The Commanders are playing for not much but have a lot to figure out in the weeks ahead – including the head coaching situation – but when PFF’s Sam Monson joined Grant & Danny on Friday, he had some good praise for the job Eric Bieniemy has done as offensive coordinator this year.
“I think he’s been doing a solid job when you consider the unknowns on that team – Sam Howell being principle among them, and the fact that the offensive line is, is not the best group in the world – so I think they've executed a pretty good offense and they've shown that they can go toe to toe with a lot of good teams,” Monson said. “When you factor in the receivers they've got, I think he's done a pretty good job, and is at least sort of showing that he was a part of what was happening in Kansas City – and I think the fact that Kansas City is struggling this year is also helping his overall reputation and his cause.”
The Chiefs struggles without EB aren’t all because they lost him, of course, but it never hurts when a coach leaves a team and they immediately regress a little. Bieniemy maybe never got the credit he was due in KC because of the nature of the group,
“He’s been part of something so incredibly successful, and he's trying to prove that he deserved that outside of Kansas City,” Monson said. “So, the fact that Washington has done well in broad strokes terms and Kansas City is struggling only goes to help his cause.”
And, he’s shown some good things in helping a young quarterback develop while also playing to his strengths.
“I think a lot of what he's done that's good has been recognizing where Sam Howell has been at his best, and they're not afraid to just lean into the pass game and say, let's drop back and pass, put the ball in the air and let Sam play where he is most comfortable,” Monson said. “A lot of coaches and coordinators with young quarterbacks would stay away from that and would in fact deliberately try and avoid doing that, but that's some of Sam Howell's best football, so I think that element has been the most impressive to me.”
So, have we seen enough to know Sam is the guy and should be QB1 for the next regime?
“Opportunity is going to be a big thing, you know, just how high they end up picking and who they have a shot at, but Howell is doing an awful lot to show that he deserves a shot to have a kind of medium-term run at this thing as a starter,” Monson said. “There are negatives to his game, obviously – he’s gotten better, but he’s still incredibly sack-prone – but a lot of his weaknesses have been improving as the season has gone on. He’s shown that capacity, and he has a ton of big plays – 25 big throws, the better-graded plays we evaluate at PFF, and that’s a big number. He’s one of the better quarterbacks in the league in terms of making these big plays, it's a case of how much can he modify the negative and continue to improve. If he shows that high-end play and consistently make steps towards minimizing his weaknesses, it's tough to say he doesn't deserve another season.”
With all that said, Danny can’t get over the fact that the Washington receiving corps doesn’t have a catch of at least 40 yards this season,
“It’s difficult to know how much of that is just the way the NFL is trending at the moment,” Monson said. “Defenses are deliberately trying to take away those explosive passes, so it’s down all over the league. This is where a lot of offenses are struggling, is to find these deep explosive plays that used to be what modern offense was built upon.Defenses have successfully forced teams to be more conservative and be more patient and take more underneath passes, but I think Sam Howell's deep passing has been pretty good. He’s been very good on that intermediate to deep level, so I don’t think that’s just a Sam Howell problem.”
Take a listen to Monson’s entire segment with G&D above, which also goes a little more in-depth on the Commanders’ receivers having issues with separation, possible head coach and GM names for the Commanders, and more!
