The result for the Washington Commanders was a 20-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals, but what was your first impression of the pairing of second-year quarterback Sam Howell and first-time play-caller Eric Bienemy?
"On Sam Howell, first of all, I preface all of this with... it's one game and it's the first week of the season and... Week 1 can be total, total fool's gold on everything," Kevin Sheehan said, adding, "My impression of Sam Howell is he's got real talent and he's really tough. And that is a pretty good starting point.
"After that, I am still where I was – and probably will be for a while – in the land of I need to see more over a longer period of time and in a much bigger over sample size. Am I concerned about how long he holds the ball? I am. But I kinda knew that going in, because that was one of the knocks on him at North Carolina. Am I concerned about him sometimes looking short and being able to see and being able to get clear passing lanes? I feel that way about any quarterback that isn't 6'3 or bigger, 6'2 or bigger. Because they do at times have at times a difficult time seeing things.
"But I'm also really convinced that this guy can really throw it. That he can really move and create off-schedule. And that he's one tough S.O.B."
Talent and tough is not a bad start, Sheehan said, and because of the word about his coachability from the people at Ashburn, that indicates that with the things he isn't good on right now, he can imrpove.
"My first impression of Eric Bieniemy," Sheehan said shifting gears, "...It was a clean operation. A lot of the concerns of a first-time offensive coordinator calling plays and having everything on his plate is that with an inexperienced quarterback and with a new system for everybody, is he gonna take some time to get the operation down? No, it didn't."
He continued: "That is credit to the offesnive coordinator, they were very organized."
Sheehan did think there were too many passes called, in part because it wasn't working – too many negative plays with six sacks of Howell and the three turnovers. But if it is part of Bieniemy's plan for Howell's long-term development to call more plays, Sheehan is ok with that because that really matters.
To listen to Sheehan's full take and hear Denton Day's impressions listen on the audio player above!
