Commanders News: Sam Howell, Montez Sweat, Ron Rivera and Doug Williams
By Dean Jones
Commanders DE Montez Sweat praised
One of the biggest factors behind the Washington Commanders' impressive start to the 2023 season has been the defensive front. This unit is flourishing currently with dominant displays and ruthless conviction that has them right at the top of the NFL's food chain through two weeks.
Montez Sweat's production is obviously helping significantly. The defensive end is looking for a bumper payday at some stage in the coming months and based on how he's performing so far, the Commanders would be wise to wrap this up at the earliest possible opportunity.
When discussing Sweat's impact this season, head coach Ron Rivera highlighted his improvement in terms of finishing off plays as the primary reason behind his exceptional opening to the campaign via Sports Illustrated.
"It’s kind of the thing that watching [Defensive Line] Coach [Jeff Zgonina] Z and [Assistant Defensive Line] Coach [Ryan] Kerrigan both work with those guys about finishing. Last year it was getting Daron [Payne] to finish and make those big explosives, which we saw and then this year, we're seeing that from Montez [Sweat] as far as finishing and that's been really kind of cool to see."
- Ron Rivera via Sports Illustrated
Sweat and the Commanders' front four - which also includes the returning Chase Young - will be counted upon heavily to produce the goods against the Buffalo Bills. Anything less could see things get extremely complicated.