LANDOVER, Md. — The succinct assessment offered by linebacker Ernest Jones IV of the Seahawks’ surprising 33-31 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday might be about all one needs to know.

“Sloppy play from the beginning to the end,” Jones said.

And while Jones was speaking for the defense, that sentiment held true for all three phases — offense, defense and special teams.

The offense lost three turnovers that led directly to 20 points and was just 3 of 10 on third and fourth downs, while the defense didn’t force any turnovers and uncharacteristically gave up two critical third-and-longs on the final series when a win was still there to be had. 

The special teams allowed a short field on a misplaced kickoff that led to Washington’s go-ahead field goal. And the Seahawks had eight penalties for 53 yards.

“In the NFL, what wins games is great situational football and taking care of the rock and playing complementary football and stacking plays,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “And we didn’t do those things today and they did.”

The result was the Seahawks’ first loss since Nov. 16, and what will be the first week ahead of soul searching in more than 10 months. 

Onto the grades:

Sam Darnold made a most admirable comeback from a glute injury to return after just 18 days and not only seemed to show no ill effects but for much of the day provided most of the Seahawks’ offense, throwing for 379 yards of their 437 total yards.

He had a critical miscue on the late pick-six that gave the Commanders the cushion they needed. Darnold took blame for the play, saying he saw linebacker Kain Medrano and should have just thrown the ball into the grass. His other interception — a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage — is more defensible. But the pick-six was an unfortunate reminder of what ailed the Seahawks in their three losses last season.

Grade: C

It’s way too early to be overly concerned with Jadarian Price after the first-round pick lost his second fumble in two weeks. But it’s also not the way anyone hoped Price would begin his career, especially with the way Kenneth Walker III is starting out his tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Price got just two more carries following his fumble and finished with just 15 yards on five attempts. The game showed the Seahawks need Price’s explosiveness to make the offense work as they got 39 yards on 17 carries from their running backs.

Grade: D

Jaxon Smith-Njigba had one drop and two false starts. 

Otherwise he was the usual Smith-Njigba with 10 receptions for 128 yards and two more TDs and has six for the season. He also completed a pass. Cooper Kupp had a few timely catches, including the late TD, and Tory Horton made his first impact of the year with three catches for 48 yards. But you’d still like to see Rashid Shaheed do more than two catches for 14 yards.

Grade: B

The tight ends made their biggest receiving impact of the young season as offensive coordinator Brian Fleury appeared to call a few more plays their way, possibly to take advantage of what he expected to be Washington’s commitment to Smith-Njigba. It added up to seven catches for 102 yards and a TD led by AJ Barner’s five for 69.

But the run blocking needs to get better all around.

Grade: B

Darnold didn’t get sacked. But he did get hit six times and on several occasions had to make miraculous moves to avoid taking sacks. 

More critical was the lack of a running game, and especially the push in some obvious short-yardage situations, such as two first-and-goals at the 1 that resulted in a loss of yards or no gain. That likely played into the Seahawks deciding to pass on three straight plays from the 2 at the end of the first half.

The Seahawks gave up on the running game in the second half, throwing 23 passes while running it just six times for 19 yards, including a Darnold scramble for 5 yards. They again rotated Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens at right guard.

Grade: C.

Washington had just 82 yards rushing on 32 carries, but it felt like more. Maybe it’s just the memory of Rachaad White picking up 19 on a third-and-nine on the final series.

Leonard Williams had another big day with a sack, three QB hits and two tackles-for-a-loss, and Byron Murphy II played well with seven tackles overall. 

Grade: B-plus

DeMarcus Lawrence had three QB hits and Derick Hall had one sack and two QB hits. But in general it felt like the Seahawks needed to put more pressure on Marcus Mariota. 

Uchenna Nwosu will rue his dropped interception in the second quarter that came three plays before Washington took a 14-7 lead it never relinquished.

Grade: C

Jones made what could have been the play of the day had things turned out differently with his shoestring tackle of Mariota on a third down to force a field goal in the fourth quarter. Drake Thomas was solid overall but unable to break up Washington’s first TD pass.

Grade: B

It was a tough task for AJ Finley to make his first career start in place of Julian Love. Finley had some tough moments in coverage — beaten for a TD pass to Treylon Burks in the first half — and was called for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness, allowing Washington to convert a third-and-13 in the fourth quarter and lead to a field goal (though the call is one Seattle may question after looking at the film). Rodney Thomas II started in place of Ty Okada. Macdonald’s scheming can overcome a lot. But Love had been playing as well as any Seahawk, and his loss was felt.

Nick Emmanwori got his first start of the season and played often on the line of scrimmage, while missing a few plays while his hamstring was checked out. He had two tackles but didn’t seem to make much impact. 

Grade: C-minus

The Commanders seemed to go after Josh Jobe quite a bit, and he got called for a defensive pass interference early and was beaten by Terry McLaurin for the TD that put the Commanders up 24-10. Devon Witherspoon overran Stefon Diggs to allow him to pick up 10 yards and a first down on the drive that led to Washington’s go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter.

Grade: C

Not a bad day, but one just not as good as what we usually see from this group. Jason Myers’ kickoff that fell short of the landing zone gave Washington the ball at its own 40 after the Seahawks tied the score at 24 typified the day, though his 57-yard field goal in subprime conditions deserves positive mention.

Grade: B

The Seahawks weren’t going to win them all, and their road winning streak under Macdonald — 10 before Sunday — was going to be particularly hard to sustain in today’s NFL, and in the second straight game away from Seattle. In any loss there are play calls to want back, and the offensive sequence before halftime from the 2-yard line seems like one of those. More worrisome are cleaning up the self-inflicted mistakes, notably three false starts and one illegal formation on offfense.

Grade: C