- 11 minutes ago
Kevin Sheehan breaks down the key positive takeaways from the Commanders' massive 33-31 upset over the Seattle Seahawks as 8.5-point underdogs. He highlights the defense's +3 turnover margin, Marcus Mariota's poised veteran leadership, and Amik Robertson's standout four-pass-breakup performance. Sheehan also praises Washington's elite run defense, clutch goal-line stands, and organizational resilience in securing a major victory without Jayden Daniels.
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00:00What a football game yesterday. Washington wins it 33-31 to move to 1-2 on the season as they
00:09head to London.
00:10I have no idea what the status of Jaden Daniels is today and what they're thinking.
00:16Dan Quinn will hold a presser later on this afternoon. I'm sure we will find out if he's been ruled
00:21in or ruled out, if he'll make the trip or won't.
00:24My guess was on Friday, the giant game worst case, and maybe there would be a chance, certainly as an
00:320-3 football team, I think that he's staying back and they'll let that elbow heal one more week.
00:39Just a guess. Don't know anything for sure. We'll keep abreast of everything that's going on with respect to reporting.
00:47By the way, Washington signed Austin Eckler this morning. It actually, Ben told me it happened on Saturday, but it
00:55was reported today.
00:56So it was not in reaction to anything that happened during the game yesterday.
01:01Just if you were wondering, oh, they weren't, you know, pleased with Bill's performance or anybody else's because I thought
01:08Rashad was pretty good in the game.
01:10No, apparently they had planned to do that or did do that on Saturday and it wasn't reported until today.
01:16And I guess officially the transaction won't happen until today, but Austin Eckler is back.
01:22If you think about 2024 and even early last season, some of the most dynamic offensive days were with number
01:3030 on the field.
01:33What does that mean for Krosky Merritt or Rashad White?
01:37It seems more intuitive that it would be more of a Rashad White thing, but White's played very well in
01:43the last two games.
01:44I don't know what the plan is.
01:47I'll tell you one thing.
01:48They did not run the football very well yesterday, although they had one big one called back by a rookie
01:55mistake.
01:57Antonio Williams not getting up on the line of scrimmage.
02:00All right.
02:00The good, the bad, and a bunch of other sort of observations that don't necessarily fit into either one of
02:06those categories.
02:07Let's start with the good.
02:08But as mentioned, plus three turnover margin.
02:12You get three takeaways and, you know, all of them result in touchdowns created.
02:18A starting field position after the first one, the forced fumble by Sonny Stiles at the Seattle 21.
02:24The offense has to take advantage of it.
02:26You don't want to end up with three field goals.
02:28You know, you don't want Medrano to go down at the six-yard line and you get stopped and forced
02:32to kick a field goal.
02:34But they, and they did take advantage of them, but wasn't it nice to actually feel what it feels like
02:42when you get takeaways?
02:44It's been so long, it feels like.
02:47And three of them were the difference.
02:49And the fact they didn't give away any as well.
02:52There was one dropped pick.
02:55Marcus got fooled with Owuso dropping into coverage and threw it right to him.
03:01But you need some of those breaks to win a game in which you are, you know, an eight-and
03:06-a-half-point dog at home against the defending champs.
03:10Plus three in the turnover margin.
03:12The number one reason.
03:14They won the football game.
03:16And look, they were, two of the three were clearly forced.
03:19And the deflection off the Settle helmet, it's about time Washington gets one of those plays.
03:25Everybody seems to get them except for our team in recent years.
03:29And look, Settle's a big dude and he played well and ball bounced off his helmet into the air and
03:34Sonny Stiles had to come down with it.
03:36And not only that, he did a great job protecting the football.
03:39But he did a great job forcing that first fumble.
03:42You saw, they have really been punching at footballs.
03:45Kwon Martin, on two different occasions, went for the ball first.
03:48And Sonny Stiles had two forced fumbles on the day along with the interception.
03:53All along with an incredible pass defense against Price on a deep shot.
04:00He was outstanding in the game, obviously.
04:02But number one on the list.
04:05Three turnovers plus three in the turnover margin.
04:11And the three turnovers led to 21 points.
04:15Seven of those on a pick six by Kane Medrano.
04:18Go back and watch his UCLA tape.
04:20This is one of those dudes that is always kind of with his eyes, with his vision, with his anticipation.
04:26You know, two-hand touch, three-on-three, the dude's picking off every throw out there.
