"Well, I think the biggest thing, more than anything else, I think we have found a young quarterback that gives us an opportunity," Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said this week when asked why he believes things will go differently this season compared to years past. "We have in that game [Sunday] and had every chance to win and unfortunately, we didn't do it. And I understand our fans' frustration. Hell, I hear it too, ok. And I respect them. We're trying to play the best football we can and at the same time, grow a football team.
"We're not going to go around cutting a bunch of people, trading for a whole bunch of people, trying to hire a whole bunch of people. We're trying to develop a young football team to be a very good football team for the future. And that's what we're going to continue to work on. We're going to continue to find ways to win football games and we'll do the best we can," Rivera continued.
"We'll show up, we'll work very hard, we'll do everything we can, and we'll continue to be committed to try and put a good product on the football field and give our fans something to cheer about. But we understand their frustration, believe me, because there's a lot of us that are frustrated here because we're working our butts off."
That was what Rivera said early on in the press conference, but Kevin Sheehan pointed out that when Rivera was asked a few questions later if that means Washington is committed to starting that young quarter Sam Howell for the rest of the season, he said: "I will tell you this, I'm committed to him and we'll see how things go."
"I can't predict the future and the only thing I'm going to do is I'm going to focus in on one game at a time. The truth of the matter is that's the only thing that matters and right now and that's getting ready for Philadelphia. Once I get done with this conversation with all you guys it'll be on to Philadelphia."
To listen to Sheehan's full thoughts on Rivera's comments and his opinion on Howell and his future, head up to the audio player above.
