Commanders News: Sam Howell, Magic Johnson, Montez Sweat and Ron Rivera

Commanders QB Sam Howell's reflection

It was an up-and-down performance from quarterback Sam Howell in Week 1. The former fifth-round pick was responsible for too many turnovers, but he came through when it counted and steered the Washington Commanders to victory behind an exceptional defensive display.

Howell kept swinging in the face of adversity, which was encouraging. It's also worth remembering that things were never going to be perfect as Eric Bieniemy got his first taste of play-calling alone without Andy Reid overseeing matters.

The North Carolina product was sacked six times and was rocked by Kyzir White during a late hit that will likely receive a fine. Despite these obstacles, Howell acknowledged that things need to improve based on his comments via the team's website.

"Obviously, I think offensively we could have played a lot better. Just credit to our defense, you know our defense kept making plays all day long and gave us a chance there at the end to put some points up and to give us the win. I just think offensively we were moving the ball well, just turnovers, penalties, sacks, just a lot of things that I could do better. But you know definitely a lot to clean up on the offensive side of the ball, so we're excited to go back in this week and watch the film and try to learn from it."

- Sam Howell via Commanders.com

Howell had only one career start before this and will have learned a lot. But the games come thick and fast, so adjusting quickly is of critical importance heading into his competitive NFL road debut at the Denver Broncos.