There was a party in the end zone during the Washington Commanders' joint practice against the Miami Dolphins, and Mike Sainristil was the guest of honor surrounded by his teammates.

Sainristil had just intercepted a pass from Malik Willis during an 11-on-11 period, drawing a cheer from the Commanders' sideline. His teammates on the field knew what to do; they escorted the cornerback to the goal line so he could celebrate his first interception of training camp. Sainristil punted the ball into the air before jogging back to the sideline with a smile on his face.

Fellow cornerback Amik Robertson knew Sainristil was due for a big play.

"I told him, 'It's about damn time,'" Robertson said. "You had all them PBUs during camp ... It was good to see him get his hands on the ball today."

The Commanders' defensive players looked like they were having a fun time as they rolled through team drills. The same could not be said for the Dolphins' offense, which was having a difficult time containing the unit with its constant pressure at every level. It was an encouraging sign for the Commanders, who overhauled the unit in the offseason with free agent signings and draft picks.

And that's the goal the Commanders have every time they step on the field: have fun while creating absolute hell for their opponents.

"I told the guys, 'Everything we did out there, we knew we were going to do,'" Robertson said. "That's just gotta be the mindset. Anybody who steps to this side, they don't belong on the field with us."

The Commanders' defensive performance is not necessarily a surprise. The unit, led by defensive coordinator Daronte Jones, has been slowly implementing a scheme that thrives on creating confusion and pressure for opposing offenses. Players can bring pressure from anywhere and line up at any spot on the field; coverages are disguised until the last possible second only to morph into a completely different look for quarterbacks to dissect; and whoever gets the ball will have to deal with a swarm of players all looking to force a takeaway.

The concepts were clear in practice against their own offense, but prior to this point in camp, the Commanders hadn't unleashed this new scheme on another opponent. The Dolphins were the first to see the new scheme, and they had trouble doing much against it. Quarterbacks Malik Willis and Quinn Ewers were forced to either scramble out of the pocket or throw passes into the dirt. If they did manage to get a pass off, it was often to a contested target. Running backs found few running lanes and were taken down in the backfield.

All the while, the Commanders' defenders were cheering each other on after every play, and every positive moment resulted in the din getting a little louder.

"The intensity picked up more and more," said safety Jeremy Reaves. "We started getting into situational football ... You can just tell it went up more and more and more."

The heart of that energy was with the defensive front, where the Commanders invested the most to improve the group with additions like Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson and Joshua Josephs. Oweh and Chaisson were in the backfield on several plays, forcing what would have been sacks in an actual game. Chaisson recorded a would-be sack on Willis on the second play of an 11-on-11 period and tracked down a ball carrier for a loss a few plays later. Oweh forced a pressure during two-minute drills, forcing Willis to throw an incompletion.

Josephs, a fifth-round pick from the University of Tennessee, was routinely in the backfield and recording tackles for a loss. He and Leo Chenal combined for a tackle on Ethan Washington Jr., resulting in a two-yard loss on the play. Josephs also sniffed out a play-action pass and was waiting for Ewers the moment he turned around for a rollout.

"I'm blessed to be out here, to perform the way I was performing," Josephs said. "I believe...we did amazing. We were shutting them down. We were able to play to the standard we had set in the previous practice...and just relax and fall back on our knowledge."

And the defensive backs know how important the front is to their success. It made their lives much easier, particularly when it came to defending the Dolphins' passing game because of how they handled their responsibilities in gap and zone schemes. The defensive backs didn't need to worry about playing the run because the front handled that for them.

It also allowed them to communicate at what Reaves called "an elite level."

"Just certain things that we were getting pre-snap [and] post-snap," Reaves said. "You could tell sometimes the protections were getting messed up just because of who was going. That's the luxury of defense; it can change. You just saw guys talking at an elite level, playing fast and trusting their leverage. And that d-line up there was crazy."

The best part about it for the players was actually seeing the concepts they have been working on come to life against another team.

"It's so fun to see what Coach Daronte is doing with our defense and like playing guys at the spots that really shows their strengths and lets them shine where they're at," said linebacker Leo Chenal. "He really mixes up a lot of looks. But those guys are eating up front. We can go a four-man rush and they're gonna be eating up front. So, that's really exciting as coverage guys and to be able to have that."

That's exactly what happened before Sainristil's interception. The pressure led to Willis getting rid of the ball early, and the cornerback was there to grab it. The pressure the Commanders have been able to create with limited rushers has created a symbiotic relationship between the defensive front and secondary. The front creates opportunities for takeaways, and the secondary hunts for them.

"We're trying to band together as brothers, and we pride ourselves in doing just that," safety Will Harris said. "We were probably a couple [interceptions] short out here, but we got one. We'll take all we can get."

The most fun part for the Commanders' defense -- and perhaps more distressing for offenses -- is that the players are still getting used to the scheme. Chenal said they're trying to master the minor details so the defensive line, linebackers and secondary can strengthen their chemistry. He and his teammates are starting to play more naturally because of the muscle memory they built in the offseason. They allow them to play faster, and they already have shown plenty of speed on the field.

So, it was easy to understand why the defensive players had smiles on their faces walking off the field. They see the vision for what they could be, and Wednesday's practice was a good sign that they are on the right track.

"All of it's starting to come together," Chenal said.