There are six days between now and when the Washington Commanders need to make some difficult decisions.

Like the rest of the NFL, the Commanders will need to trim their roster down from 90 players to 53 by Aug. 27 at 4 p.m. For some players, it will unfortunately be the end of their professional journey. Others, however, will have their names included on the roster and achieve a lifelong dream.

Head coach Dan Quinn and the Commanders are not ruling anything out as they run through their final practices and preseason game against the New England Patriots Sunday night. He wants players to compete to the end and give them plenty of reasons for the coaches to keep them around.

The biggest thing Quinn wants to see from the roster bubble players over the next few days: consistency.

"Sometimes, when a person can be in this spot...they can press to really show out," Quinn said. "Being tighter doesn't allow you to play better."

Quinn understands the emotions behind that desire. Players want to show up on film, especially now. They want to prove that they can handle certain responsibilities or make a tackle in critical moments of the game.

At this point in camp, though, the coaching staff already has a good idea of each player's skill set and their limitations. And while Quinn likes the motivation to make plays, playing "tighter" as he put it leads to players being more anxious.

So, as players get ready to make their final pushes to make a roster spot, Quinn wants them to focus on staying in the flow of their routine and let the coaches worry about giving them opportunities.

"There may be some higher reps on a special teams portion or lower and higher on offense or defense," Quinn said. "So, you'll see some shifting going on because there may be one phase of the game that we wanted to see more than another."

Quinn has been as transparent as possible about the reasoning for playing certain players more at one spot over another or during one practice more than the next. With joint practices, for example, Quinn said that players who saw more action during practice would get less in games and vice versa.

On a week-to-week basis, if a player got more snaps on offense or defense for a stretch of practices, they might get more snaps on special teams the following week to see how they handle the change and whether they can perform with different responsibilities.

"We're being as thoughtful as we're putting guys into the right spots to see if they can make those plays," Quinn said.

And sometimes the Commanders will feature certain plays to see how a player works in those situations. It's not that the blitz has to go to a certain player or the ball has to go in their direction, but it would be beneficial if it went their way.

"I wouldn't say it's scripted, but it's intentional," Quinn said. "There's a little bit of rhythm that will go customized by player."

Here are some more observations from practice and Quinn's press conference.

-- Johnny Newton, who has missed most training camp, is dealing with a soft tissue injury that is not related to the foot injury that caused him problems at the start of camp. Quinn said Newton has hit all his markers and will be ramped up later in the week, but the team is being cautious about putting him back in action.

-- Dyami Brown continues to stand out in practice. He had several catches from Jayden Daniels and Jeff Driskel, but his best moment came on an underthrown ball by Driskel. Brown slowed up, came back for the ball and made the catch for a long gain down the right sideline.

-- The defense had a nice start to the day, getting back-to-back pass breakups on the first two plays. The first came from Jonathan Allen, who smacked the ball to the ground at the line of scrimmage, while the second was credited to Bobby Wagner, although it's likely that Daron Payne would have gotten to Daniels for a sack first in a game.

-- Mike Sainristil's quickness shines in multiple ways on the field. Daniels completed a screen pass to Zaccheaus during an 11-on-11 period, but Sainristil was in position to jump the pass for an interception and nearly made the play.

-- A few more receivers made explosive plays downfield today, starting with Austin Ekeler, who made an over-the-shoulder grab from Daniels and likely would have gone for a touchdown in a game. Brycen Tremayne, primarily working with the second group, had a pair of catches in the middle of the field. Byron Pringle also caught a go ball that would have certainly been a touchdown.

-- Safety Tyler Owens is one of the players making a push for a roster spot, and it has caught Quinn's attention.

"I've really been proud of the effort that he's put forth when we were really saying, 'Hey, looking for competitive plays, looking for guys that were absolutely going for it. It was cool to see Saturday night, him absolutely emptying the tank, both defensively and on special teams. So, he's really been hitting his stride."

-- Here are a few injury updates: Brandon Coleman (shoulder) was back on the sideline with a helmet but did not participate in team drills. Sam Hartman (shoulder) participated in individual drills but was also inactive during team drills. Marcus Mariota (groin) was not at practice but did get on the field afterwards to throw passes with receivers.