Sonny Styles, Mariota lead Commanders past Seahawks 33-31

On paper this was supposed to be a bad Sunday in Washington. Jayden Daniels was out, Mariota was making the start, and the team coming to town was the Super Bowl champ with Sam Darnold back from his Week 1 injury. Darnold was great, too: 31 of 45 for 379 yards and 4 touchdowns. It didn't matter, because the Commanders' defense kept taking the ball away and the backup QB never gave it back.

The defense is the story, and Sonny Styles is the headline. The Commanders wanted him to be a linebacker who's everywhere at once, and on Sunday he was. He forced 2 fumbles, and on one of them he ripped the ball out of AJ Barner's arms as the tight end crossed the goal line. Barner fell on it for a touchdown anyway, which is brutal luck. Styles also picked off a pass that bounced off Tim Settle's helmet first. Before halftime, Nate was already done pretending to be objective.

Eric Nathan

@BarstoolNate

Sonny Styles is an absolute ANIMAL. That one rep everyone ran with from preseason couldn't have been more opposite of who he is. He is in on every single play. I'm in love.

That preseason rep Nate mentions is the one clip of Styles that got passed around all summer as proof he couldn't play. Sunday's tape says otherwise. PFT Commenter, a lifelong Washington fan, went back to the 1st quarter with the game still 0-0 and pulled a snap where the Commanders swarmed a Seattle run and buried the ball carrier in a pile.

PFT Commenter

@PFTCommenter

Sonny Styles is a monster

On offense, Mariota didn't do anything flashy. He did everything a backup has to do to win a game like this. He went 19 of 31 for 183 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and he kept feeding the ball to the playmakers. The biggest play of his day was a scramble: 9 yards on 3rd-and-7 with 1:15 left, which let Washington run out the clock. Nate gave the credit for how the offense was run to Mariota and David Blough together.

Eric Nathan

@BarstoolNate

David Blough and Mariota are running this offense the way an offense is supposed to be run.

There was still plenty of stress for Washington fans. Seattle's receivers got loose all afternoon, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished with 10 catches for 128 yards and 2 scores. What finally sealed it was Kain Medrano, in the first real action of his NFL career. Odafe Oweh got pressure on Darnold, the throw came out wrong, and Medrano returned the interception for a touchdown. That gave Washington the cushion it ended up needing, since Seattle scored late to make the final 33-31.

About 2 hours after gushing over Styles, Nate posted his full reaction. Take the caption with a grain of salt. He wrote "only positives" about a game where the defense gave up 379 passing yards, and he knows it.

Eric Nathan

@BarstoolNate

WHAT A WIN ONLY POSITIVES HERE #HTTC

This doesn't solve anything long term in Washington. The team goes as far as Daniels takes it, and his status is still the question that matters most. What Sunday did prove is that the season won't fall apart while he's out. The Commanders just beat the champs with their backup quarterback, Styles looks like the defensive centerpiece they drafted him to be, and for 1 week Nate got to enjoy it without complaining about anything.