The Washington Commanders are struggling, and the regular season hasn’t even arrived yet. When the team faced off against the Baltimore Ravens at the Under Armour Performance Center in Maryland on 26th August, they quickly found themselves out of their element against a team out for blood. After a disastrous outing against Lamar Jackson & Co., Commanders’ veteran safety Jeremy Reaves left no doubt that he was mad.

“Not good enough,” Reaves began his joint practice assessment. “I interpret it game-wise, you down 21-to-nothing, start off flat, just can’t afford it, man. The margin for error in this league is just too slim, and you can’t pull up to play catch-up all game, bro. I like how we finished, but why not start off that way? Why not start off hot out of the gate? There’s not excuses. Everybody’s tired at this point of the year. Everybody’s hurting; it’s training camp. You’re not supposed to feel good. How we started is how you win five games. We’ve got to be way better.”

The Commanders went 5-12 last season and looked out of depth every single time they faced a good team, so that “win five games” dig felt rather personal. When asked by reporters on site about what the Commanders need to clean up in their game, Reaves took it upon himself.

“Communication, man. Continue to communicate at a high level,” Reaves said. “Play to play. They say play to play before it happens all the time. See what’s happening before, and that starts with me. I’m a primary communicator. I have to be better, too. If somebody doesn’t get something, then that’s on me. It doesn’t matter.

“So, we all just got to take accountability, look in the mirror. The season is a couple weeks away, and we start off in the division. The margin of error is very slim. And if you’re not on top of it now, you can’t wait until you’re in the fire to realize it’s hot.”

Now, Reaves has had a frown on his face ever since his team finished 5-12 last season. Even back in July, he’d said, “MF’s tired of losing, man… Last year, it sucked.” But the hunger Reaves has displayed, now entering his 9th NFL season, hasn’t translated through the roster, and that was on full display at the joint practice.

Now, Baltimore’s defense has been putting its own offense through the paces all offseason, but they showed unparalleled dominance against the Commanders this week. Quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and Sam Hartman faced constant pressure, either throwing to tight windows or opting for checkdowns. Even the run game couldn’t get going against the Ravens’ defense.

In one 7-on-7 red zone drill, Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton broke up a pass from Daniels with one hand. On 11-on-11s, DT Broderick Washington stuffed Commanders’ new RB Robert Henry Jr. Afterwards, Keondre Jackson forced an efficient fumble, prompting a dap from his head coach Jesse Minter. These were just some of the highlights that the Ravens continued to put up against the Commanders, who kept looking helpless at every turn. And it wasn’t just Jeremy Reaves who saw the gaps.

The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala, for one, called the Commanders’ offense “the worst” she’s seen in years, and noted the O-Line was “inoperable.” Commanders’ reporter Tashan Reed also offered a similar take on X.

“The Commanders’ O couldn’t get much going during that 11-on11 red zone drill,” Reed wrote. “The run blocking was subpar, and the passing offense also couldn’t get into a groove. The lowlight: Matt Gulbin had an errant snap, Jayden Daniels recovered it and threw it right to Kyle Hamilton.”

This isn’t the final 53-man roster for Washington. They are just prepping for the preseason finale against the Ravens for now. They do have a chance to turn their preseason record to 2-1. While that record won’t matter in the long run, given the struggles they’ve shown at training camp, the Commanders have an uphill climb if they want to avoid another 5-12 disaster like last season.