Play balls | Four highlights from Washington's win over Carolina

The Washington Commanders returned to winning ways with a convincing 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 7. Marcus Mariota, Mike Sainristil, Dante Fowler Jr. and Frankie Luvu made key contributions, leading the Burgundy & Gold to their third home win of the season.

When Jayden Daniels was ruled out yesterday with a rib injury, Mariota had two thoughts in quick succession.

“First and foremost, it’s just about his health,” Mariota said. “You're worried about him and you just want to make sure he's okay. And football continues from there. It takes a little bit of time to kind of get on your feet and stuff like that, but yeah, you just think about the player first.” And then you just go out there and try to execute.

Execute is what he did. After shaking off some rust in his first few snaps, Mariota found his rhythm, matching passes with quick decisions, showing good footwork and climbing ability and stepping up when his team needed it. The veteran quarterback finished Week 7 completing 18 of his 23 pass attempts for 205 yards, two touchdowns and a quarterback passer rating of 132.8.

After the game, Dan Quinn said he was “really proud” of Mariota for how he came into the game and took the reins of an offense that once again had a thrilling finish. In addition to the challenge of being a backup, Mariota started the season on IR. Nevertheless, he has worked hard in the last few weeks and stayed ready. When his time came, “he didn’t bat an eyelid,” as Quinn put it.

When Mariota comes off the bench and leads a 40-point offense, she certainly needs to take a bow.