Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy calls the plays in Washington, but he says quarterback Sam Howell has plenty of influence.
Bieniemy said that Howell comes to him during game planning meetings with a ranking of his favorite plays to run that week, and Bieniemy is eager to call those plays in the game.
“I learned a long time ago, learned this as a player and learned it as a coach: If players like certain things, guess what? They’re going to try their best to make it work,” Bieniemy said. “So as a coach, you always want to give your quarterback that opportunity to have a ranking in certain situations. That way you’re giving him the green light to take ownership in what we’re doing. That way, this is the play that he chose? He should have a complete understanding of the whats, the whys and the hows, and he should also have a complete understanding of why we believe this play should be successful.”
Bieniemy said the importance of quarterbacks feeling an ownership of the offense is something he learned from working for Andy Reid, and that it applies not only to the offense’s successes but to its failures: If a quarterback gets the play he wants and it doesn’t work, he has a better feel for how to fix it.
“It’s a great sense of ownership that you’re giving to your quarterback. I love it I like the idea that when he comes to the sideline, if things don’t go right he can tell you exactly what happened,” Bieniemy said. “I love the fact that he has that ownership.”
It’s working very well for the 2-0 Commanders, who have found a winning combination in Bieniemy and Howell.