Week 9 Takeaways - Seattle Seahawks at Washington Commanders

By: Sam Myer 11/04/2025

The Washington Commanders had a complete disaster of a night against the Seahawks, in what was meant to be a celebration of Art Monk and the Super Bowl era teams. Seattle was up 31-7 at halftime and finished with a 38-14 victory as Washington couldn’t do anything on either side of the ball. The defense got completely dominated in the first half, the offense struggled to move the ball, and Jaylin Lane had another fumble on a kickoff. To top it all off, Jayden Daniels suffered a gruesome injury to his left arm and exited the game in the 4^th quarter, and the mood was very somber in Northwest Stadium. Tonight certainly felt like the nail in the coffin for the 2025 Commanders season and with the trade deadline looming, it should be an interesting week in Ashburn.

The Washington defense got gutted by Sam Darnold in the first half, as he threw four touchdowns and didn’t have a single incompletion. The pass rush got absolutely nothing going to disrupt Darnold in the pocket and he carved them up for it. The secondary got flat out beat on several occasions, between Marshon Lattimore, Mike Sainristil, and even Trey Amos. If they hadn’t already been exposed in previous matchups, tonight revealed that Washington simply isn’t good enough on the defensive side of the ball. Injuries have certainly taken their toll on their ability to rush the passer; however, this was a complete systemic breakdown of a unit. It can certainly be expected that there will be numerous roster and coaching changes in the upcoming months.

Jayden Daniels was the entire Washington offense tonight and it ended up costing the Commanders their hopes for mid-season turnaround. Once again, they were unable to run the ball efficiently and their receivers were unable to create consistent separation without Terry McLaurin. This led to Jayden Daniels scrambling 10 times with the final run most likely ending his season. Without Daniels in the lineup, this offense will not be the same in any capacity, despite Marcus Mariota’s best efforts. At this rate, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Adam Peters making moves on this side of the ball as well before the trade deadline on Tuesday.

As it stands Washington is hurtling towards a top 10 pick in the 2026 draft and it’s starting to make more sense for them to be sellers at the trade deadline on Tuesday. The defense is a complete trainwreck and Marshon Lattimore got hurt again in this game. There remains a plethora of questions to be answered on that side of the ball from personnel and scheme. At the current rate, it would be quite the surprise if Joe Whitt remained as the defensive coordinator in 2026, even with all of the injuries they’ve suffered on that side of the ball. It should be an active week in the Ashburn offices as they begin preparations for 2026.