The Commanders’ defense finally did 1 thing that has been missing all season, and it paid off in a massive way against the Chargers
The Commanders’ defense responded to all the criticism.
The Washington Commanders get their most impressive and much-needed win of the season on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers in Jayden Daniels’ return to the team and California.
The offense was clicking on all cylinders, but to everyone’s surprise, it was the defense that made the big plays, helping to flip the momentum for the game. All eyes were on the defensive group that had been scrutinized over the past few weeks, and it had its best game of the season when it was needed most.
Things started rough as the Commanders went down double digits to start the game, but the defense created turnovers and took advantage of mistakes by the Chargers to give Daniels and the offense the ball back, and it’ll quiet critics this week.
Commanders’ defense made the difference
The defense has been the team’s liability ever since the Week 1 win against the New York Giants, but they turned a new page against the Chargers, and one play flipped all of the momentum.
Quinton Johnston had another big gain when they were already up 10-0, but Quan Martin popped it out for a turnover. Daniels and the offense drove down the field and got seven points from it, and that’s when the game changed.
The Chargers were looking to go up 17-0 before that fumble, and the outcome of the game wouldn’t have been the same without that play. That wasn’t the only turnover of the game, however, and you can never count out a quarterback like Justin Herbert until it’s over.
The Chargers were knocking on the door in the red zone, down 20-10, then Johnny Newton tipped a pass at the goal line that went to Mike Sainristil to end the threat of a score.
Commanders contained Justin Herbert
You can only do so much to stop Herbert, and of course, he had his big plays throughout the game, but holding him to only 166 passing yards is a big win. Herbert was third in the league in passing yards going into this game, and everyone figured it would be easy against this secondary. The pass rush finally showed back up after disappearing last week, and PFF has the Commanders with 20 pressures on the day, with four sacks.
This wasn’t a perfect game by the defense, and there are still areas for improvement, such as the zone defense and tackling. However, it made the big plays when needed, including the first multiple-turnover game since Week 10 last year. The defense can build off of this momentum for next week’s game against the Chicago Bears.
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