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Practice notebook | Commanders face tough test in rainy joint practice with Jets

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Training camp is technically over for the Washington Commanders, but they're still looking for other measuring sticks to see the results of their work and where they need to improve.

Thursday's joint practice with the New York Jets was conducted in a deluge that blanked both teams for most of the morning, but the Commanders came out of the session a little wiser about where they need to go from here.

"It's definitely good to go against another team," said wideout Terry McLaurin. "They're a great defense. They're well coached and it was a good day of competition."

Head coach Dan Quinn did not want to foster an "us vs. them" mentality with his players, electing instead to stress that, for the following two hours at least, they and the Jets were one big team going through practice. Still, there was more than enough "new" for the Commanders to see from the Jets, whether it was new coverages, rushing attacks or route concepts.

As cornerback Michael Davis put it after practice, "That's when real football begins."

"You can go against your own teammates every week, every day, but it's nothing like the challenge, nothing like the competition going against somebody else."

As for how the team did during the practice, let's look at some of the top observations.

-- We'll start things off with Brycen Tremayne, whose status on the roster seems to improve by the day. Tremayne has become one of the more exciting players in Commanders practices because of his work ethic and ability to come down with explosive plays. Against the Jets, he had not one but two such catches in seven-on-seven drills. The next step for Tremayne is to repeat that feat in a game scenario, but either way, it's getting more and more difficult to ignore what Tremayne could offer to the offense if he ends up making the roster.

-- Dyami Brown is another receiver who saw his stock rise during the seven-on-seven period of practice. He came down with an impressive sideline grab over D.J. Reed on a pass from Jayden Daniels. Brown was one of the players whose role on the roster was in question at the start of camp, but it seems like the fourth-year pro is carving out a role for himself.

-- Let's talk about Daniels for a minute. It was an up-and-down day for the rookie as he went against one of the league's better defenses. He showed some growing pains, like when he tried to target McLaurin in triple coverage and was nearly intercepted, but he also had moments similar to what he's shown in previous practices. His connection to Zach Ertz was on display often, but his best throw was probably a sideline shot to McLaurin, who made the catch before falling out of bounds. The offense as a unit had an uneven day, but there were a few contributing factors that were out of their control. The rain certainly didn't help, but more importantly, he was without Brandon Coleman and Andrew Wylie. Coleman was physically in attendance but didn't participate, while Wylie was limited. Sam Cosmi did see some action but also split time with Michael Deiter as he continues to come back from an illness.

-- Frankie Luvu looked as disruptive as ever during team drills and was often in the Jets' backfield. On one play, he blitzed Tyrod Taylor (Aaron Rodger was held out of practice because of the rain) and forced the quarterback to throw the ball away.

-- One of the most anticipated matchups of the day was McLaurin working against cornerback Sauce Gardner. Although the two didn't see each other often -- Gardner was on the opposite side of McLaurin for most of the day -- McLaurin did appreciate the work he got against the Pro Bowl defensive back.

"He's a really good corner. I kind of went against him last year, so I got a good feel of how he likes to play, but it's always good to go against him."

-- Rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil was looking forward to playing against Rodgers, so he was disappointed when the decision was made by Robert Saleh to keep him out of the inclement weather. Sainristil did get to speak to Rodgers after practice, though, and he got some useful tips from the likely Hall of Famer about how to attack quarterbacks.

-- We have another kicking competition update, and it was a rough day for both Ramiz Ahmed and Riley Patterson. Both players had multiple misses on the day with Ahmed going 2-of-5 and Patterson going 3-of-5. Things have been relatively even between the two kickers since Patterson joined the team, although how each player performs in a game scenario will play a significant role in determining who gets the job.

-- We haven't spoken much about Marcus Mariota for the past few weeks, but he did have some impressive moments against the Jets. For starters, he had two rushing touchdowns in 11-on-11 work, using his speed to find the edge and sprint for the end zone. Mariota also looked under control during the two-minute drills that ended practice. While his unit didn't score during the period, it was clear that he had a command of the situation. It was just another reminder of Mariota's experience and how useful that could be if he needs to be on the field.

-- Finally, we'll wrap things up with some encouraging words from Gardner to Daniels. Like everyone else, the former Defensive Rookie of the Year was impressed with the former Heisman Trophy winner.

"I just told him like, 'Man, you're gonna be real good.' It was great to just be able to line up against him. As a corner, you wanna go against a rookie quarterback, but he's one of those guys like he's developed obviously...but he had some great throws out there."

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