Photo Credit: Washington Commanders
By DJ Harding
The Washington Commanders open up their season 1-0 following a 20-16 win. Coach Ron Rivera gets his 99th career win as a coach while the Commanders home win streak against their opponent extends to nine.
Their opponent the Arizona Cardinals made it a tough game as the Commanders scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to comeback and win.
Coach Rivera said postgame “I’m happy we won but we gotta play better.”
Washington got on the board first scoring off of a Brian Robinson receiving touchdown from Sam Howell. This was Sam Howell’s only passing touchdown of the night, Howell also added 202 passing yards to his one passing touchdown performance.
The next two scores came from the Cardinals kicker Matt Prater. Prater hit two field goals, one from 28 yards and one from 54 yards.
The Cardinals defense after the two prater field goals would get in on the scoring as linebacker Cameron Thomas recovered a two yard fumble and scooped it up to score and give Arizona a 13-7 lead. Thomas’s teammate and fellow linebacker Dennis Gardeck was responsible for the sack that forced the fumble.
Before the half Commanders kicker Joey Slye hit a 30 yard field goal which brought the score to 13-10. After the half Matt Prater added his third field goal of the day from 37 yards out to extend the Cardinals lead to 16-10.
Down six points entering the fourth the Commanders defense forced a fumble which led to a 7 play 29 yard drive from the Washington offense that ended in a 7 yard Sam Howell rushing touchdown.
Sam Howell talked about the defense postgame saying “They kept giving us a chance. Thankfully we have a great defense”
After taking a 17-16 lead Joey Slye added the finishing touches late in the fourth with a 33 yard field goal.
The Commanders begin the season 1-0 and will travel to Denver to take on the Broncos in week two. The game will be late Sunday Afternoon with kickoff scheduled for 4:25.
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