Commanders Crumble with Turnovers, But Trail vs. Cardinals After First Half

The Washington Commanders are off to a slow start against the Arizona Cardinals.

With the NFL regular season finally upon us and a brand new offense in the nation's capital, Washington Commanders fans were treated to a lackluster offense showing at first.

However, new starting quarterback Sam Howell whom the team finally gave the reins to was eventually able to lead Washington down the field for a score, but not before the team got fired up about a very late hit on the youngster. 

#Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon said he was looking for killers. His defense took it literally here on Sam Howell.

Howell is fine after going into the tent. pic.twitter.com/o7T7Wl1Ku0

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 10, 2023

Following the late hit, the Commanders drove down the field with the help of a pass interference call on defensive back Marco Wilson down at the 15-yard line, which set them up for the first score of the game.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

After evading the Cardinal pass rush, Howell rolled out and delivered a strike to running back Brian Robinson for the touchdown. The score gave the Commanders a 7-0 lead, and marks their first touchdown of the young NFL season.

#Commanders QB Sam Howell buying time in the pocket and finding Brian Robinson for a touchdown!
pic.twitter.com/WteMNj8KxC

— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) September 10, 2023

With a chance to answer with a score of their own, Arizona was able to drive down the field as well led by quarterback Josh Dobbs who they recently traded, who's starting in place for the injured Kyler Murray. However, the Commanders defense came up clutch preventing them from tying the game up, and holding Arizona to just a field goal. 

It didn't take long for Arizona to get the ball back after either, as two plays into the next Commander drive, Howell was picked off by Zaven Collins. The Cardinals parlayed the interception into a field goal to cut the lead to 7-6. 

Collins would continue to haunt the Commanders offense later in the half, as after driving down the field thanks to a couple big passes from Howell to Terry McLaurin and Cole Turner to get them in the red zone; disaster struck. Running back Antonio Gibson took a carry up the middle, but ended up fumbling the ball which was recovered by Collins. 

Luckily for Washington the defense came up strong again, forcing Arizona to punt for the second time.

With under a minute to go in the half, Howell was sacked at the Washington 12 by Dennis Gardeck who forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Cameron Thomas that he returned for a touchdown to give the Cardinals 13-7 lead. The Commanders were able to add a field goal as time expired in the half to cut the lead to three. 

The Commanders go into the half trailing by a score of 13-10, and missed on multiple scoring chances that they'd love to have back that were stunted by turnovers.