OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR LIAM COEN

(On the start of the season)

"This has been a great [training] camp. We've really kind of grown as a unit. You saw flashes, obviously, when we went into Miami with the majority of our starting group for seven plays there and we executed at a pretty good level there. That's what we were hoping to see when those guys went out there – that was the expectation. They did their job, went down the field, did what they were supposed to do. Now we've got to go do it against better competition."

(On the team's rushing attack)

"I think the buy-in from the guys – of understanding that it truly takes all 11 in the run game, that it's not just those guys blocking or just the runner, that the receiver is part in it, the quarterback is part in it, buying in and being disciplined on our tracks. If you're going to be good at anything, you have to be detailed at it. You look at the detail that they've had and played with in the pass game here for years, it was always at a high level, always. What we try to do is take some of that focus and put it into the run game and say, 'Hey, guys, if we're going to be good at this thing, we all have to buy in,' and the guys did. The coaches did a great job of coaching it thus far and we've got to go see what the results look like in a real game."

(On how C Graham Barton has come along)

"He learns every day. He's learning something new every day, especially going against that defensive unit that we went up against all of training camp. And, to have [Robert] Hainsey right there with him and being able to communicate to him things that he's seen. Those are experiences Graham hasn't had yet, but [Robert] Hainsey has been able to give him things to maybe look forward to and be able to kind of see in the future on some things. Obviously, he's going to learn on the fly in games, as well. He's going to learn from every rep that he plays. Hopefully we'll take a step each game and take a step forward – that's the goal."

(On Washington's secondary)

"They're long. They've got long DB's back there. They play the ball well. You have to be accurate with these guys or you've got to win and be pretty open, because if you leave a ball inside, or if we don't quite win on the route, then they have range and ability to make plays on the ball. We've got to be good about that – we've got to be great about or technique and fundamentals and releases. Obviously, we've got a Hall of Famer that we need to play like one, which I fully expect him to do so and to be able to dominate the game if we are getting one-on-one opportunities with him. If they are kind of putting the safety over to his side, well other guys are going to be called upon to win. Like Coach [Josh] Grizzard said in a meeting today, 'Wideouts, you get paid to win versus man coverage in the NFL.' That's the biggest thing – to score touchdowns and get paid to win in man-to-man situations. When we're put in those situations, we've got to win and we've got to be on time and accurate and protect and get the ball out."

(On scheming to face man-to-man coverage versus zone coverage)

"Just having different priority calls, right? Your concepts and plays that you'll have in will be maybe a little bit heavily built towards their top lead-dog coverages, while also having answers within those plays for their supplementary coverages. If they're a heavy man[-to-man] team, we might have a couple man [-to-man] things, but we might have a couple zone answers and vice versa. We always say, 'Expect man[-to-man], adjust to zone.' That's kind of our thought process with anything in the NFL. Even zone coverage, often times, is played like match coverage, like man[-to-man] coverage, especially when it's a fire zone. That's how they play it. We'll see if they end up playing in more single-safety stuff or two-high safety stuff. We've got to be able to run the ball."

(On how he plans on rotating the running backs)

"We want to obviously get guys involved, but Rachaad [White] is the guy – he's going to start the game and he's going to keep playing. Bucky [Irving] will get his specific stuff and be able to play, and when Sean [Tucker] needs to go in there and give those guys a blow, he'll do a great job, as well. We have full trust in all three of those guys. Ultimately, it's a long season. I've done three-back rotations in the past and man, that gets exhausting – for a coach, for a play-caller, because now it's like, 'Okay, who's in the game? What are they good at? What do we want to do with them?' Ultimately, it's Rachaad's show and Bucky and Sean are going to get a lot of work and hopefully be efficient and do a great job when they're in there."

(On QB Baker Mayfield saying this offense has an answer for everything)

"[I have] maybe not experienced it in the NFL as a player, but the pitfalls of playing quarterback and just not wanting to get to the line of scrimmage and not have solutions is an empty feeling. It's a very lonely place to be. At the end of the day, we've tried to give these guys parameters that they have, that they can get up to the line of scrimmage with, and ultimately not feel like we're stuck. This is a chess match – everybody wants to get the pen last. Ultimately, that's what we're trying to do without taking the freedom away from them to just go play and let it rip. That's a fine line – how much we're giving them versus how much is going to slow them down. Ultimately, we want to try to give them as many answers as possible, though."

