4 big problems the Commanders must fix heading into Week 4 at Eagles

Commanders QB Sam Howell's bad habits

Ron Rivera stated during the offseason that when Sam Howell makes a mistake, the quarterback doesn't make it twice. However, that's not looking like the case over the first three weeks of the 2023 season.

The Washington Commanders weren't expecting miracles from Howell right away. He's inexperienced and is getting a crash course on what it takes to succeed at the next level, which is going to result in some rocky production at stages.

This proved to be the case against the Buffalo Bills. Howell's bad habits came to the surface once again, which centered on ball security, holding onto the football for too long, and not getting off reads quickly enough.

It's all part of the learning experience where Howell is concerned. However, the Commanders need to rein these in significantly before the former fifth-round selection takes on the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field - one of the league's most intimidating atmospheres.

Howell isn't going to win a game on his own. The Commanders must do more to help their signal-caller - whether that be schematic, from a protection perspective, or the defense raising their performance levels to make things easier.

It'll be interesting to see how the North Carolina product responds to his first taste of NFL adversity. But anything less than major improvements could see things get extremely complicated for the Commanders in Week 4.