How did Ron Rivera change from reportedly leaning toward starting Taylor Heinicke and bringing in Sam Howell in relief, to handing the rookie quarterback his NFL debut at the start Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
It appears Heinicke played a role in getting the former fifth-round pick the starting nod for the Washington Commanders season finale.
On Wednesday morning, a report from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler said the Commanders were strongly leaning toward starting Heinicke and having Howell get some playing time, according to multiple sources.
During the early portion of practice that day, the media present observed the two quarterbacks appearing to split the top reps. An hour later, Rivera made the announcement that Howell would be starting, not Heinicke.
The plan reportedly began to shift sometime earlier Wednesday morning potentially after Heinicke endorsed to coaches that Howell “was deserving of the opportunity” to start and other players “endorsed wanting to see Howell” play, sources told Fowler.
Rivera confirmed he spoke to Heinicke before making the swithch and that he supported starting Howell during his post-practice press conference.
“I had thought about going with Taylor and actually talked to him about that,” Rivera said. “And then after having an opportunity to rethink and talk with some other folks about it – talk with some of the team leaders, and other players, and coaches for that matter – it really came down to finding out about [Howell].
“So when I sat down with [Howell], we talked about it, he was excited, and I said, ‘Look, you ready?’ And he was ‘Yes, I’m ready, I’m ready to roll.”
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Heinicke said he was disappointed to not play for the second-straight week, but was supportive of the decision and Howell.
"Obviously I want to be out there with the guys, but I also understand this is a business deal,” Heinicke said. “We want to see what Sam's got. We've seen it all year in practice, in training camp, preseason. The guy can ball. We're all excited for him."
Rivera added that many people in the building he spoke to said Howell's time serving as Heincke's backup during Carson Wentz's stint on injured reserve made them confident in the rookie starting.
"A couple guys that I talked with today, one of the things that they did say was they felt he was ready for this opportunity," Rivera said. "That was a big part of the reason, too, as well, is just how people felt based on what we saw during that stretch – those five and a half - six weeks – that he was the primary backup."
Overall, the Commanders’ change in starter didn’t require a big change of plan as, according to Fowler, Howell “was going to play a lot regardless.”
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