5 huge disappointments from Commanders loss vs. the Bills in Week 3

Sam Howell - Commanders QB

This is the most obvious one, so I won’t belabor the mistakes. But let’s be honest - we all knew Sam Howell was going to have bad games at stages during the 2023 season and this was undoubtedly one of them.

No young quarterback escapes these kinds of games. Maybe Howell made all of his bad plays in this one outing and can come back strong. Maybe I'm looking at this through burgundy-tinted glasses. Maybe it'll be a combination of both as the campaign progresses.

Howell’s pocket awareness is not good, and playing behind a suspect offensive line exacerbates that particular failing. This week, he made a ton of bad decisions, and several poor throws as well, and he paid dearly against a Buffalo Bills defense that smelled blood and made the signal-caller pay for almost every error in judgment.

He also made several very good throws and one outstanding run. Hopefully, he can build on that rather than focus on the many negatives that came from this particular performance.

All of his picks came on late or underthrown balls. Often, he was under pressure and trying to make something out of nothing. That’s fairly typical for young quarterbacks.

We will see how he responds. That matters far more than how he played against Buffalo and starts this weekend at the Philadelphia Eagles - one of the most intimidating environments around.