With about nine minutes left in the second quarter \u2014 after the Commanders had already given up multiple big plays, committed a pair of costly penalties and were facing a 10-0 deficit \u2014 safety Quan Martin forced a fumble that cornerback Marshon Lattimore recovered on Washington\u2019s 26-yard line. Martin, Lattimore and rookie cornerback Trey Amos converged on receiver Quentin Johnston after he caught a pass from Justin Herbert over the middle. The three collided into Johnston, and Martin lowered his shoulder to punch the ball out before diving to the ground with Lattimore.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was coming right toward me, so I was like, s\u2014, I\u2019m gonna hit him with everything I got,\u201d Martin said of Johnston. \u201cI saw the ball pop out and \u2026 we rode that pretty much the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Takeaways have been emphasized since Whitt and coach Dan Quinn arrived in Washington last year. But the Commanders have started both seasons with multigame turnover droughts; Martin\u2019s forced fumble was only the second takeaway of the season for Washington, but its impact can\u2019t be overstated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it changed a lot,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cThat was kind of the shift. That was the thing that would change it. You don\u2019t know when that\u2019s going to be, but it was certainly such a good play by Quan and Marshon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commanders changed course after the turnover, eliminating many of their persistent mistakes to stifle the Chargers while quarterback Jayden Daniels \u2014 in his first game back from a knee injury and his first career game in his hometown of L.A. \u2014 led the offense on five unanswered scoring drives.<\/p>\n
The scoring spree started with a 74-yard drive in which Daniels found rookie receiver Jaylin Lane for a tight-window completion, scrambled up the middle for another first down, hit Deebo Samuel for 21 yards and later handed it off to Jacory \u201cBill\u201d Croskey-Merritt for a 15-yard rushing touchdown. It was the rookie\u2019s first of two rushing scores on the day.<\/p>\n
Before Washington\u2019s forced fumble and recovery, the defense had given up 167 yards to the Chargers, and Washington\u2019s offense had collected only 30 of its own for an average gain of just 3.75 yards per play. After the takeaway, the Commanders held L.A. to 169 yards, and Daniels and the offense averaged 7.6 yards per play to finish with 389.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where it started for us,\u201d Von Miller said of Martin\u2019s forced fumble. \u201cThey were going and getting ready to at least get a field goal. \u2026 You know the crazy thing? Quan had a hell of a week in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing three lockers away from Martin, Miller then yelled over to his teammate for clarification.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, Quan, it was Wednesday you had three interceptions at practice?\u201d Miller asked. \u201cThursday? Thursday, he had three turnovers in practice. Our coach is going to be proud of that. You practice how you play, and you play how you practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the week, the Commanders\u2019 defense preached details and takeaways. They knew what was missing and set out to correct those deficiencies, working on their communication in the secondary, stressing an aggressive play style and emphasizing getting their hands on the ball.<\/p>\n
The result: a swarming group that played fast and disruptive. In addition to the forced fumble and recovery, the defense had nine hits on Herbert, including five sacks. It also had four passes defended.<\/p>\n
That, in turn, sparked the offense.<\/p>\n
The final two minutes of the half were reminiscent of the 2024 Commanders, whose \u201cwinning-time moments,\u201d as Quinn called them, became the hallmark of their play.<\/p>\n
The Commanders were deep in their own territory with a minute and 35 seconds left in the first half when tight end Zach Ertz dropped a pass over the middle. Daniels was then sacked at the team\u2019s 2-yard line, but the Chargers \u2014 once the team in control \u2014 suddenly couldn\u2019t get out of their own way. They drilled Tress Way during his punt, nullifying what would have been a 57-yard Ladd McConkey return for a touchdown.<\/p>\n
So Daniels capitalized. He used the new first down to go deep to Luke McCaffrey for 50 yards, then deep again to Samuel for 22 yards. Kicker Matt Gay capped the drive with a 29-yard field goal just before halftime to turn what had been a 10-point deficit into a tie score.<\/p>\n
Unlike its two losses this season, when early mistakes snowballed until Washington was unable to claw its way out of the deep hole it created, the team showed Sunday it was capable of self-correcting.<\/p>\n
Mike Sainristil became the embodiment of the Commanders\u2019 adjustment when he overcame an early costly penalty to have another critical late-game takeaway.<\/p>\n
Sainristil jumped offside during a Chargers field goal attempt on the game\u2019s opening drive. L.A. had settled for the kick because safety Jeremy Reaves broke up Herbert\u2019s third-down pass attempt to McConkey in the back of the end zone, but Sainristil\u2019s penalty gave the Chargers a first down, which set up a 2-yard touchdown catch \u2014 by McConkey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those things that can\u2019t happen in that situation,\u201d Sainristil said.<\/p>\n
When he had a chance to make amends in the red zone in the fourth quarter, Sainristil came up with a play that all but sealed Washington\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239450042-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Mike Sainristil (center) and Marshon Lattimore celebrate an interception. (Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On a third-and-4, after two failed attempts by L.A. to punch it in from the 1-yard line, he picked off Herbert at the goal line after defensive tackle Johnny Newton tipped the pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in my zone just playing off Herbert\u2019s eyes and seeing where he was,\u201d Sainristil said. \u201cHonestly, with the tip or not, I think he was going to throw it right to me just based on where he was looking. We made the check that put me in the right spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commanders turned it into their longest scoring drive in 24 years, using 13 plays to go 99 yards for their third and final touchdown of the day. Daniels, falling backward under pressure, threw a rainbow to Samuel in the back corner of the end zone to ice it.<\/p>\n
Asked after the game why this day was different, why his defense was able to bounce back instead of letting things get out of control, Quinn paused and said he\u2019d like to watch the game film before answering fully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I knew, because going into it, I looked up and it was 10-0 and I was like, s\u2014,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it felt different. Our energy, our speed. Although we were down, it didn\u2019t feel the same. I don\u2019t know how to explain that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The players had an idea, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one play can really change the game,\u201d Martin said of his turnover. \u201cWhat, we had two this game and a fourth-down stop. All that, man. It\u2019s energy, really. Everybody feeds off that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Marshon Lattimore (2) after recovering a fumble: Gary A. Vasquez \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 For a while there, it was as if nothing had changed. The missed tackles. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":281637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-281636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115327115655337476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}