(On WR Chris Godwin returning to the slot position and what he expects from him)

"I expect a big year from Chris. He's had a great offseason, he's been so steady, so consistent. Every single day, the guy shows up to work and has the same demeanor, mindset, and mentality. Then, he goes out and practices his tail off. The guy doesn't take a rep off, he doesn't jog through, he doesn't loaf. Everything he does is a pro's pro mentality. I expect it to show up. I think it's going to show up for him. I think he's feeling better – you can see his balance is better. He doesn't feel like he has to cut off one leg, he has better balance, he has better feel. I think his physical attributes and tools are going to take over and I expect him to have a good year."

(On WR Mike Evans)

"He's just a guy that you don't really realize how good he is until you get with him in person, then you realize how smart he is. The guy calls out coverages before the snap happens. He'll say it aloud. He calls out coverages all the time. He has seen so much because of how people have to play him, that he has seen so many different variations of double coverage and ins-and-outs and clouds variations. That's something that goes into play with our game-planning, because we have to figure out how teams are going to play him, which then is a little bit of a different weapon for us to be able to, A) use him to win, and B) use him to decoy."

(On Evans being a very strong route runner)

"Very. Very. I think his ability to get in and out at the top of routes, his short-area quickness for a big guy is pretty special, and then obviously, the ability to throw the ball kind of wherever and opportunities to give him chances to make plays away from the defender. That's pretty special for a guy his size."

(On if Evans' route-running skills were the biggest surprise in working with him)

"Yeah, I would say. That was something [where] the first rep he ever took here with me and our offense this spring…It was on a route that we actually have in the plan this week and he got in and out of it so quick. I was kind of taken back, especially when you get up close with him and see how big he is and then be able to see him move the way he does, that's pretty special."

(On the offensive line)

"We've kind of thrown the kitchen sink at these guys since day one. They've handled it. Each team is different – each defensive structure is different. This defense is a little bit interesting because you've got [Washington Head Coach] Dan Quinn coming from Dallas with that system, you've got [Washington Defensive Line Coach] Darryl Tapp as their line coach who came from San Francisco, so you've got that mindset and mentality of getting off the rock and a really penetrating front, but also with a Dan Quinn defensive back end. So, how they mix that will be interesting to see. We've got to have different ways of hitting blocks each week because each defense gives you different things. We've given these guys a lot – there's a lot on their plates…Multiple different schemes – zone, gap, trap, pin-and-pull, whatever it is. We're not going to just line up and be vanilla."

(On if anything about this team has surprised him since he joined the organization)

"I think probably their eagerness for more, their eagerness to learn, their eagerness to grow their football minds and continue to learn the details and fundamentals and techniques of their position and of their crafts. We've got Hall of Famers, we've got All-Pros, we've got some really good players, but they're still trying to get better each week, each day. That's been not a pleasant surprise, but that's been nice to have a group of guys that have had success, have been on Super Bowl winning teams, but are still yearning for more."

(On the team not having an opening-drive touchdown last season)

"Yeah, we'll try to be creative within the first 15 or 20 calls. Those are specific plays that we kind of talk about as a staff to kind of group together and get the defense on their heels a little bit and throw different looks at them to just give yourself an advantage and be able to see what they're presenting, as well, with some of those plays. It is very important for us to start fast. We've got a top-five defense in the NFL, so if we can start fast and get ahead and play from ahead, typically good things happen. In the style of play that we want to play with, that helps when you can jump out and play fast and get ahead early."

(On the pre-snap motion in his offense)

"Yeah, it's almost every play. It's funny, the strength and conditioning staff had asked me in the offseason, 'How much are these wideouts going to run?' I said we're not going to kill them in routes in air or on plays, but they're going to run a lot – they're going to run a lot more than they've ever run. That's pre-snap, post-snap, motion, shift. We don't just do it to be cute, we don't just do it to say we do it. It's to undress coverage, it's to undress pressures, it's to get man[-to-man or] zone indicators, it's to gather information. We say, 'GTS' – go to school on the defense and try to gain information for our guys to say, 'Okay, we just did that motion, this is how they responded, I can maybe rule out a few coverages or defenses pre-snap, so now I have a better idea of how to go execute this play.' That's the whole point of it."