04:31This guy just has that kind of athletic feel.
04:34That's what he did.
04:35It was nice to see him get on the field for his first true meaningful action as a second-year
04:41player.
04:41And he made the most of it, for sure.
04:45Number two on the list of good.
04:46Marcus Mariota.
04:48I think that this was his best game.
04:52And I say that, and he's had some good football games, you know, for this team since being signed in
04:592024.
05:00But I thought yesterday, given the opponent, given that they had a makeshift offensive line in front of them.
05:08No Cosme, no Tunsil.
05:10We know that.
05:11And then Lucas Patrick.
05:12I bet you guys didn't know who he was.
05:14They signed him a week and a half ago.
05:16And I think we pointed out, I think everybody pointed out, he's played a lot of center in addition to
05:20playing guard.
05:20He started at center.
05:22They moved Allegretti to Cosme's spot.
05:24And then Patrick gets hurt.
05:25Allegretti goes back to center.
05:26Matt Gulbin comes in, the rookie from Michigan State, to play guard.
05:30So in front of a makeshift offensive line, which I thought did a very good job, against that opponent,
05:39Marcus Mariota's veteran IQ, poise.
05:45I had four or five, maybe six, checks.
05:50What appeared to be, we don't know for sure, but what appeared to be checks at the line of scrimmage
05:55that all resulted in very good plays, very good results.
06:00And I don't know what the initial play would have generated, but usually it's getting out of a bad play
06:07to get into a better play
06:08or getting out of a play to get to a better play.
06:12One thing I don't know for sure, I actually talked to Ben about this earlier this morning,
06:17because I'd love to find out from Marcus or Jaden, if they actually do have what appears to be more
06:24autonomy,
06:25more ability pre-snap at the line of scrimmage in Blau's system than they did in Kingsbury's.
06:31Remember this too, in the no huddle and in the hurry up,
06:35it's not that they didn't have multiple play opportunities under Kingsbury,
06:39but I think in a lot of instances, Kingsbury, on the headset,
06:43because they got to the line of scrimmage with 35 seconds left on the play clock,
06:48he was the one that would eventually say, no, we're not going to go with that, we're going to go
06:53with this,
06:53before the communication at 15 seconds cut off.
06:59Marcus Mariota's control at the line of scrimmage,
07:02like the touchdown run to Krosky-Meritt was a check, no doubt you saw that.
07:07He moved Krosky-Meritt into the backfield.
07:09The mistake was, and maybe this was on Marcus to a certain degree,
07:12because it is a rookie receiver, and he's got to wait for Antonio Williams to step up
07:18so that Josh Connerly Jr. isn't uncovered,
07:22which ultimately happened because Williams didn't step up,
07:25so an illegal formation brought back a 48-yard touchdown run,
07:30but that was a check.
07:34The 8-yard completion on the 5th drive of the first half to,
07:43by the way, Williams was a check.
07:46The 3rd quarter touchdown pass that we came back with,
07:49that appeared to be a check.
07:52The final drive, the 3rd-9 run to Rashad White was definitely a check.
07:58You could see that.
07:59I mean, it's 3rd-9, man.
08:01You can't give up the football.
08:04Did anybody think that if Seattle got the football back,
08:08that Washington was going to win the game, 33-31?
08:12There was going to be a field goal attempt for a 34-33 win.
08:16Now, whether or not the kicker made it, Myers made it, who knows.
08:20But they gave up a 5-play, 68-yard drive in a minute 6.
08:24A minute 6 to make it 33-31.
08:30Eight plays, 30 yards, the final two minutes and 51 seconds of that game,
08:35with two 3rd down runs on third and long.
08:40The check to White.
08:41White bounces it, stays inbounds.
08:44A 19-yard run off a Mariota, what appeared to be, I think, a check.
08:50His poise, his IQ, his experience was a major factor in the win.
08:58And then you go to some of the throws.
09:00The first touchdown pass to Rashad White.
09:02I thought the pocket in that situation did a good job and allowed for him to step up.
09:07And he makes a good throw to White for the touchdown.
09:10He was good in the quick game all day long.
09:13You love to see two things.
09:15Blau not give up on the run game, even though it wasn't working.
09:18And two, a lot of quick game throws.
09:22The touchdown pass to Burke Scott.
09:24He got leveled by Leonard Williams right up the middle.
09:27What a throw that was.
09:28The throw to Terry at the end of the first half,
09:30when he got smacked in the head by, I forget who it was now.
09:35That should have been a penalty on top of the completion.
09:38How about the two throws that didn't actually end in completion
09:42because De'Ami didn't get both feet down and Terry wasn't able to get feet down.
09:46But those were really high-level throws.
09:50He did a really good job when they were backed up after the goal line stand
09:54at their two-yard line to get out of the end zone on a play,
09:59to get back to the one- or two-yard line to avoid the safety.
10:03The deep shot, obviously, to Antonio Williams that Williams dropped.
10:07There was a fingertip from a defender on the ball that changed slightly the direction,
10:13but it was a good throw, and Antonio Williams should have come down with it
10:16because even after the slight tip, it was in his hands.
10:20And then the touchdown pass to Terry, giving his guy one-on-one coverage,
10:23a shot with a throw that was intentionally a little bit short
10:27so Terry could come back.
10:29Outstanding all day long.
10:32And then, oh, the two slants to Terry that on the drive that made it 27-24,
10:41the field goal drive, there was a third and sixth slant to Terry for,
10:45I thought, yardage that was good enough to move the sticks.
10:48I thought Quinn should have challenged that, actually.
10:53The throw, look, Terry is, we know what Terry is, okay?
10:57We disagree about where he's ranked, some of us do, but Terry's number one
11:02is he is a great contested catch guy, in part because he doesn't get consistent separation.
11:11Those two catches and those two throws, the third and six or third and seven
11:16and then the fourth and one, they didn't challenge it.
11:19Outstanding on Mariota's part, outstanding on Terry's part.
11:23And then, look, the third and seven, you know, to ice the game, pulling on the zone read.
11:27I talked about on Friday, I wanted Mariota to be a part of the run game.
11:30I don't think he was a part of the running game enough during the game,
11:35but he is and always has been one of the best zone read quarterbacks in the NFL.
11:42He has very, very good ball handling skills, and he's an outstanding decision maker.
11:49Reading off that edge, he pulls it with great ball handling ability
11:56where it really does look like running back run.
11:59And then he's an outstanding runner, even at his age now.
12:02It's really been, Marcus Mariota, as a starting quarterback in the NFL,
12:07has been at his best when he's had a coordinator that makes him a part of the run game,
12:16whether it's with designed runs or option runs.
12:20That's when he's been at his best.
12:23There were a couple of throws he'd love to have back on the opening drive.
12:26The third and three to digs was low and bad.
12:29There was a third and 13 check down to Yankoff that, you know,
12:33you got to give Yankoff a chance to catch and run, and he didn't do that.
12:37He missed digs on a third and 11 in the first half,
12:40and then he got fooled by Enwuso on number seven on that play
12:46that could have easily been a pick.
12:48And look, with Mariota, we know now as NFL fans and now as Washington fans,
12:54he is capable of being, you know, a back half of the league's starting quarterback
13:00and running and being functional and, by the way, being dynamic at times.
13:06But over the years, health has been an issue with him.
13:10You know, we've gotten sucked into, you know, Jaden's health, which is an issue for sure.
13:15But Marcus Mariota's missed a lot of football.
13:18He sprained his MCL in the first preseason game against Miami this summer
13:22and missed the rest of the preseason.
13:24He injured his hand at the end of last year and was out,
13:26and that's why Josh Johnson had to come in to the game.
13:29But the other thing is Marcus once or twice a game will make some head-scratching,
13:36back-breaking plays, and that one was right in the hands of the defender.
13:41I think he just got tricked on that one as he dropped into coverage.
13:45He wasn't expecting it.
13:46And Marcus has put the ball on the ground a lot during his career.
13:50You know, he's essentially averaged a fumble every, you know, every 2.3 games.
13:56But, man, he can operate an offense.
14:00And he, I thought yesterday, given the circumstances and given the opponent,
14:06it was his best game as a Washington quarterback.
14:10He started 8 last year.
14:12He came in in relief a couple of times in 2024.
14:16Yesterday, I thought, was his best when you take all of the context into the situation.
14:23He was an A player yesterday.
14:25I thought Blau did a really good job.
14:28He's on my good list.
14:30Look, quick game, taking some shots, the protection with what they had along the offensive line,
14:38and, by the way, their inability to run the football yesterday.
14:42So you've got arguably one of the top two, three, maybe the best defense in the league talent-wise.
14:48Now, they were missing a couple of key safeties yesterday, including Julian Love.
14:52But to end up in a game in which your quarterback goes 19 of 31 for 183 yards, is sacked
15:01only twice.
15:02And one of those was the incredible play that Ernest Jones made after Mariota tucked it
15:07and may have scored had Ernest Jones not made a really good play.
15:10Without a running game against that stout defensive front,
15:15loved the middle screen, the middle tunnel screen to Jalen Lane with the widescreen, you know, decoy fake.
15:23That was a well-designed play.
15:26Some of the ability that Blau had against that team to get receivers open.
15:33Now, this was going to be a game going into it where you were going to have to make solid
15:38catches
15:38and runs after catches.
15:40Because Diggs had a couple of those, for sure.
15:45Yeah, David Blau, I think, has done a decent job here.
15:48Maybe a bit conservative in that opener against Philadelphia,
15:51but probably appropriately so, given the score, given the opponent,
15:57given that defense, given that defensive coordinator.
16:00You know, I think he wanted to make sure that he didn't do anything
16:03that would, you know, take him out of that game against Philadelphia.
16:09Yeah, David Blau is on my list.
16:13Terry's on the list.
16:14How many drops was he credited for in the game?
16:17I keep trying to find it.
16:19I can't find drops.
16:20He had at least one, maybe.
16:22But I got to tell you, man, one of the best contested catch guys in the league.
16:26He is.
16:27Part of it, again, is because he doesn't get great separation consistently.
16:33I love a friend of mine who just absolutely, for whatever reason,
16:39loves Terry and thinks Jaden's the worst quarterback for him.
16:43He sent me a text during the game.
16:44See?
16:45Terry puts up big numbers with Mariota.
16:47Remember that.
16:48Mariota's got to play against the Colts in London.
16:51I'll just remind everybody, anybody that actually has that thought.
16:57Max, what was Terry's best season as a pro?
17:00What season was his best overall season start to finish as a pro?
17:062024, Kevin?
17:07Who was the quarterback that year?
17:09Let me think.
17:11Wasn't Jeff Driscoll?
17:12Wasn't Taylor Heine?
17:13Oh, it was Jaden Daniels.
17:14I mean, come on, people.
17:15Stop living in the moment.
17:17Although I just suggested in the last segment, we just have to live in the moment and enjoy this game.
17:22But I'm saying, obviously, recency bias, man.
17:26Just try a little bit harder.
17:29Terry was outstanding.
17:31Diggs was outstanding in this game.
17:32He's so good after the catch.
17:34And he's got such great feel in zone coverage, by the way.
17:38And then making that first guy miss.
17:41I thought Rashad White had a second good football game.
17:44Keep in mind, too, Rashad White had a 38-yard kickoff return in the game.
17:49In addition to the big run, the 19-yard run that sealed it, he had a – that one didn't
17:55seal it.
17:56That kept that drive going.
17:57It was part of the two third-long run decisions that ended up working that sealed the game.
18:04But he had a 38-yard kickoff return in the game as well.
18:09Again, I thought the offensive line continued, especially given what they had.
18:14They did a solid job, especially in pass pro against that team.
18:19Were there some pressures?
18:20Of course there were.
18:21You're going to have pressures when you play Seattle.
18:24You're not going to be clean for 60 minutes.
18:28But for the most part, give Blau credit.
18:30Give the guys up front some credit.
18:32They did a good job.
18:33Look, this team, through three games defensively, has been outstanding against the run.
18:39In fact, I'm going to guess that Washington's got to be right now, statistically, a top-five run defense.
18:46Let me pull this up and see number three in the league in run defense.
18:52You know, traditional run defensive numbers, meaning yards rushing per game.
18:57They're allowing 82 yards rushing per game, third in the league behind Atlanta and Tampa.
19:03Yesterday, there's no way to say it other than they were flying around, they were gap sound, and they tackled
19:11well in the run game.
19:13Seattle ended up with 44 yards rushing on 18 carries, 2.4 yards per carry.
19:19Now, you also have to say that one of the reasons the last two opponents in particular haven't even tried
19:30to run is because it's been so easy to throw the football against Washington, right?
19:36So two things can be true simultaneously.
19:39One, they've done a really nice job run defense in these first three games.
19:44Two, the opponent hasn't seemed really to care much about running the football.
19:51And Seattle has been an outstanding rushing football team.
