Seahawks 29, Commanders 26
Q. Sam, so how do you process this one? You have these fourth quarter drives, get the game tied up, but you guys lose.
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, it's tough. 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; didn't make the play that were needed.
I think the game was kind of tied there for a little while and it was -- we were just kind of waiting. It just seemed like we were waiting, someone was going to take control of the game, and they kind of took control of it.
I thought our defense kept us in the game, and we just got to find ways, when the game is tied, to go out there and make the plays and take control of the football game.
You don't want to be in position where you got to go down. Make a drive late to tie the game. We would like to be on the other side.
Credit to our defense for most of the game, just keeping us in it. We made some plays down the stretch, but got to be better throughout the game to beat good teams like that.
Q. Did you feel like you've taken a step up as a playmaker the past couple weeks?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, I mean, I just try to get even better each and every week. I think the guys on our skill players and B-Rob did a good job today of just keeping the play going on. When the play breaks down, they did a good job extending the play and trying to get open when things weren't there early on, and B-Rob did a good job of that. He tells me all the time, if plays break down, just find me.
He made some good plays today. We just for to continue to try to get everybody involved. When we got everybody involved, that's when we are hard to stop.
Q. To have B-Rob and AG as your leading targets, was that a by-product of the run game not working as well the first half, or was that the game plan going in, to try to get them more involved in the screen game?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, I mean, going in, you know, our game plan is to try to get everybody involved. We want to establish the run game pretty early, and they did a good job stopping the run the first half. It made it tough. They did some good stuff in coverage as well. We just got to continue to find ways to get people involved.
Coming in we weren't trying to throw the ball to B-Rob and AG a lot, but just kind of how the game goes sometimes. They brought a good amount of pressure there in the first half, too. I think when we have pressure, those guys on the check downs are some good options, so that was part of it as well.
But they did a good job. There was that one drive in the second half where they ran the ball well, and we had struggled to run the ball the whole game. But that drive, they just kept going and O-line did a good job moving those guys. They gave us a chance today.
Q. How much does that lift a team when you go four straight runs and pick up some first downs and change the offense a bit?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, it's huge. When you establish the running game in a football game you have a good chance to win the game. Obviously we struggled to do that early on.
On that drive we just kept calling the same run concept, you know, left and right out of three by one and two by two, and the O-line was doing a good job; B-Rob and AG were hitting the holes. It was fun to watch.
When we can run the ball like that and run it effectively it opens stuff up in the pass game as well and makes the offense harder to stop.
Q. I believe it was fourth down and you go to McLaurin to pick it up. In those moments is that where your read goes, or are you saying to yourself, I know I can trust 17 on this?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, some of those plays, you know I can go to either side and stuff like that, but if the game is on the line and it's one-on-one, Terry is a guy I trust in that moment. We kind of struggled to get all the receivers in involved in today's games, but I know in those situations Terry is going to do everything he can to win and give me a little space to get the ball in there, and he came up big.
I think there was two fourth down on that last drive, so he's great player. I got to do a better job trying to get him the football and get him more involved in the game. Definitely in those situations he's a guy I'm going to go to.
Q. Did you want to go for two at the end?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, I mean, it's tough. I thought we kind of had all the momentum, so it's like, let's play for overtime. I think we can carry this momentum into overtime and win the game.
I thought our defense, for the most part, was playing well. Got some good stops and they were forcing a lot of field goals. I think there in the end we had a lot of momentum. There was still a lot of time left. Game wasn't over.
So I think kicking an extra point was Coach's decision, and I think there were a lot people on board with his decision, but us not going for two is not why we lost that football game.
Q. How do you get more consistent? You were talking about that earlier. What can you guys do to be more consistent?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, it's tough. You got to go back and watch the film and look at the reasons that we had those few three-and-outs -- I don't know how many three-and-outs we had. Seems like a lot. You got to go back and look at why those things were happening.
Obviously establishing the run helps, but I got to do a better job making quicker decisions, getting the ball out faster. Had a couple sacks. We just got avoid the negative plays and do a good job on first and second down so that way we have -- we're in third and manageable situations.
Q. Obviously still a lot of time in the season for you guys to rack up some wins. (Indiscernible) was right ahead of you guys in the standings. Does that make the loss feel a bit worse knowing you could have had chance to move up and get closer to a wildcard spot?
SAM HOWELL: Honestly, I don't really look at standings as far as who's ahead of us and who is not. I know this is an NFC opponent and they're having a god year, winning football games, so they're obviously in the playoff conversation.
But every game we play we want to win. No matter if they're ahead of us, behind us, no matter what it is, every single loss hurts, and we try to treat every single game like it's the most important game of the season.
When we come up short, definitely hurts.
Q. Sam Cosmi was saying he thought there was some momentum going with the offense when you guys were starting to run the ball in the second half. Had several carries in a row. Do you feel that as well, that that was a key stretch for you guys?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, for sure. I think that drive we had, I think that was the drive to go down and tie the game when it was 19-12. That was a big drive for us. Obviously they were probably -- when we came out there for that drive they were probably expecting us to try to throw the ball down the field.
We came out and ran the ball on first down and got a good gain and just stuck with it. Credit it EB for sticking to the running game. We had some good runs on that drive and that's the reason we were able to move the ball and score on that drive.
Obviously the last drive, I think we tried to run the ball a little bit, but just kind of fell short of time. We had to start throwing it, and luckily we had some receivers make some plays.
Q. Do you feel like you're doing a better job feeling or anticipating the pressure? If so, how is that helping you, being able to do that?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, I think I'm doing better job seeing things pre-snap and they try to mix up the looks. They brought a lot of pressure early on in the football game, which was not something we've seen a lot from these guys on tape. It's something we were prepared for.
They like to blitz different guys, bring Bobby, bring 33, bring 21. You know, they did a pretty good job disguising some of those pressures. For the most part, feel like I had answers as far as where to go with the ball when we were pressured.
Just one of those things that I'm constantly trying to improve on.
Q. The fumble, sometimes they will tell you to get down. They seemed to wrap you up and you carried for five yards. What did you think about that and is there anything you could have done differently there?
SAM HOWELL: Yeah, it's tough. Obviously I was kind of trying to go down. They were kind of trying to hold me up and get at the ball. Fumbling the football is unacceptable. I got to do better job taking care of the football. I think I've done a pretty good job in the passing game taking care of it, but got to do it in the running game as well, especially if I am going to be aggressive like that as a runner. I got to make sure I do my part and take care of the football.
Turnovers and close games in this league, turnovers lose football games. Luckily our defense made a big stop after the turnover and got us the football back so didn't hurt us as bad.
Definitely we were moving the ball. That was a big gain for us, so I killed the momentum on that drive. Could have went down and got some points there. Yeah, fumbling the football is unacceptable.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports