After a 10-day break, the Commanders returned to Northwest Stadium to face the Raiders and cleaned up with a 41-24 victory. Quarterback Marcus Mariota, wide receiver Jaylin Lane, running back Jeremy McNichols and Washington's front seven had star showings in the Burgundy & Gold's second win of the season.

Marcus Mariota

When speculation that Mariota would be stepping in for an injured Jayden Daniels was confirmed this past Friday, there was little concern in the building about whether the veteran signal-caller was up to the Week 3 task.

"He's just got such a strong grasp of what we do and how we get down," Quinn said of the quarterback ahead of this Sunday's matchup.

The comfortability was on display in the win against Las Vegas. Aside from a fumble in the first quarter, Mariota made good decisions and helped the Commanders' offense soar. He executed the game plan, avoided sacks, made pinpoint throws and even ran in for a touchdown himself. Mariota finished 15-of-21 for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Just like he did last season, the backup quarterback excelled when his number was called, and because of that, Washington is back in the win column in Week 3.

Jaylin Lane

Any rookie's first touchdown is memorable for the player himself, but wide receiver Lane's first six points came off a moment few will forget any time soon.

In his first season as a pro, the receiver out of Virginia Tech has seen most of his action come on special teams, and so that's where he found himself with about 10 minutes to go in the third quarter as the Raiders lined up for a punt. Then, Lane proceeded to do something that no Washington player has done in nearly a decade. He collected the ball around the Commanders' 10-yard line and turned on the jets all the way to the end zone.

The punt return touchdown was Washington's first since Week 5 of the 2016 season when Jamison Crowder took it to the house against the Ravens. The 90-yard punt return score also tied the longest in franchise history. What's more, Lane is the first Washington rookie to record a punt return touchdown since Desmond Howard did so in 1992. All those factors made it quite a first trip to the end zone for Lane.

Front seven

What was a handful of big-time moments in the first two games of the season erupted into an all-out-dominant performance in Week 3 for Washington's front seven. Las Vegas quarterback Geno Smith repeatedly found himself in spots he couldn't get out of thanks to pressure from the Commanders' pass rush. Sometimes that meant Smith was forced to throw the ball away. Other times that meant he ended up on the ground. Dorance Armstrong, Von Miller, Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Bobby Wagner all recorded sacks in the contest.

It wasn't just the quarterback who had to contend with the heat the front seven was bringing. When the Raiders handed the ball off to their top running back in rookie Ashton Jeanty, the first line of defense frequently emerged as an impenetrable wall. The defensive line and linebackers were responsible for seven tackles for loss. By the end of the game, Las Vegas had only managed to accumulate 93 yards on the ground to Washington's 201.

Jeremy McNichols

Veteran running back Jeremy McNichols knows all about the value of patience, toughness and executing in the right moments. Those strengths of his were underscored in one of the most electrifying plays of the afternoon against the Raiders.

It was the second quarter, and Washington had just gotten the ball back after a Las Vegas touchdown. On second-and-5, Mariota handed the ball off to McNichols for what looked to be just a couple yards. Then all of a sudden, those couple yards in the middle of the field turned into dozens and a touchdown.

McNichols kept churning his legs and never gave up each time he was met by the defense. He was rewarded for that persistence, found a gap and was greeted by a whole bunch of green space on his way to the end zone. The 60-yard touchdown was the longest of McNichols' career and the longest rushing touchdown by a Washington player since Steven Sims Jr. during the 2019 season.