Commanders News: Eric Bieniemy, Sam Howell, Emmanuel Forbes and next man up

Commanders OC Eric Bieniemy's adjustment

Starting slowly is something that cannot continue where the Washington Commanders are concerned. This is giving the offense mountains to climb, which is also leading to scheme alterations in-game as Eric Bieniemy looks to give his team a fighting chance.

The Commanders did not implement a single running play in the second half of Thursday Night Football. Not entirely surprising with a 27-3 half-time deficit, which was a definite strategy to put points on the board quickly.

It wasn't enough - thanks in no small part to Washington's continued struggles on defense - but one cannot look at the offense with anything other than encouragement through five weeks. Although the protection in front of quarterback Sam Howell does need to improve.

When discussing his gung-ho offense versus the Chicago Bears, Bieniemy stated via Nicki Jhabvala from The Washington Post that it was merely to do with putting his guys in a position to try and win the game. Of course, there was also a little bit of humor attached.

"You try to give your guys the best opportunity to win. And, no, you never want to come into a game and say we're going to throw it 55 straight times. But at that particular time, I felt that was needed to give us a boost. Throughout that, I thought our guys played their tail off. I think Andy Reid would be proud. He's probably sitting there saying, 'Yeah, EB. I see you. Once upon of time you were asking for 25, 30 carries for Jamaal Charles and now you're slinging it around the park.'"

- Eric Bieniemy via X/Twitter

Once the defense steps up, the offensive side of things can become more balanced. Something the Commanders will look for this weekend during their crunch trip to the Atlanta Falcons.