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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Bryan Manning

What if the Commanders beat the Bills?

What if the Washington Commanders beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday?

On Thursday’s edition of “Good Morning Football” on the NFL Network, the four hosts discussed what that would mean.

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First, Peter Schrager was fascinated by Washington’s top coaching trio of head coach Ron Rivera, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.

“If they beat the Bills, we got this real interesting dynamic amongst those three men who are coaching this team,” Schrager said.

For former NFL defensive back Jason McCourty, it was all about quarterback Sam Howell.

“I would just be fired up to see what the headlines are that surrounds Sam Howell,” McCourty said. “Because you type his name into Google, into X, whatever you want, and everybody is just praising this kid.

McCourty likes what he’s seen from Howell but says let’s see what happens this week.

“There is so much praise for him; at the same time, the Buffalo Bills may go out there and look like they did last week, too. So, let’s slow down. I love the Commanders’ talk. It’s a lot of fun, but let’s see what happens this week.”

Kyle Brandt loves the possibility of Washington going 3-0.

“If the Commanders beat the Buffalo Bills, they are the biggest and freshest story in the NFL,” Brandt said. “The Commanders, though, that would be wildly unpredictable. They’d beat a super-quality opponent who just waxed the Raiders. And we know this about [OC] Eric Bieniemy. He is not afraid of the Buffalo Bills. He’s not afraid to hang 30 on them. He’s not afraid to go up and down the field at will like that. He’s done it before.”

Jamie Erdahl also weighed in, expressing her excitement for this game.

“It’s cool that Sam Howell led his team on two game-winning drives to start the season,” she said. “But that was against the Cardinals and Broncos. You are letting those teams hang around with you. If you want to be a shut-the-door team, you got to be able to get up on a team and maintain them and keep them a stiff arms-length away. You can’t just be neck-and-neck and just constantly rely on your guy to have game-winning drives. So if the Commanders are going to beat them, it might be neck and neck, but you have to be able to put a team away. And if you can’t do it at home, then it’s going to be hard to do it against anybody.”

Every anchor had a reasonable take on this game. Erdahl’s take resonated the most because she’s right. Washington needs to put away a team, especially at home, if it wants to be taken seriously.

One thing everyone can agree on, this is a fascinating matchup.

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