While the first couple of preseason games can occasionally offer a window into how the regular season will play out for a given team, more often it extrapolates small amounts of data and churns them through a hype machine that creates a narrative mostly forgotten by the first week in September.
The third game however, otherwise known as the final dress rehearsal for the first-team offense and defense, gives a sizeable chunk of playing time to the starters, providing one last chance to find a rhythm before the opener. For the Redskins, this comes on a Sunday, which means that the past several days have functioned like a regular game week.