The Commanders finally saw much-needed improvement from one veteran after receiving harsh criticism to start the season

Conversations were starting about how the Commanders need to cut their losses and replace Lattimore on the field, and he had a lopsided matchup coming against the Chargers. Justin Herbert was third in the league in passing yards before Sunday, and Quinton Johnston was third among all wide receivers in receiving yards, but the secondary turned a page against the duo.

Marshon Lattimore has a bounce-back performance

Sunday was another real test for the veteran corner, and he passed the test with flying colors. Lattimore helped out in a major way after recovering the fumble that Quan Martin caused, which changed the trajectory of the entire game.

That's not all he did, though, and he held his ground in coverage and didn't allow a single big play. He only allowed one catch for 6 yards on 41 coverage snaps, according to Next Gen Stats, which is his best performance to date this season. It might not be time to give up on Lattimore just yet.

Head coach Dan Quinn was asked about Lattimore's performance against the Chargers' strong passing offense, and he spoke confidently about the veteran, as well as the secondary overall.

"I thought just right from the beginning, he [Lattimore] was involved in the whole thing," Quinn said. I thought the technique was on point, going through the whole system, and the fumble recovery. This is a really talented passing offense, with the trio that they have and how they feature them. So, we knew we'd have our work cut out for us. I thought the defensive backs, in particular, communication with the down, with linebackers, how they would go about it. They worked hard on that this week against, like I said, a talented offense, and so you could tell they put in the extra into that space."

This was the kind of performance we expected from a healthy Lattimore coming into the season. The defense can take a major leap forward if Lattimore, Amos, and Sainristil can all play as well as they did on Sunday, after holding Herbert to a season-low 166 passing yards with help from the pass rush . Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze will look to exploit the Commanders' defense next week, but maybe this is a new secondary we're seeing.