Just six weeks ago, the only thing Washington Commanders' fans hoped for was a winning record. Having been through a tumultuous couple of years with changes in everything from ownership to players and coaching personnel, those expectations seemed realistic.

Ahead of this season's start, Pro Football Focus had the Commanders projected to win seven games and FOX had the team ranked 28th in their Week 1 Power Ranking with their preseason vibes listed as "scary."

The Commanders have defied all pundits' predictions and fans' anticipation of how the team would look as they currently sit atop the NFC East division with a 4-1 record heading into Week 6.

The only people who maybe aren't so surprised by the team's fast start are the players.

"No limits, no expectations," running back Brian Robinson Jr. said after the team's dominant 34-13 win over the Browns in Week 5. "We're just trying to be better than yesterday."

In a league with so much flux week-to-week, being better than yesterday is a mantra the Commanders' have chosen to live by this season.

Despite the Commanders' early success, nobody is satisfied. There are always things a team can do to improve week-to-week, and veterans such as tight end Zach Ertz know how important it is to continue to improve and stack momentum.

"I think D.Q. [head coach Dan Quinn] does a phenomenal job of just taking it week to week right now," Ertz said after the team's Week 5 win over Cleveland. "He's just really focused on the message of just winning one game at a time. No one's focused on how we're 4-1 two weeks from now; no one is going to remember our record after five games, so it's really just proving it as a football team.

"That's what this entire league is about. It's about peaking at the end of the season and improving throughout the entire season, so that's what we're focused on. We've got a lot of good leaders on this team, a lot of good coaches on this team that are going to hold us accountable to continually get better and I don't think they're satisfied right now."

Like Ertz, linebacker Bobby Wagner also sees a team that has worked hard to beat their opponents each week, but thinks there's still more work to be done.

"I think we have a lot of room to grow," Wagner said. "I think we can get more turnovers, get more interceptions, keep them off the board. I'm happy where we're at but we can get further. We could be a really scary team, but we're just going to take it one game at a time. We just want to get better every week, and I think we're doing that."

Despite having two consecutive weeks at least 100 receiving yards, wide receiver Terry McLaurin isn't satisfied with himself because of sloppy errors. While he's happy the team was able to add another tally in the win column, McLaurin's personal performance gives him pause, especially as he moves on from the Browns to focus on Week 6's battle in Baltimore.

"Me personally, I want to be better," McLaurin said. "Having a fumble, giving them three points, having a dropped touchdown, taking six points also. Everybody knows I'm going to be better for that, but at the end of the day we won the game, so that's my main focus.

"When you have a team that is able to pick each other up when some mistakes are made and you're still able to put up 30 points and hold a team out of 20, that builds a lot of excitement going forward. We know we have to clean up the little things because we're going to be going on the road against a really good Baltimore team and we have to be able to minimize mistakes if we're going to win that game."

The Commanders will face one of their biggest tests Sunday against the Ravens, who have been firing on all cylinders recently with wins over the Bengals and Cowboys. The matchup has been highly anticipated, as both teams are riding win streaks that they hope to continue.

Despite the hype around the game, head coach Dan Quinn doesn't see it as a "measuring stick game." Instead, he sees it as a way to prove that the Commanders' hot streak isn't just a streak, but rather that the team is continuing to improve week-to-week and winning is now apart of the team's identity.

"No, we don't talk in those terms of measuring stick," Quinn said during his press conference Wednesday. "Like honestly, just you've heard us say there's so many things for us to attack and get better at, so we're not trying to use this game as a measuring stick. Hey, it's no secret, Baltimore's a really good football team, but we're not using it as a measuring stick of where we're at. Like every time we go, we're here to get down and go for it. So, it has no bearing on a measuring stick or any of that. We know how good they are and we're ready to go fight too. So yeah, but not a measuring stick game for us."

Although this might not be a measuring stick game for the players or coaches, fans perceive it as such. A win over a team that was just a win away from going to the Super Bowl last year would solidify the notion that the Commanders are a team worthy of not just a winning record, but playoff contention.