RUN GAME COORDINATOR KACY RODGERS

(On what he sees in the Commanders offensive line)

"We didn't see much of [Brandon] Coleman because he didn't play at all this preseason, but we anticipate him being there. We went back and reviewed some of his college stuff. You know, he earned the right to be a draft choice. [He's] a very talented guy [that] we have to be ready for. [Nick] Allegretti, the guy from the Chiefs – we're trying to steady him, but if we're looking at them [from] last year – they totally rebuilt their offensive line."

(On if it's difficult to game prep against this team who doesn't have a lot of film taking reps together)

"It just creates more work – more physical work. It's [not] like you have the last four games right here on your computer. You're having to pull games from here and there, trying to cut some plays here, but it's always like that [for] the first game of the season. You have no idea… They didn't show anything in the preseason that they didn't want us to see. We'll have to trust our keys and fundamentals and see what happens."

(On what challenges come with having injured defensive linemen when he's hoping to rotate them)

"The challenge for us is not only are we going to have to keep fresh guys in there to chase this quarterback, but we're going to have to understand that they're a tempo team. They don't let you substitute. They kind of play on their own terms. There's a lot of factors with them. They create a lot of problems for you."

(On what he's seen from OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and if he's taken the next step to get more takedowns)

"Joe is right there. That's one of the hardest working guys we have. [He's] ultra talented. It's right there and from what I've seen so far in training camp, everything is there in front of him. He's really had a great camp. He's ready to go. I'm excited to see him play."

(On how much OLB Chris Braswell Jr. will be playing in the rotation)

"For us, we're going to be all hands on deck. [With] the versatility of our defense, we can plug a lot of guys in a lot of different roles, so it helps that we have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different jobs. That's kind of the way we'll roll into this game."

(On how important the development of DL Calijah Kancey is)

"The more reps you can get, the better. Last year, he missed every preseason game and then he was kind of still dinged up going into the first game of the year. Right now, having a full offseason – I think that can only help him."

(On if the opponent knowing the blitz is coming hampers the edge rusher's ability to get to the quarterback)

"When the ball comes out fast, it's going to be hard to get the sack, but that's kind of our mantra. We would love to be able to line up with four [down linemen] all the time but that's really not who we are. That's really not our MO. We'll bring four but we'll bring a different kind of four. We want to keep them guessing that way. We are not one to sit here and say, 'Did he have 10 sacks? Did he have eight sacks?' We want to look at the team, because as a team. we had 48 or we had 47. That's kind of where we want to be. When you have guys like we've had in the past that can get 14., 15. sacks – let's send him in and line him up. We want to affect the quarterback a lot of different ways."

(On four out of six of the outside linebacker group being first- or second-year guys and on if that's a good thing)

"We played a lot of young guys last year, so for us, it's just the next man up. We have a lot of young guys but looking at it from the preseason, OTAs, whatever – I think we have a good mix of youth and experience, but you need the young guys. The old legs don't move as well as the young ones, so I think we have a pretty good mix that way. We'll just line up and see where we go."

(On having new guys cross train as safeties and how it can help the defense up front as far as freezing up the quarterback)

"That's the beauty of having the different personnel packages [that] we go with. We have three guys on the team right now that play nickel and that have played a lot of nickel. You have two guys that play safety, so now you can kind of decide how you want it to be matched up rather than let them dictate the match up that they want to get. That plays a part in it because we have this guy, he can go play a third, and this guy can play half field and this guy can play a quarter, this guy can man up. It just gives us flexibility and helps us to be multiple and we want to be multiple anyway."

(On what stands out to him most in Commanders QB Jaylen Daniels)

"His versatility. The first play I saw when I was going through the cutups was the fade ball he dropped in there against the Jets. When he sees man coverage, he knows how to drop it in there. Then you go put on his scramble reel from LSU and it's kind of sickening. He's [not] just getting five [yards], he's getting 55. He is a problem when he decides to take off. He can make all of the throws. You kind of see why he got drafted where he did. He's going to be a tremendous young player."

(On the reports of Tampa Bay signing DL Ben Stille and if he's seen him)

"I haven't seen him at all. I'll see him when he gets here but I haven't seen him at all."

(On what he's expecting off the jump with OLB Yaya Diaby)

"Before he got banged up, I thought he might've had the best camp of anyone. I'm curious to sit and watch him play. I just think he's a tremendous player since he got through the rookie part and from the midpoint of the season on, he took off and didn't look back. We expect big things from him."

