in the hands of Head Coach Ron Rivera.
While there have been positive developments in the last three and a half years; season records of 7-9, 7- 10, 8-8-1, and 4-6 (currently) are simply not good enough.
What will play out in the final eight weeks of the season is finding out who will continue to work with Howell next year and develop the player who seems ready to become, at the very least, a solid NFL quarterback. Something that’s been in short supply in Washington the last three decades.