Sam Howell Had Washington Commanders in 'Position to Win' vs. Seattle Seahawks

The Washington Commanders came close to upsetting the Seattle Seahawks, with Ron Rivera happy with what Sam Howell was able to do late in the game.

Close, but no cigar. 

The Washington Commanders went punch for punch with the Seattle Seahawks after Sam Howell produced yet another stellar drive to tie things up at 26-26 with under a minute left in the fourth.

But Geno Smith answered with an eight-play, 50-yard drive that set up Jason Meyers for the game-winning field goal as Seattle escaped with a win.

For Washington head coach Ron Rivera, Howell did what all good quarterbacks do for their team.

“Everything he did, I thought he gave us an opportunity to win,” Rivera said. “That’s the biggest thing you can ask for the quarterback. To put you in a position to win, he did that. Now, there’s a couple of things he’d like to have back, a couple of decisions that could’ve been better, I’m nitpicking, but those are the things that he’s going to learn and get better with. The only big flop you saw was the fumble.”

Howell, for the most part, produced a clean game as he completed 29 of his 42 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns but did have one costly fumble.

Sam Howell and the Commanders came so close to upsetting the Seattle Seahawks / Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

Needing a touchdown to tie the game late on, Howell went to work as he orchestrated a 12-play, 71-yard drive that took just 2:55 seconds off the clock as he found Dyami Brown for a touchdown.

Despite doing all he could, Howell was left ruing miss opportunities in the heartbreaking loss.

“It’s tough, Howell said. “Obviously, we did some good things there at the end, but I thought, for the most part, our defense played a good game, and we had plenty of opportunities for us to take control of that football game, but we didn’t make the plays that were needed.”

The loss now sees the Commanders drop to 4-6 on the season, as they now have back-to-back division games against the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. 

There was enough to be pleased with, but right now, moral victories count for nothing as Washington's season is in danger of slipping away after a promising start.