(On if OLB Yaya Diaby has been able to expand his toolbox and skills)
"He had a lot of tools coming in. The stronger he gets [is] just going to make him more powerful so that adds to the power rush. You're talking about a guy that can do a lot of things physically and [with his] versatility – he can be on the right, left, he can be inside. He's a valuable player."

(On what he's seen out of the secondary this year that gets him excited)

"The multiplicity of things they will enable us to do. Kind of like we talked about earlier, you have guys that have been at nickel. You have a couple of guys that you can put at nickel. You have a couple of guys you can put at safety. You have a guy you can put at corner[back]. A lot of the things we do – it really complements, because of the versatility we have right now."

WIDE RECEIVER MIKE EVANS

(On if it feels like he's entering his 11^th season)

"Yes and no, because I remember all of the times that I used to go through these practices and training camps, and all of the players that I've played with. Now, thinking about it, it just flew by, so yeah and no."

(On where he thinks he can improve from last season)

"Just being more focused and always making sure my body is feeling good because when I'm feeling really, really good, I'm definitely one of the best to ever do it. So, it's just trying to focus on that, just feeling good all of the time, and then when the balls come my way – focusing even more."

(On the career milestones he could reach this season and what they would mean to him)

"I definitely want to be at 100 touchdowns. Only a certain amount of guys (10) have that – I think it's like 10 or 11 guys have that – so that would be elite, elite company to do that. And then, obviously, Jerry [Rice] is one of the best – arguably the best to ever do it – so to have one of his records, or tie it, would be an amazing accomplishment for me, so I'm definitely gunning for all of those."

(On how much he and QB Baker Mayfield have grown over time as a quarterback-wide receiver duo)

"I mean, it happens with more reps. Last year was our first year together. This year, I expect us to take it to that next level. I'm the 'X' receiver, so it's a little easier for me because I'm going to be singled up a lot, so he can just know how they're playing me, and I'll know the coverage as well and it's things we have worked on in practice so it's just timing and being together for a little while."

(On how he assesses his relationship with football at this point in his career)

"I appreciate it more and more. The game of football has done things for me that I never thought imaginable. Obviously, you dream about it but when you really get here and you're able to do all of these things… When I look back on my career when it's over, I'll really appreciate it even more, but I just love the game. I love watching high school kids and helping those kids out. I train with a lot of high school kids – receivers specifically – in the offseason. Some DBs, but specifically receivers, and it's cool to watch them and their seasons now. I'm following them, following the guys I trained with in college – I just love the game. I love what it can do for people, and I love it overall. Even with the fans – it just brings people together, so I love the game."

(On the game of football allowing him to give back to the community)

"It's cool – it's something that I've always dreamed of doing. I've always paid it forward and [gave] it back. To be able to be in this position – it means the world to me."

LINEBACKER LAVONTE DAVID

(On going up against his close friend and Commanders Linebacker Bobby Wagner)

"Bobby is a very close friend of mine. We always stay in constant contact with each other. You know, a lot of people might not know but we were Senior Bowl roommates. [We] were on the same Senior Bowl team and since that day going forward, we've been close friends and stuff like that. Bobby is a really great friend of mine. We've obviously been watching each other's career and we're both rooting for each other, so I'm sure Sunday, knowing Bobby – he's going to come with his A game. He's going [to] be ready and the same for me."

(On what he sees in Commanders QB Jayden Daniels and what will be the challenge facing him)
"There's always a challenge facing a mobile quarterback – a dual-threat quarterback that can hurt you with his legs and with his arms. It's just all about discipline on our part, to make sure we be [where] we're supposed to be, and when we conserve our coverages, to just make sure to have all eyes on the quarterback and making sure we're rushing things off correctly up front."

(On where Jaylen Daniels ranks in terms of speed in quarterbacks he plays against)

"He might be No. 1. He's definitely a blazer, but then obviously after that is Lamar Jackson. I kind of forget that, but I don't face him all the time. Jayden Daniels – he's probably No. 1. Watching him at LSU, and throughout the preseason, he had some runs and stuff like that, so he's definitely going to present a challenge."

(On if he's still excited to be kicking off another season)

"[I'm] very excited. Going into my 13^th season, it's definitely a blessing. This opportunity doesn't come around often. I don't take it for granted, and being able to take the field, finally, after I didn't get a chance to play all preseason, now I can go out there and be full throttle. I'm very excited for it.

-BUCCANEERS-