Kickoff: The Patriots kick-off the 2025 season with a visit from the Washington Commanders. After a productive joint practice between the two teams on Wednesday, they onus will now be applying what they practiced in game situations. Expect the starters on both sides to play one to two series before turning it over to the second, third and fourth stringers.

Here are four keys for tonight’s game.

1st Down: Limited action for the one’s: Expect the starters to play one to two series tonight on both sides of the ball. It will be a good opportunity to get them some work and get them acclimated to the systems and into playing shape. Anything more than that would be senseless. They will play the most snaps in next week’s game in Minnesota, so warm them up tonight.

2nd Down: Maye in the new O: Tonight’s game will be a good opportunity to see Drake Maye in Josh McDaniels offense. I expect a heavy emphasis on the running game when Maye plays. The Patriots will not show much in the passing game. A lot of staple basics of the offense. They will build off it as the preseason goes along.

3rd Down: Rookies watch: The Patriots rookies will debut tonight and it will be interesting to see how Will Campbell, Tre’veyon Henderson, Jared Wilson and the rest of the class perform. How much they play will tell us where the coaching staff thinks they are in terms of their development thus far. The expectation is they play at least a half as they get their feet wet and adjust to the speed of the game.

4th Down:  Back-ups one and only shot: Tonight’s game might be the one and only chance for the veteran back-ups and undrafted free agents to make a favorable impression in a game. They will have next week as well but you want to take advantage of all the snaps you get. It starts tonight. Play well tonight and you get more snaps next week.

Extra Point: The Patriots and the Commanders will meet for the 25th time in the preseason, and will be tied with Philadelphia for the second-most frequent preseason contests, behind the 31 meetings between the Patriots and Giants.

Final Drive: Tonight is about the projected starters getting a couple of series under their belts and to evaluate the rest of the roster. After a great joint practice on Wednesday, the Patriots want to build off of it with a good performance tonight. It will also be our first look at new head coach Mike Vrabel and how he manages a game. I would not expect anything crazy tonight but we will see how he handles personnel and any possible situations.