On Monday, Adam Peters assessed his third Washington Commanders operation thusly: “I have a ton of confidence in this team. I have a ton of confidence in this coaching staff.”Dan Quinn, the man who will coach the players Peters picked, evaluated the entire preseason like this: “I thought as a team standpoint, we threw a really productive and tough camp. … It was good to see the systems come to life offensively and defensively.”That’s great, gentlemen. Now, the tricky part: You have to be right.Think about how different the weeks leading up to Year 3 of the Peters-Quinn operation are in comparison to previous seasons.At this point in 2024, there was an unprecedented mix of relief and anticipation as the first general manager (Peters) hired by an owner other than Dan Snyder (Josh Harris) in a quarter of a century got to work with his hand-picked coach (Quinn) and unveil their second-selection-in-the-draft quarterback (Jayden Daniels). Heady stuff.Last year at this same time, that four-headed leadership group rode the wave of momentum provided by a trip to the NFC Championship Game into the most highly anticipated season of Washington football since the salad days that brought three Super Bowl trophies. It felt like uncharted territory.And somehow, that produced a 5-12 clunker.Commanders camp takeaways: Jayden Daniels locked-in; injuries mountNicki JhabvalaSo here we are. This is Peters’ team. It is Quinn’s to coach. This is not a year to build. It is not a bridge to something in the future. It’s a year to produce. Harris has to be watching — and closely, right?(There is the matter of the owner’s NBA franchise up Interstate 95 and the global icon he signed to help win a championship there. But something tells us the Philadelphia 76ers will never mean as much to Harris as his hometown Commanders. Lose the gauntlet of an opening stretch at Philadelphia, at Dallas and home against Super Bowl champion Seattle and the focus will be in Ashburn — whether LeBron James is in Sixers training camp or not.)When Peters arrived in early 2024 to replace Ron Rivera — remember when that guy got to make all the decisions? — he was not only Harris’ first major hire. He represented something more: a seasoned football professional who had learned for two decades under other seasoned football professionals and would be empowered to make football decisions for the franchise. What a concept.A 2025 that featured a slew of injuries at three of the sport’s most important positions — quarterback, wideout and edge rusher — contributed to the thud back to earth. But before you can say, “Look, left tackle Laremy Tunsil already might be lost for the year … ,” acknowledge that at this point in his tenure, Peters has had both the time and the resources to build a roster that can withstand the types of injuries that come with playing football.“We play a contact sport, a physical violence sport,” Daniels said. “So things are gonna happen.”That’s right. And when things inevitably happen, the roster has to be able to absorb the hit and move forward.The shaky end to the preseason — and by “shaky,” we mean the jaw-droppingly noncompetitive 41-3 loss at Baltimore last Friday night — brings real concern about the depth of talent and the coaches who motivate and deploy it. Yes, 41 players who are important to the regular season didn’t suit up. But those who did largely stunk. The conclusion — when coupled with last year’s 30-3 clunker to close the preseason against the Ravens — is that year-in, year-out, Baltimore has built a sturdier roster than Washington, full stop.The iffy vibes from the past couple of weeks stem from Tunsil’s injury, flat performances against Detroit and Baltimore, a largely shaky joint practice against the Ravens and the inability of center Nick Allegretti to practice because of a calf problem — which exposed a tissue-thin interior of the offensive line.Throw in another injury to cornerback Trey Amos, who will open the season on injured reserve, and it can be hard to find hope before a season that begins with an eight-game stretch that’s borderline cruel — the above-mentioned first three games followed by an anything-can-happen trip to London to face the Colts, a flight back home to play the Giants, a Monday night trip to San Francisco and out-of-the-bye dates against the Eagles and Rams. Yikes.This is not to say the season is over before it starts. Far from it. The Commanders still have Daniels, and a healthy Daniels lifts the floor of the entire operation. In Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs and tight end Chig Okonkwo, Daniels might have his most dangerous group of pass catchers in his three seasons as a pro.“He makes it incredibly difficult to go against,” Quinn said. “… New system, but his call, his command, his ability to get in and out of things, it’s impressive.”Plus, for those in freak-out mode about the state of the offensive line, there’s still time before the opener to make a move or two. The message Monday: deep breaths.“Obviously, fans are passionate,” Peters said. “And you love to have passionate fans. That’s great. But there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing here that maybe they don’t see and there’s a lot of things that I’m really excited to see in a couple weeks.”September is just starting. This isn’t the time to panic. It is, however, time to take ownership. Adam Peters, Dan Quinn, the team you’re confident in is all yours.“We have the right types of guys throughout the whole building,” Peters said. “We have really good competitors. We have really good people in the building. I’m really proud of that.”That self-assessment could be seen as overly sunny. Doesn’t matter. It just has to be correct, and it has to lead to results.