The Commanders open their preseason Friday against Cleveland, and we’ll have full postgame coverage on The Team 980 after the game…but on Tuesday, the Junkies had an interesting question about the QB situation: if Jacoby Brissett plays better Friday, and throughout the preseason, would you still want Sam Howell to start Week 1 against Arizona? Brissett hadn’t take any reps wit the first team until Monday, as Eric Bickel noted, but what if?
“What if Sam Howell looks terrible with the ones, and Jacoby looks amazing with the twos?” Bish asked.
“Then they’ll give him another week, and we’ll see what happens in Week 2,” EB replied. “What does looking terrible mean? What if Howell looks the part for eight of 10 snaps, but the other two he throws an interception and he fumbles?”
Valdez asked if there was no way in EB’s mind that Howell could play his way OUT of being QB1, and while Eric thinks it's possible, it would take something extreme to do it.
“I’m not saying that – if he went out there and threw three picks on his first three throws and looked overwhelmed, maybe,” EB replied. “I just don’t think that will happen, but it will have to be something like that.”
“But, what if he did play poorly the first couple games and the offense was scoring with Brissett, are you open to it?” Bish asked. “If I had to put money on it, I agree it’s not going to happen, but for this discussion, are you open to it?”
EB’s simple response was “I guess.”
“I just think the Howell thing is all a gamble on upside, and I don’t think there’s a lot of upside with Brissett,” Bickel said. “We know what he is – he’s serviceable, and he won’t embarrass you – while with Howell they’re grasping.”
Cakes then jumped in with an interesting response when Bish said the only upside is the offense running better.
“Brissett has played in 76 NFL games, Howell has one,” he said. “You can argue you know what you have with Jacoby Brissett, but what if the offense just flows better with him?”
“I just don’t think you’ll see a marked difference. They’ll scheme it up to give him basic things, and I don’t think they’ll super-duper challenge him in preseason. They’re aware of fan perception and want him to look the part, so they will set him up to succeed.”
Cakes agreed, saying, “they’ll put him in every scenario to look good, so it validates their desire to start him in Week 1.”
Take a listen above to the entire exchange, including some calls on the subject, above!
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