ASHBURN, Va. — Tress Way does not like using the word “darkness” to describe the losing he has endured over the last decade as Washington’s longest-tenured player because of the fun he has had along the way.

The two-time Pro Bowl punter even got to take part in a couple of playoff games, something that can’t be said by many of the teammates around him in the locker room who made it through wholesale roster changes. For them, the Commanders’ wild-card game against the Buccaneers on Sunday night, is the culmination of a breakthrough into the prime-time lights.

“We’ve been through the wringer,” offensive lineman Sam Cosmi said.

“It’s nice to be on the other end of something special.”

A big part of that something special is rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is set to make his NFL playoff debut in the same Buccaneers stadium where he played his first professional game four months ago. It also will be the first in the postseason for Cosmi, one of just 10 players drafted by the Commanders from 2021-23 who made it through the rough times.

The Commanders went 19-31-3 over the last three seasons. Adding eight wins from 4-13 to 12-5 is the biggest year-to-year improvement in franchise history.

“Anything is possible when you have the right mindset and you’re treating the process right,” said running back Brian Robinson Jr., a second-round pick in 2022. “Everybody from the head down has been doing everything to just along that process of whatever it was going to take for us to turn this place around, and we did it.”

This is the Commanders’ first playoff game since the 2020 season under coach Ron Rivera, a loss twith no fans in the stands as Tom Brady and the Bucs were on their way to winning the Super Bowl. It’s just the second over the last decade, the previous one coming in the 2015 season with Kirk Cousins quarterbacking and Jay Gruden in charge, a home defeat to the Packers.

There is far more optimism this time around, thanks in large part to Daniels — nearly a lock to be Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the year — and new coach Dan Quinn.

“It’s definitely been a different vibe — just the atmosphere, the culture is different,” said veteran receiver Jamison Crowder, who along with Way are the only players on the Commanders’ current roster who faced the Packers in January 2016. “A lot of that’s a credit to DQ and what he’s done to kind of restructure and revamp the energy in the building.”

Culture and a game-changing quarterback can go a long way.

The Commanders sure hope so.