DeMarcus Lawrence, Micah Parsons preview matchup versus Washington rookie Sam Howell

Following a change of heart from Washington head coach Ron Rivera, it seems the Dallas Cowboys get the opportunity to break in rookie quarterback Sam Howell on Sunday, instead of Taylor Heinicke. Heinicke was going to start over Carson Wentz for Week 18, but Rivera, believing Howell deserved in-game action at this point in the season, switched things up and officially made the call on Wednesday.

Howell, a former star at UNC and a fifth-round draft pick, has yet to throw a pass in a regular season game. During the preseason, however, he tossed 43 completions on 69 attempts for 547 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also added 94 rushing yards and two more scores.

The Dallas Cowboys learned of Rivera’s choice just before their first full practice of the week. After practice, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said he doesn’t think much will change on Sunday with the new QB under center.

“It’s about them as the Washington Commanders football team,” Lawrence said. “I don’t think a coaching staff can change the whole playbook in one game because of the quarterback. I feel like whatever they were running beforehand, Sam Howell will be there to run the same thing.”

Lawrence popped up on the injury report as a limited participant due to an ankle on Wednesday. He is fresh off of a five-tackle game versus the Titans.

Cowboys game plan for rookie Howell

Linebacker Micah Parsons remembers Howell from the Tar Heels due to their overlapping collegiate careers.

“Obviously, we don’t have a lot of looks on (Howell),” Parsons said on Wednesday. “Watching him when he was at North Carolina, being in the same draft class, I understand he has great arm talent and deep ball. He and Dyami Brown already have a connection (from their time at UNC). That’s something to look out for. I thought he was a pretty good quarterback coming out and that he would go a lot earlier than expected.”

In three seasons at UNC, Howell had 10,283 yards, 92 touchdowns, 23 interceptions, a 63.8% completion percentage, 1,009 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns. Also in those three seasons, the former Tar Heel took 117 sacks, including a career-high 48 in 2021. Only two other college quarterbacks took more sacks that season, one of which was Malik Willis.

Parsons and Lawrence will be trying hard to add to their sack totals on the season versus Howell on Sunday. Although he’s fallen behind Nick Bosa in recent weeks, the former Penn State star is still in the running for the defensive player of the year award.

Kickoff between the Cowboys and Commanders is at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, the same time as the Philadelphia Eagles versus New York Giants game. If the Eagles lose and the Cowboys win, Dallas owns the tiebreaker, which would give them the NFC East title and home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs.