The Seattle Seahawks outgained Washington by nearly 180 yards Sunday and still left Northwest Stadium with their first loss in 10 months.
The Commanders held on for a 33-31 victory that snapped Seattle’s 12-game winning streak, a run that included last season’s Super Bowl title. Three Seahawks turnovers produced 21 Washington points. The Commanders did not turn the ball over.
Seattle fell to 2-1. Washington improved to 1-2 and won its home opener with Marcus Mariota starting in place of injured quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Head coach Mike Macdonald offered no soft landing afterward. He told his players and staff they would confront the mistakes rather than talk around them.
“The message was going to be the same whether we won or lost,” Macdonald said. “It’s about how we do what we do and how we get better — it’s really that simple.”
Then he added the line that framed the afternoon: “We say go through, not around — that’s what we plan on doing.”
Sam Darnold completed 31 of 45 passes for 379 yards and four touchdowns in his first full game since a glute injury in Week 1. He also threw two interceptions. One of them, which Darnold later called a “bad decision,” was returned 50 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Kain Medrano with 3:57 left. That score made it 33-24 after the extra point failed.
Darnold answered immediately. He led a five-play, 68-yard drive and threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp with 2:51 remaining. Seattle never got the ball back. Mariota converted two late third downs and scrambled to run out the clock.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught 10 passes for 128 yards and two scores. Seattle finished with 437 total yards to Washington’s 258 and 28 first downs to 17. None of it was enough.
“In the NFL, what wins games is great situational football, taking care of the rock, playing complementary football, and stacking plays, and we didn’t do those things today and they did,” Macdonald said.
Rookie running back Jadarian Price lost a fumble on Seattle’s first possession, setting up Mariota’s six-yard touchdown pass to Rachaad White. A third-quarter interception of Darnold set up another Commanders score. Seattle was minus-three in the turnover battle.
Macdonald was equally direct about the defense. Asked about the pass rush, he did not hedge.
“No, we didn’t get enough pressure today,” Macdonald said. “They did a good job taking care of the quarterback. We’ll look at it and see where we can get better, but I don’t think we hit our mark today on the quarterback.”
He connected the lack of pressure to the missing takeaways and said the red-zone defense “is not good enough.” Seattle stayed within two points for much of the second half but could not finish.
“We can be better situationally to take advantage of that and try to close the game out,” Macdonald said.
He still found reasons to like Darnold’s work. The quarterback made plays on time and off-script while keeping the defending champions in position to win.
“I thought he made some tremendous plays on time and on extended plays, so I thought he did a great job,” Macdonald said. “The takeaways are tough, but we’ll look at why we made those decisions. On the whole, he kept us in the game.”
Mariota threw three touchdown passes and finished 19 of 31 for 183 yards. Terry McLaurin’s 30-yard scoring catch in the third quarter stretched the lead to 24-10 before Seattle’s comeback.
Macdonald said the staff will review game planning, preparation, travel and execution. He expressed no doubt about the locker room’s response.
“I just know our team and what they’re made of,” Macdonald said. “We’re going to go back to work and get better.”
The Seahawks return home next week after a loss that looked avoidable on paper and felt familiar in the details: turnovers, missed pressure and sloppy situational football. Macdonald’s instruction was the same as it would have been after a win. Go through the problems. Do not go around them.
