The Washington Commanders avoided the longest flight ever to London by scraping together just enough plays on both sides of the ball to shock the previously unbeaten and defending Super Bowl champion Seattle 33-31.
With a backup quarterback, the Burgundy and Gold posted their highest point total since putting 41 on the board in Week 3 last year against Las Vegas with Marcus Mariota at the controls. It makes no mathematical sense whatsoever, but starting 1-2 is much more than one game better than 0-3.
Are they fixed for the season? Hardly. But a dreaded 0-4 start is out of the conversation, and we can go back to complaining about Sunday’s 9:30 a.m. kickoff.
**First Down**: This week’s big takeaways are the three huge takeaways that led to 20 points. The first came on Seattle’s second drive of the afternoon when Sonny Styles and Amik Robertson tackled Jadarian Price and forced a fumble at the Seahawks’ 21-yard line, recovered by Tim Settle. Four plays later, the Burgundy and Gold got on the scoreboard.
The second takeaway was Styles’ interception of a pass intended for Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the Seattle 43. Another short field, and more quick work by Mariota, who on the third play of the ensuing drive found Terry McLaurin for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
The third takeaway was an interception by Kain Medrano at midfield, which he returned 50 yards for a touchdown that made it a two-possession game. Through weeks, Washington was at the bottom of the league with zero takeaways after finishing 31st in the NFL with 10 last season, and Sunday a defense that is far from perfect made the necessary big plays to jump-start an offense that’s going to continue to need assistance.
**Second Down**: The rest of the division lived dangerously as well Sunday, with the New York Giants holding off a last-minute drive against Tennessee in a 12-7 win sealed by an interception in the end zone.
Dallas was on the other side of good fortune as the Ravens kicked a 57-yard field goal as time expired after taking a timeout with one second left following a completed pass in bounds.
In the “ghosts of quarterbacks past” department, Kirk Cousins is still slinging it, leading Las Vegas to a 3-0 start after the Raiders won just three games all of 2025.
**Third Down**: The offense moved the chains on 3-13 attempts, going 1-1 on fourth down and settling for a pair of field goals. Mariota completed 3 of 9 passes for one conversion while scrambling once to the marker and getting sacked once. He also had a game-sealing called run in the final minutes of regulation. Rachaad White ran the ball twice, managing two yards on a third-and-four while running right end for 19 yards on a third-and-nine on the final drive of the day.
The top option? McLaurin caught two of five targets (one conversion) while another target was voided because of a Seahawks penalty.
**Yardage breakdown**: 0-1 short-yardage, 0-3 when needing four to six yards, 3-9 on third and long. Defensively, Washington held the Seahawks to 3-9 on the money down, with Sam Darnold completing 3 of 8 passes (two conversions) while scrambling for one first down.
**Flag on the Play**: Washington was whistled nine times for 57 yards, with a crushing call coming in the first quarter. Leading 7-0, a Bill Croskey-Merritt 48-yard touchdown run was nullified because of an illegal formation.
There were also a pair of false starts that were to be expected with a different starting quarterback.
**Fourth Down**: FOX sent the No. 2 crew to Landover, Maryland, and after two weeks of Burkhardt/Brady, we got the duo of Joe Davis and Greg Olsen, just before Davis takes his monthlong hiatus to broadcast the MLB Playoffs.
The trip to London is a wildcard, and in the past the NFL Network has supplied either the Rich Eisen-Kurt Warner combo or has brought in the likes of Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma.
I’m feeling we get Albert-Vilma, especially with CBS holding the doubleheader next week.
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