The Washington Commanders are nearing the halfway point of training camp, and head coach Dan Quinn is adding a wrinkle to the schedule.
With about 10 days between their first preseason game against the New England Patriots and their next matchup -- a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals -- the Commanders will be running an intrasquad scrimmage during Tuesday's practice with members of the offense and defense forming two teams. Dubbed the "Burgundy & Gold game," the coaches wanted to push the envelope on promoting competition within their roster.
"In your mind, think of it as a joint practice, but it's just one team," Quinn said.
The practice will consist of the Burgundy and Gold teams competing in situational drills. The teams will go through second- as well as fourth-quarter situations and give players different matchups that they haven't seen up to this point in camp. The teams, which will be on different sidelines, aren't just limited to players. Coaches, trainers, equipment staff and others were also designated to different teams.
"Part of it is developing leaders," Quinn said. "There will be different play callers as we're going through it."
Quinn first got the idea for the scrimmage earlier in the year when he noticed there was a sizable gap between the Patriots and Bengals preseason games. He wanted to provide the players with a break from the monotony of training camp and believes the exercise will provide a fun shake-up to how practice has been run before getting into their preparations for the Bengals on Aug. 18.
For the coaches, Quinn wanted to show them that the team is going to develop them in interesting ways that will challenge them. They feel good about their succession plan for when their coaches move on to other jobs, and the best way to do that is by putting them in real situations on the sideline and provide them with problems to solve on their own.
For the players, Quinn said it all goes back to competition, and there has already been trash talk exchanged by both teams.
"It's at an all-time high," said defensive tackle Daron Payne, member of the Gold team. "You know how those guys get, especially five [quarterback Jayden Daniels] and all them offensive guys."
Most of the trash talk, according to the Gold team, which mostly consists of the starting defense, has been from the starting offense and the Burgundy team. Daniels has been leading that charge, although Payne went on to say that isn't much different from any other day.
The Gold team seems determined to block out the negative energy.
"All I gotta say is, you don't trash talk your opponents," cornerback Mike Sainristil said when asked about the back-and-forth between the teams. "So, we'll see tomorrow."
And as much as the Gold team is trying to back away from banter, they are being serious about the scrimmage.
"I'm excited to go at it with a different opponent," Sainristil said. "A nameless, faceless opponent."
Quinn said the scrimmage will be an important moment for the Commanders. Yes, it will be fun, but it's also another chance for the staff to evaluate the roster with different matchups and situations they may not have seen before. Then, it's a mad dash to the finish of camp with two preseason games and a joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens before making the final roster decisions.
For now, the Commanders only need to worry about one thing: compete to the best of their ability.
"It's definitely a pretty cool thing," said rookie wide receiver and member of the Burgundy team Jaylin Lane. "Just bringing a different type of energy. You got brotherhood and people talking trash. It helps build chemistry. It's kinda fun, and I'm excited for it."
