What is the story about?
The Commanders entered their first game at Northwest Stadium this season as home underdogs against the defending Super Bowl champions. But, through a gritty performance that saw them secure three turnovers, they pulled off a STUNNING 33-31 victory.
Now 1-2 on the young season, and with a little momentum going their way, they head overseas to London to take on the 1-2 Colts before coming back home to face the Giants. These next two games will likely define their season, so all hands need to be on deck
if Dan Quinn hopes to move this squad towards respectability.
Below are my Studs and Duds of the game followed by some notes.
Studs:
- QB Marcus Mariota: Mariota looked completely in control the entire game. He made appropriate checks at the line, delivered the ball with accuracy and came up big with the game on the line. He finished the contest 19-for-31 passing for 183 yards and three touchdowns and was sacked just twice, but no play was bigger than his read option run on third-and-9 late in the fourth quarter. A great game by the captain.
- WR Terry McLaurin: Terry had his breakout game of the 2026 season, leading the team with six receptions for 77 yards and a leaping score. It was great to see F1 get on track!
- RT Josh Conerly: The second-year right tackle has come a long way from his difficult rookie season. He is starting to show a better anchor in pass protection, and his run blocking has been excellent. He didn’t allow a pressure against a very good Seattle defense.
- DL Javon Kinlaw: Kinlaw was a beast inside all afternoon. A lot of his play may have went unnoticed, but a lot of the defensive success stopping the run was because of him. He had two stuffs and two pressures on the afternoon.
- LB Sonny Styles: Sonny had a very good game, and I can’t wait for All-22 to come out to really study his work. He was solid against the run, showed very good coverage (two passes defended), recorded his first NFL interception off a tipped pass by Tim Settle and forced a fumble at the goal line that ended up getting recovered by the tight end who fumbled for a touchdown.
- CB Amik Robertson: Yes, he gave up some passes, including a touchdown, to JSN (who doesn’t), but even on those receptions, Amik had really good coverage. He was responsible for the punch-out forced fumble in the first quarter on Jadarian Price that Washington recovered. He had six total tackles and FOUR passes defended. The guy is a pure DOG in this defense.
- OC David Blough: I know the run game wasn’t clicking, but I thought Blough called a REALLY good game regardless. He kept Seattle’s defense honest, calling 29 rushing attempts including a great read-option call on a third-and-nine late in the fourth quarter. He trusted Mariota with audibles and used the screen to help slow the Seahawks defense down.
- Commanders Run Defense: The run defense has been solid in all three games, however they looked phenomenal today against Seattle, allowing just 44 total yards and no scores on 18 attempts – a 2.4 yards-per-carry average!
- DC Daronte Jones: I thought he had a pretty good game plan against a good Seattle offense. But, the real reason he made this list was his decision to not start Mike Sainristil on the outside and significantly limit his snaps.
Duds:
- WR Antonio Williams: The rookie is going to be very good, but his game against Seattle was not his best. He had a costly illegal formation penalty where he failed to move up to the line of scrimmage when the tight end went in motion to the backfield, and dropped a deep ball by Mariota that looked to have been slightly tipped, but still landed in his lap (feel free to be critical of my decision on this one).
- OL Nick Allegretti: Taking over at guard for the injured Sam Cosmi, Allegretti was a walking turnstile. He was awful in the run game and while attempting to protect Mariota in pass protection. He allowed a team-leading six pressures and a sack. He should be benched when Sam Cosmi returns.
- CB Mike StandRealStill: Despite his playing time being reduced to just 26 defensive snaps, StandRealStill was still a liability when he was in coverage and his tackling was just as poor. The time is now to bench him.
Notes:
- LB Kain Medrano had a really up and down game. There was a series in the fourth quarter where he missed three tackles in a row (including a would-be sack); HOWEVER, he came back and redeemed himself with a huge pick-6! There was a LOT I liked with him in coverage, but he’s going to have to clean up the missed tackles (something that plagued him in college), if he wants to see more consistent playing time.
- Washington didn’t have a lot of success on the ground, but RB Rachaad White had some nice carries averaging 4.4 yard per carry and caught the first touchdown of the game from Mariota. He also did a nice job in pass protection.
- WR Treylon Burks needs more targets — PERIOD!
- I’m not going to give C Lucas Patrick too much of a hard time as he’s only had a few weeks with the team, but there were some snap issues early on — both high and low.
- As usual, WR Dyami Brown did nothing on offense. Why he’s taking snaps from a guy like Burks is beyond me.
- S Percy Butler looked OK at free safety. His coverage was better than both Quan Martin and Jeremy Reaves.
- EDGE Joshua Josephs flashed yet again and, with more snaps, I think the staff will see they have a young player they can build around. He had five total tackles, one for a loss, and a quarterback pressure.
- The personal foul penalty called against EDGE K’Lavon Chaisson was TERRIBLE. There really needs to be a way those at the NFL headquarters in New York can moderate these missed calls. Aside from the bogus penalty, Chaisson was disruptive, collecting three tackles, one for a loss, and getting two pressures.
- CB Rasul Douglas is not perfect by any means, but he looked a LOT better as the primary outside corner over Sainristil. If he can hold the fort down for another week or two until we get Trey Amos back, the secondary may be OK.
- K Drew Stevens NAILED a 57-yard field goal in the second quarter but had a costly missed extra point that thankfully didn’t come back to bite the team. My leash is long with the rookie, so I’m prepared to live with the ups and downs.
