After going through a franchise-changing event during the NFL offseason, with longtime owner Daniel Snyder finally selling the team, the Washington Commanders had high hopes that they could begin to turn the franchise around on the field during the 2023 campaign.

Despite starting the season with a two-game winning streak, the Commanders have struggled ever since, with the team simply unable to play consistently well under head coach Ron Rivera up to this point.

The team was convinced that things were headed in a bad enough direction that they decided to clean house on the defensive side of the football ahead of the NFL trade deadline on Halloween.

The Commanders traded Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers and sent Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears, which showed this team is thinking about the future rather than this season.

In Week 9, however, the team was able to take a step back in the right direction, with the team getting the best of the New England Patriots on the road with quarterback Sam Howell getting some credit for the win from defensive tackle Jon Allen, according to JP Finlay of NBC4 Sports.

“He’s the future,” Allen said about Howell.

Howell was a major question mark for Washington coming into the season, as the team really didn’t know what they had in the versatile quarterback.

Even though this could turn out to be a forgettable season, Howell has shown some flashes of potential and seems to have his teammates behind him, which bodes well for his long-term future with the team.