Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said that he team “played their hearts out” against the Eagles in Sunday’s overtime loss before noting that there are no moral victories in the NFL.
There are silver linings, though, and one of the ones that Rivera found was the play of quarterback Sam Howell. Howell threw four interceptions in a Week Three loss to the Bills, but avoided turnovers while going 29-of-41 for 290 yards and a touchdown against Philadelphia.
Rivera called the quarterback “resilient” for bouncing back well after a tough outing.
“I think he processed a lot quicker, decision making was quicker,” Rivera said in his Monday press conference. “He really seemed to really have a good feel and good grasp as to what was going on out there. He made some really quick decisions, got the ball out of his hands, kept them off balance as much as anything. So, just again, a lot of good growth and I think his consistency really showed.”
Howell was sacked five times, so there’s still more work for the Commanders to clean things up on offense. They’ll be trying to do it on a short week this week, but facing the winless Bears may be exactly the right team to help that process.