The Washington Commanders were being counted out entering Week 3.
The team was 0-2 entering the contest, and they just lost star quarterback Jayden Daniels to another elbow injury. Plus, the team was welcoming the Seattle Seahawks to town, who just won the Super Bowl and easily looked like the league’s best team over the past two weeks.
Well, there’s a reason they say “any given Sunday.” It wasn’t the prettiest game, but the Commanders pulled out a shocking upset win over the Seahawks. The Commanders won 33-31, picking up their first win of the season and their most impressive win in a long time.
Now, let’s talk about the studs and duds from this performance.
Stud: Marcus Mariota
Marcus Mariota didn’t play a perfect game, but he did enough to win. Mariota deserves a ton
of respect for his gutsy Week 3 performance.
The veteran threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers. Mariota kept drives alive, made smart decisions, and didn’t do anything to hurt the team. This is exactly what the quarterback needed to do for the Commanders to have a chance today.
Dud: Bill Croskey-Merritt
Bill Croskey-Merritt has not been consistent enough this season. The Commanders’ ground game as a whole has not been good enough, and that trend continued in Week 3. Croskey-Merritt does deserve some benefit of the doubt because the Seahawks have an elite run defense, but he still wasn’t good enough.
Croskey-Merritt ended with just 36 yards on 19 carries, and he didn’t find the end zone. Rachaad White didn’t do much either, but at least he scored a receiving touchdown, and his 19-yard late in the fourth quarter was huge.
Stud: Terry McLaurin
Terry McLaurin came up big for his quarterback today. The veteran caught six passes for 77 yards and one touchdown, showing that he can still be a go-to target.
McLaurin wasn’t getting as much attention with Stefon Diggs in the room, but today showed that McLaurin still has it. The veteran and Mariota clearly have some good on-field chemistry.
Dud: Tight ends
The three Commanders tight ends combined for two catches for 11 yards on Sunday. This proves how important Chig Okonkwo is, because this unit is invisible when he’s not playing.
John Bates adds value as a blocker, at least, but it would be nice for a tight end other than Okonkwo to help out in the passing game.
Stud: Sonny Styles
Sonny Styles had probably his best game of the season so far. The linebacker came away with five tackles, two pass breakups, one interception, and one forced fumble. Styles showed off his speed, making a couple of nice plays in pass coverage.
If this is the type of performance we’re going to see from Styles going forward, the Commanders’ defense will be in good shape.
Stud: Kain Medrano
Kain Medrano had arguably the biggest play of the game when he picked Sam Darnold off in the fourth quarter and ran it back for a 50-yard score.
Medrano also collected five tackles and one quarterback hit on the day. The defense gave up a lot of points and yards, but these linebackers made key plays at key times.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Studs and duds from Commanders' impressive upset win over Seahawks
