The opinions expressed in this article do not reflect those of the team.
The season has not gone the was the Washington Commanders had hoped heading into the bye week, but there have still been some impressive moments on the field. Here are five of the defense's best plays from Weeks 1-6.
Sonny Styles runs through Saquon Barkley for his first sack.
There was talk all offseason about what Styles could bring to the Commanders' defense. After months of speculation, the Commanders gave fans a taste of what they had cooked up for the rookie.
Styles was all over the field in the Commanders' season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. He made plays in coverage and was in on multiple tackles, but his most memorable play came when he was a blitzer and recorded his first career sack. He took Jalen Hurts down for a six-yard loss, but not before bowling over Barkley to get into the backfield.
Styles' sack was the first sack by a Washington player in their first career game since Chase Young in Week 1 of 2020.
K'Lavon Chaisson gets another forced fumble.
The Commanders needed a play from their defense as the San Francisco 49ers marched down the field looking to extend their lead. Christian McCaffrey got the 49ers closer to that goal as he sprinted for a 12-yard gain, but Chaisson had other plans.
Styles met McCaffrey in the secondary, and as the running back was trying to fight for extra yards, Chaisson came in from behind and punched the ball from the running back's grasp. Frankie Luvu fell on it to give Washington the ball and stave off another touchdown from San Francisco's offense.
Chaisson forced a fumble in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. It gave the Commanders eight takeaways for the season and pushed their turnover margin to +6, which is tied for the best in the league.
Styles grabs his first interception.
The great thing about Styles' athleticism is that he is usually in the right place at the right time. That was the case in Week 3, when the Commanders upset the Seattle Seahawks thanks in part to one of their better defensive performances of the season thus far.
The Commanders had a 17-10 lead over the Seahawks at halftime but stalled on the opening drive of the third quarter. The Seahawks set up at their own 18-yard line, but their drive ended quickly as a pass from Sam Darnold was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell into Styles' hands at the Seahawks' 42-yard line. It gave the Commanders their best starting field position of the day, and three plays later, Marcus Mariota connected with Terry McLaurin for a 30-yard touchdown.
Styles became the first defensive player since Jonathan Allen in 2022 to record an interception and forced fumble in a single game and the first Washington rookie to record at least one interception, one forced fumble and have multiple passes defensed in a single game in franchise history.
Jeremy Reaves puts the exclamation mark on a fourth-down stand.
Styles was not the only defensive player giving exceptional effort against the Seahawks. One of the best moments of the game actually came before his interception when the Seahawks were trying to tie the score in the first half.
The Seahawks marched 78 yards downfield on a 12-play drive before facing a fourth down at the Commanders' 2-yard line. They had already thrown the ball twice, but Darnold couldn't connect with either AJ Barner or Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Darnold targeted Barner again, but Jeremy Reaves came across the field and had just enough coverage to make the pass too difficult for Barner to complete.
The Commanders' offense could not do anything with the ball and punted it back to the Seahawks three plays later, but Reaves' effort helped keep the Commanders' lead intact.
Kain Medrano's first interception goes for six.
Medrano was mostly a special teams player prior to Week 3, but once Leo Chenal went down with a season-ending neck injury, he was thrown into the starting lineup.
He ended up making what is arguably the Commanders' best defensive play of the season so far.
There were four minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the Seahawks, who were down 14 points earlier in the second half, cut their deficit to just three points. Darnold dropped back and looked for Barner on the play. Styles was in position to possibly break up the pass, but Medrano broke on the ball and ran 50 yards for the score, avoiding an attempted tackle from Darnold along the way.
"Close game, gotta have a way to get some momentum back," Medrano said. "I think that's what did it."
Washington ended the day with its first win of the season, taking down last season's Super Bowl champions and providing hope that they could compete with the league's best teams.
