On the left, the Eagles’ top two cornerbacks, Darius Slay and James Bradberry, stood over wide receivers Terry Mclaurin and Curtis Samuel. Howell wanted to avoid Slay.

“[He has] great ball skills, good eyes,” Howell explained. “He’s always got good eyes.”

Howell looked right. Earlier, wideout Jahan Dotson had a critical third-down drop, but now he was isolated out wide against second-year cornerback Josh Jobe. Just as Dotson reached the top of his route, Howell threw him the ball, aiming for his outside shoulder. Dotson broke back toward the ball, kept Jobe on his hip and punctuated one of the team’s best drives in years by reeling in the game-tying 10-yard touchdown.

Over the next few minutes, several things went awry for Washington in its 34-31 overtime loss. Coach Ron Rivera didn’t go for the win with a two-point conversion try — which he usually prefers on the road — because he thought the offense was “gassed” and “hurting.” In overtime, the offense went three-and-out, Tress Way shanked a punt, and the defense couldn’t stop the Eagles from getting just far enough into field goal range to hit a 54-yard game-winner.

But the game-tying drive — and the frustration in the locker room afterward — made one thing clear: The Commanders have confidence and high expectations for their offense.

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This is not an argument for moral victories. This is not an excuse for letting a lead slip away. But the last time the Commanders were in Philadelphia, they celebrated scoring 32 points in a November 2022 upset as if they had just won the Super Bowl. On Sunday, the offense — which scored at least 30 points for the second time in four games — was clearly aggravated.

“It’s important being able to bounce back [from last week’s 37-3 loss to Buffalo] and do all that and fight,” right guard Sam Cosmi said. But his expression made it plain that he thought the unit was capable of better.

“It’s not good enough,” McLaurin said. “We got to figure out a way to finish the entire game.”

What happened Sunday is not normal for Washington. Under Rivera, the team had gotten the ball down one score with two minutes or less remaining in the fourth quarter six times. The offense had scored just twice — Houdini acts by Taylor Heinicke in 2021 — and yet, when the Commanders got the ball Sunday, a comeback felt possible.

“I just knew we were going to score,” left guard Saahdiq Charles said. “I knew it deep down. I really did. … I knew we were going to win … even though we didn’t.”

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After a Philadelphia taunting penalty assessed on the kickoff, Washington started the drive at its 36-yard line. Bieniemy called a quick throw left to Samuel, who sprinted for 11 yards. The next play, on what appeared to be a protection breakdown, Eagles linebacker Nicholas Morrow burst through a gaping hole in the middle of the line for his third sack of the game.

But then Howell showed poise. He threw a ball away to avoid another sack. He hit a third-and-17 strike over the middle to reserve wideout Byron Pringle for 15 yards and a fourth-down conversion to Dyami Brown for 16. Two plays later, he hit McLaurin for eight yards, and as he ran to the line of scrimmage, the clock ticking down from 20 seconds with no timeouts, he never appeared fazed.

“Just try to calm the storm,” he said of his mind-set. “Just trying to get the play called and everyone lined up. … Credit to [Bieniemy] for giving me a call fast enough where I could go out there and make it right with those guys. It’s one of those things we work on.”

Howell noticed Slay was in off coverage against McLaurin, so when McLaurin ran a quick out route, he hit him along the sideline not only to convert third and two but to stop the clock.

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With five seconds left, Howell threw a difficult pass low over the middle to Samuel, and luckily for the Commanders, he couldn’t snag it, leaving two seconds for Dotson’s heroics.

In overtime, on third and five, the Eagles rushed five, and Howell floated a perfect pass to McLaurin down the left sideline that, after a lengthy review, the officials ruled he did not catch. Maybe the only reason he didn’t is because his left foot landed on the left forearm of Eagles safety Reed Blankenship, pushing his toes into the white paint of the sideline.

After the game, Howell said that, from film study, he knew the Eagles would play man-to-man, and for that play, he knew “the whole time” he would throw to McLaurin.

“I could have gotten it out a little quicker and given him some more room,” Howell said.

In the locker room, Howell sat on his stool, analyzing a few key plays with backup Jacoby Brissett. Then he got up and walked around the room clockwise, going from the running backs to the wide receivers to the tight ends to the offensive line. He thanked his teammates for plays they had made and offered encouragement.

A few minutes later, when asked about Howell’s ability to bounce back from an ugly loss, Cosmi suggested the entire unit was following the quarterback. And then he made a point that seemed to crystallize the difference between this year’s offense and the last.

“You got a bunch of fighters,” he said. “You got a bunch of guys who will come back and not settle for being average.”