Analysis | Jacoby Brissett outshines Sam Howell again in another Commanders loss

Howell, a young player who showed potential earlier in the season and was in the conversation to maybe become a long-term starter, sputtered again on Sunday and was benched — again. Jacoby Brissett came in and, for the second consecutive week, guided Washington to multiple touchdowns, seemingly silencing any talk of Howell being the guy going forward.

Merry Christmas, Washington fans.

Buckner: The Commanders did Christmas Eve right and lost again. Bring on the Rockettes!

The good news: Brissett’s rally proved the offense still has some juice. But its defense made costly mistakes early — blown assignments, missed tackles, the usual — to give up 27 first-half points, and the offense played poorly to start, with a series of disastrous plays on the opening series that set a negative tone. And special teams were a dud — and it wasn’t because of the snapping, this time.

So what can be gleaned from Washington’s latest loss? Perhaps some clarity, and the bittersweet notion that the Commanders still have a grip on the No. 4 pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Howell probably isn’t the guy

When Coach Ron Rivera decided to bench Howell late in the Commanders’ loss to the Rams in Week 15, it was a clear indication the team may not be all in on the young quarterback for the long term.

Had Howell bounced back Sunday to appear more like the quarterback he was in, say, Week 4, when he impressed in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, perhaps some confidence would’ve returned. But he struggled more than ever before and was benched again, this time in the third quarter after throwing a pick to Quincy Williams.

The poor play of the offense wasn’t entirely Howell’s fault, but many of his passes were late, and he lacked the decisiveness and sound decision-making offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had said he hoped to see.

Do the Commanders still believe in Sam Howell?

According to Next Gen Stats, Howell was 0-for-9 on pass attempts under pressure through the early part of the third quarter. Over the course of the game, he completed six of 22 pass attempts for 56 yards, two interceptions and a 1.7 passer rating. He also took one sack, his 60th of the season.

“I think it starts with me, and I need to be better and make better decisions,” Howell said. “I have to make better plays.”

Howell notched his second interception with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. Receiver Curtis Samuel stumbled at the top of his route, and the ball sailed into Williams’s arms.

Howell headed to the bench afterward and didn’t return. Brissett took over and promptly led the offense to its first third-down conversion of the game — a 10-yard pass to Jahan Dotson — then followed with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Logan Thomas. Brissett guided the Commanders to touchdowns on their next two drives to claim the lead late in the fourth quarter.

Bieniemy and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard said last week that Howell’s declining play over the past six weeks was due in part to him pressing. Often, he’s tried to make a play that isn’t there, or he’s made a poor decision to save the team as it’s trailed.

“We didn’t help him early; we dropped a couple balls that we probably should have caught, and then that’s tough,” Rivera said. “Your confidence can sometimes get shaken, and that’s what I started to feel in the second half, and I was really concerned and that’s why I made the decision I did.”

Asked if Brissett will start the final two games, Rivera said the team would make a decision early in the week. A bigger decision looms about the team’s future starting quarterback.

Brissett’s experience matters

Brissett pushed back at the notion that his ability to get the offense going in the second half was a product of his experience.

“It’s just things work out sometimes,” he said. “Literally the same thing I did last week was the same thing I did this week. I’m talking to Sam, ‘Man, some of these things you don’t know, you learn as you go. You got to go through it. For me, it’s just going out there and just playing football and how I know how to do it best … and letting the results take care of itself.”

But there were some clear differences.

Brissett averaged 2.52 seconds to throw the ball, whereas Howell averaged 3.23 seconds. And in the second half, the Commanders collected 64 net rushing yards, compared to only 38 in the first half.

“When Jacoby got in,” Jets cornerback Michael Carter II said, “I feel like he took what was open, what we were giving him, and that worked for them. They were moving the ball better, so that opened up play-action and things like that, too. [He was] just getting the ball out of his hands quick and in a rhythm and stuff like that. I feel like that was the biggest difference right there.”

The Commanders’ big bets on offense have officially gone bust

Carter added that Brissett capitalized on the holes in New York’s zone defense, perhaps another product of his experience. But part of Washington’s offensive rejuvenation was due to the run game. Fourteen of the team’s 22 carries came in the second half.

Carter and others in the Jets’ locker room said they knew Washington could use both quarterbacks.

“Our coaches talked about it, that [Howell’s] leash was short and that the possibility of a switch could happen,” safety Tony Adams, who picked off Howell in the first quarter, said. “We were prepared for it.”

No favors from Howell’s teammates

Terry McLaurin said last week that many of the team’s offensive struggles came down to execution.

“We all have a hand in that, and those add up over the course of the game,” he said. “So if we could figure out how to make more of those plays than we missed, then I think we’re in a better position to win.”

The Commanders didn’t figure it out in the first half. Often, Howell dropped back and found not a single white jersey open down the field. Samuel dropped a pass on the first play, and Thomas lost control on the second play. Dotson later tripped on a route.

After Howell’s first pick, the Commanders’ red zone defense held up — cornerback Kendall Fuller broke up a pass by Trevor Siemian in the back of the end zone on third down — to force the Jets to settle for a field goal. But New York had little trouble finding the end zone a couple minutes later.

Christian Holmes was penalized for a false start on a punt, and John Johnson blocked the redo, speeding past punt protector Terrell Burgess to get straight to punter Tress Way. Receiver Jason Brownlee caught an eight-yard touchdown pass three plays later after a blown assignment by the Commanders’ defense.

Special teams weren’t special

This time, it wasn’t the long snapper; the team released Camaron Cheeseman last week and replaced him with Tucker Addington. The issues were everywhere else. Holmes, who was penalized on Way’s first punt, was penalized again for an illegal touch on another punt in the first half. And Jamison Crowder, who had been otherwise steady as a returner, had a baffling fumble in the second quarter. He returned a punt 24 yards, then lost control amid a swarm of defenders, oddly tossing it up in the air for the Jets to recover. Byron Pringle also muffed a kickoff in the first quarter, but he recovered.

Despite the mistakes, Washington still managed to come back and threaten to win.

“It’s about the grit, the heart that those guys have in that room,” Rivera said. “They’re going to fight for each other; they’re going to play for each other. … It’s about being a professional, and that’s what these young men showed, that they are professionals.”