Kain Medrano had a sea of green grass in front of him after he grabbed the first interception of his career off a Sam Darnold pass to AJ Barner. The only thing on his mind: score.

"I had to show off my wide receiver skills," Medrano said with a smile after the game.

Medrano did find his way to the end zone, evading one last effort on a tackle from Darnold to do so. While not the finishing blow the Washington Commanders hoped it would be, it was undoubtedly the high point for a defense that forced three turnovers in a 33-31 win over the Seattle Seahawks that put them at 1-2 for the season.

Head coach Dan Quinn said the turnover wall outside his office was "devastatingly" bare after the team's first two games. That won't be the case once the team gets back to work on Monday.

"It's the habits that we're trying to produce," Quinn said.

There were signs in the first two games that the current version of the Commanders' defense was an improvement over what the unit showed last season. However, takeaways -- one of the things the team emphasized in the offseason -- had not materialized yet. The team was certainly frustrated with the lack of production, but they weren't daunted by it. Earlier in the week, Odafe Oweh said the turnovers would come as long as they stuck to their principles and kept trying to force the issue.

That ended up being the case on Sunday, and each of the takeaways the Commanders forced directly and indirectly led to 20 points. It was the best example of defensive coordinator Daronte Jones' vision for the defense. He's preached that if the front caused enough penetration and disruption, it would lead to opportunities to take the ball away. The players bought into that message and never wavered.

"It makes a huge impact on the game," rookie Sonny Styles said. "There's probably some crazy percentage on the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game. But obviously we know there's still some things on the tape that we need to fix."

The Seahawks still had a good day from a statistical standpoint. Darnold threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba accounting for 128 yards and two of those scores. They had 28 first downs and hung 31 points on Washington's defense. They also cut a nine-point Commanders lead down to just two following Medrano's interception, moving 68 yards downfield in 66 seconds.

That doesn't cover up the positives from the defense, though. Quinn said the Commanders knew Sunday's game would be a "slugfest," and the unit had the right punches when it mattered most. They held the Seahawks to just 44 yards on the ground and forced four punts. They had a goal line stand in the second quarter to keep the score 14-7, and Styles was an impact player on every level, playing a hand in two of the Commanders' three takeaways.

Most importantly, it gave the Commanders' offense, which arguably had the bigger challenge facing Seattle's defense, plenty of opportunities. Marcus Mariota, who has stepped in as the starting quarterback while Jayden Daniels recovers from his elbow injury, directed the offense well, completing 61% of his passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns -- his most in a game in four seasons. Following a fumble recovery from Amik Robertson, which Styles forced by punching the ball from Jadarian Price's grasp, Mariota connected with Rachaad White on a six-yard pass to put the Commanders up 7-0.

The Seahawks responded with a 90-yard march downfield, capping the drive off with a 1-yard pass from Darnold to Smith-Njigba, but Mariota and the offense responded two drives later. He tossed a screen pass to Jaylin Lane, who scrambled upfield for a 21-yard gain to the Seahawks' 12-yard line. Mariota then found Treylon Burks in the end zone to put the Commanders back up by seven.

"When he's in there...we believe wholeheartedly he could give us a chance to win a football game," Terry McLaurin said after the game. "Him and I have been playing football for a long time. Now, in our third year together, we've built a really great rapport."

The Seahawks nearly tied the score again but ran into a wall at the 2-yard line. Darnold had three consecutive incompletions, the last of which was a pass to Barner that the tight end couldn't hold onto. They had another chance in the final minute before halftime, but a tackle on Cooper Kupp forced them to settle for a field goal. Mariota and the offense provided a response moments later, getting Drew Stevens in range for a 57-yard field goal as time expired.

Seattle's luck didn't improve much in the third quarter. Tim Settle tipped a pass from Darnold on the Seahawks' opening drive of the second half, and Styles was there to catch it and set up Washington's offense at the Seattle 43-yard line.

"He was throwing low passes," Settle said of Darnold. "We were able to affect that."

Three plays later, Mariota completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin -- the first of the season for the wide receiver.

"He trusts me to make plays, and I trust that he's going to put the ball where he needs to be," McLaurin said of Mariota.

Seattle was quick to bounce back from the two-score deficit. Darnold found Eric Saubert for a 13-yard touchdown pass following McLaurin's score and opened the fourth quarter with the second Smith-Njigba touchdown. The Commanders did get in range for a field goal that put them back in the lead, but with nearly five minutes left to play, it felt like the Commanders needed one more game-changing play.

Medrano gave that to them, cutting under Darnold's pass to Barner and running back 50 yards for the score to give Washington a nine-point lead.

"Close game, gotta have a way to get some momentum back," Medrano said. "I think that's what did it."

Even then, it wasn't over, though, and Darnold tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Kupp to cut Washington's lead to two points. It put all the pressure on Washington's offense to stay on the field, which had been an issue for the unit. They had just one third-down conversion heading into their final drive.

They saved the biggest moment for last. White had a 19-yard gain on a third-and-9, and Mariota dove for a first down on a third-and-7 to keep the clock running.

"I thought there was very little chance that Marcus was giving that one off," Quinn said. "He is one of the very best that's ever done it in that space."

The Commanders are heading to London for a matchup with the Indianapolis Colts hoping to get to .500. None of them, players or coaches, want to make a bigger deal out of the win than necessary. As Mariota said after the game, they need to put together several more days like that over the course of the season.

But there is undeniably a tension releasing from the team following the win against last year's Super Bowl champions. It's one win, but 1-2 sounds much better than 0-3.

"They both don't sound great on paper," Quinn said. "But they feel a lot different."