The Arizona Cardinals will face the Washington Commanders Sunday in Week 1 on the road to start the regular season.
As part of our preview work, Commanders Wire managing editor Bryan Manning and I exchanged questions to get a different perspective about the opponent.
Buy Cardinals TicketsCards Wire goes behind enemy lines. Read on for Manning’s answers.
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Sam Howell
Is Sam Howell ready to be the starter, and is he the guy? What did he show in the preseason?
Sam Howell is ready to be the starter. Can I 100% say he’s ready to be the guy? No. And I am a huge believer in Howell and have been since his time at UNC. But with one career start, he’s still a rookie. Howell had an outstanding offseason, training camp and preseason. In the preseason games in which he played, he took sacks that weren’t on the OL, which he acknowledged. After the mistakes, he led scoring drives. Howell can make all the throws and is a plus athlete. Howell has an unflappable demeanor which is a positive when it comes to making mistakes. He shakes them off and keeps on attacking.
Bad offensive projections
ESPN’s Mike Clay projects the lowest-scoring offense in the league for Washington. What do you think?
We wrote about this topic. I think it’s a silly projection. The Commanders had a horrible quarterback play last season. The offensive line was bad, too. Washington will be better on the O-Line. How much better? We aren’t sure, but they can’t be worse. As far as the quarterback position goes, the Commanders won 7 games with Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke [Howell won the final game.] Howell, even with the typical young QB struggles, is already an upgrade under center. I am confident in saying there is no way the Commanders end the season as the lowest-scoring team. Sure, they could start slow, they have a young QB and a new offense, but Washington has outstanding playmakers on offense.
Strengths and question marks
What are biggest strengths and biggest question marks entering the regular season?
The biggest strength is the defense, particularly the defensive line. Even if Chase Young misses the game, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Montez Sweat are all outstanding individually and collectively. Offensively, the strength is the wide receivers. And Terry McLaurin looks like he’ll play. The biggest question mark is Howell and the offensive line. I believe people are sleeping on Howell, but until he proves he can do it over a period of time, he will remain a question. The offensive line could be good, but there are real concerns about the tackles and I don’t think those questions go away anytime soon.
Thoughts on Cardinals
What about the Cardinals are you most intrigued about as an opponent?
Washington is familiar with Gannon from his time with the Eagles. He had a lot of talent on that Philly defense. Is he a genius like we were led to believe, or was his success mostly due to the talent. I am fascinated to see what kind of head coach Gannon will be.
How different is the vibe around the team with the change in ownership? There are no words to describe how different things are. This is a real NFL team again. Three of the owners were fans of the team growing up in the DMV. Another is Magic Johnson. Every time Johnson speaks, fans want to run through a wall for him. They have all been a breath of fresh air. Fans are coming back. The ones who stayed are more hopeful than ever. Who knows if it will translate on the field, at least early, but there is talent on this roster and with the right support — and QB — this team is much closer to being good than people realize.
Predictions
Commanders 23, Cardinals 13
I can see this game being an ugly, sloppy 13-10-type game. That would be so Washington. However, with a new era, a soldout crowd, legends returning, and players excited, I believe this one goes in the favor of the Commanders.
