“I do think games are a better indicator of where you are as an offense and as a team,” Cousins said. “Practice is a little challenging to discern where you are, but I do think mistakes that are being made are not as critical and serious as they have been in past years. I think they’re more minor and correctable, and that’s a positive. I do think we’re further ahead as an offense than we’ve been at this time in past seasons, but there will be other challenges that will present themselves, too.”

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Cousins attributes the steady improvements and signs of growth to continuity. The bulk of Washington’s offensive starters are now entering their third season in Jay Gruden and Sean McVay’s offense. So early practices of training camp — and those during the offseason — have served as refreshers rather than reconstruction sessions.

Asked for examples of the areas he most observed progress, Cousins said, “Every aspect of our offense, whether it be protections, route combinations, hand signals, code words, blitz pickups, chemistry between players, we’ve done it for a number of years. There’s not a lot of attrition. If you look at the five guys up front, they played significantly, their backups played significantly. Our receivers have played significantly, and their backups played a lot, tight ends and running backs very similarly. So, you’re not plugging in a lot of new guys that haven’t played football. As a result, when you’ve been there, done that, you can play at a higher level.”

It’s not yet known how much action the starters will receive in Thursday’s preseason opener. But Cousins & Co. share optimism that the progress they observe in practice will carry over into their action against an unfamiliar opponent and help them build momentum as the regular season opener approaches.