19:55They had 160-some yards last week in the win over Arizona.
19:59But Dallas didn't try to run last week.
20:03I think Javante Williams had 10 or 11 carries.
20:06And then yesterday, it was 46 pass attempts to 18 rush attempts, not because they were behind and needed to,
20:14you know, throw it every single play.
20:17Yeah, they were down 24-10 at one point and 33-24.
20:20But it's because they had so much success throwing the football.
20:25So why even try?
20:27But again, Kinlaw, Payne, Settle, the linebackers, including Stiles, Owe has been a really good edge setter.
20:38You know, he got paid to rush the passer, but he's actually been an outstanding edge-setting run stopper, Owe's
20:46been.
20:46I thought Chason, to a certain degree, was the same.
20:49So stopping the run defensively is on the list.
20:55You know, they had not the 10 TFLs that they had against Philadelphia, but there were some impactful tackles for
21:01loss in the game,
21:02starting on the opening drive of the game when Chason came in and stopped Jadarian Price, the Notre Dame back,
21:11the first-round pick at the end of the first round, on a minus four on a second and 10.
21:16Those are drive killers, man.
21:18Those three, four, five-yard TFLs in the run game, just like a sack, they are drive killers.
21:26A four-yard TFL is almost the exact same thing as a sack.
21:30Maybe the sack's going to be minus five or minus six.
21:32But they are drive killers.
21:35Joseph's had one.
21:36Chason had one.
21:38And who was the other one that had one that was a really good play?
21:44Chanel had one before he got injured.
21:48But Amik Robertson was the best defensive player in the game yesterday.
21:54And we have to say it, through three games, he's been by far and away the most impactful free agent
22:00signing
22:01from the class that was the largest in terms of new players in the NFL
22:07and the third highest in terms of the spend in free agency.
22:10They are hurting in their secondary.
22:13Amik Robertson is one tremendous, badass, competitive dude who can stick, who can defend.
22:21I mean, that is a team that's hard to defend.
22:24And they didn't overall defend well.
22:27Amik Robertson is an outstanding player.
22:29He's a hitter.
22:30He is a playmaker.
22:32And yeah, does he get beat?
22:34Sure.
22:34Who doesn't by JSN?
22:36Again, Amik Robertson, the best.
22:40He had four pass-defended plays, PBUs in the game, pass breakups in the game.
22:48That's a lot statistically.
22:49But I thought that there were other plays.
22:51Even when he got beat on a play, he was there.
22:55I thought Kinlaw was good again.
22:57I really like Kinlaw.
22:59He played well last year.
23:00He's playing well this year.
23:02I thought Sonny Stiles obviously was outstanding in the game.
23:05We've now seen in three games, this guy blitz on first down as a run blitzer and be effective.
23:12Blitz on pass downs and be effective.
23:15We've seen him sideline to sideline as a tackler and a run stopper.
23:20We've seen him in coverage.
23:22And yesterday, that play deep down the field against the running back Price was outstanding.
23:28And we've seen him now as a forced fumble and interception guy.
23:33Two forced fumbles, one recovered by the defense.
23:37Also, a pick off the deflection.
23:39The other forced fumble on Saubert, the tight end on the touchdown, was a great play.
23:45And, you know, it's really a matter of how that ball kind of comes out.
23:50He yanked it out, and it just sort of bounced right back into Saubert's hands in the end zone for
23:55a touchdown.
23:56But Sonny Stiles, outstanding.
23:58The goal line stand was really, really big in the game.
24:03You know, the fourth down play in particular, that may have been the best pressure moment of the day.
24:11But, you know, Seattle's on a long drive.
24:13And they end up with a first and goal at the five-yard line.
24:17And they held up in that instance.
24:21And that last play, the fourth and goal at the two, Jeremy Reeves, Medrano on the play,
24:27the pressure on the play to force Darnold out of the pocket, on the move, that was outstanding in the
24:33game.
24:33And then, again, you know, organizationally, that team was ready to play when all signs indicated
24:39or all people outside of the building had legitimately held a service for them,
24:46burying the 2026 season after last week.
24:50They were ready to play.
24:52They were flying around.
24:53They were hitting people.
24:54And they were making mistakes at full speed, which is what you want to see.
24:57Next man up really worked yesterday.
25:00That was not, you know, going into that game at 1 o'clock, one of those where you felt good
25:07about it,
25:08no matter how big of a fan you were.