With a wide receiver corps that will freigten most secondaries, a stable of young running backs to rotate, and an offensive genius in Eric Bieniemy calling plays the Washington Commanders offense looks to have the makings of a decent unit. But with a young, unproven quarterback in Sam Howell at the helm, there are so many questions that still do not have an answer ahead of Sunday's regular season opener.
Michael Phillips joined Kevin Sheehan on Tuesday and said that Howell looked the part of a competent quarterback during preseason and training camp and brought a part of the game the Commanders offense was missing.
"I was just really impressed by his deep ball, his ability. to sling it down the field," Phillips said. "These guys have missed that, you don't realize how much you miss that until you see what other teams are doing."
Phillips added that Howell "is gonna bring that dimension" to the Commanders' offense, something they've really missed during Ron Rivera's three years in Washington. "I liked that out of the gate in terms of what it does for the offensive line, what it does for the run game, what it does to keep the receivers happy," he said.
However, Phillips said he was made "uneasy about the sacks" during the preseason. And that while the offensive line was a concern coming into the offseason and will remain a concern throughout the early goings of the regular season, he believes the sacks in the preseason "were Sam Howell's fault."
"I thought he held the ball too long, he didn't make the right decision to get it away, whatever it was in each individual situation, that would be my point of concern for Sam Howell going in: Can he make the quick decision? Can he make the right decision and not torpedo drives in doing that?" Phillips told Sheehan.
One aspect that could assist Howell a great deal is a solid running game, something Howell had to complement him in the passing game during his successful junior season at North Carolina. Phillips remembered how Bieniemy pushed second-year back Brian Robinson during camp. Was that classic hard coaching from the fiery offensive coordinator or a coach who was disappointed he wasn't getting the results he needed?
"You've got a little more of a mixed bag at running back," Phillips said. "Antonio Gibson, he could go for 1,000 all-purpose yards this year, can he go for 700 rushing yards, 800 rushing this year? Could Brian Robinson do that and take that heat off of Sam Howell in a way that doesn't necessitate Howell having to make a decision on every play, make a quick pass on every play? I do think that's a very important factor to success here."
The other aspect that could help Howell a lot is the performance of coordinator Jack Del Rio's defense. Phillips said he is "super intrigued" by what the secondary will look like. First-round draft pick Emmanuel Forbes is penciled in at one of the outside rules, but what role will second-round pick Quan Martin take or 2021 third-round pick Benjamin St-Juste? And what about veteran Kendall Fuller?
"There's a lot of moving pieces and I think it will be fascinating," he said.
Sheehan and Philips then got into some bigger picture conversations, starting with: Are we on Ron Rivera watch? And for Phillips, that watch has already begun.
"I think that's what people don't realize, this isn't Ron Rivera coaching for his job, honestly, if they're successful there's a very legitimate path here to Eric Bieniemy being the coach next year," he said. "I think the overwhelming odds is that Ron Rivera is coaching his last season in Washington.
"I don't believe he will be a midseason firing unless things really go off the rails, which if you look at Ron Rivera's teams historically that doesn't happen. They don't go off the rails."
Sheehan noted that Rivera's teams do historically start slowly, which Phillips turned into a discussion on the possibility that a slow start could mean a short leash for Howell. But he sees Washington being able to at least have a solid shot at wins over Arizona, Chicago and Atlanta in the early part of the season with two wins at least in late October.
"The floor here, in my mind, is 2-4 going into Week 7, that doesn't get people fired. At 2-4 you can still right the ship," Phillips said.
For a conversation about a scenario that sees Rivera hang around and more, listen on the audio player above.
