Heading into Sunday's game against the Broncos, there is a lot that is to be learned from that first matchup. What will the team look like? There is also, understandably so, a feeling throughout the locker room with some players about starting the season. The same could be said about the coordinators, both the offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and defensive coordinator Aden Durde, who both will be going into the game as first-time NFL coordinators.

"I always get nervous. I want to do great. I play off that," Grubb said.

On Sunday, Grubb will be in the booth calling plays in his first regular season NFL game.

"I just feel the same way as players, though, to be honest with you. I can remember the first time I was calling a game. It had been a while since I was at Sioux Falls, and I'd coordinated for a while and then moved on to position coach, and then I got back to calling it. My first game back was in the Coliseum when I was at Fresno State, and we were playing USC. Leading up to the game, I was like, okay, 'I'll go through, memorize all my calls, do all this,' and you get there, the ball's kicked, teed up, and the first, third, fourth happens, and you're rolling. It's very similar for players. They get out there. There's a lot building up to it, but then you just got to do your job, and you got to work into it and play within your bounds."

Grubb has been working with this offense since March, preparing for the start of the season and now that it's here, he said there "may be a little bit extra" anticipation for this particular game.

"Just getting excited to see these guys. It's been a long time since April and March. We're working together, and some of the calls you're talking about way back then are showing up now. It's really cool to see the growth where we're at now. I'm excited to see those guys get out there and tear it up."

Earlier this week, head coach Mike Macdonald reiterated that he will be the defensive play caller on Sunday, "Yeah, I'm going to be calling the plays on defense. It's a team effort, I'm just the one hitting the button and saying the words."

And like his quote suggests, Durde still has a very important role to the defense. Macdonald will be calling plays and coaching the team, and this is where Durde comes in.

"I think of it more as my job. Where can I take the weight off him? How can I support him? What areas do I kind of flourish in and what areas can I see around corners for him and stuff like that? It's more me looking from, not necessarily from his eyes, I try and look around corners for him in the moment because that's my job."

Week after week, players have talked about the growth they've seen in both sides of the ball, but that same growth can be seen in the coaching staff as well.

Durde said, "I think really that improvement is a collective of all of us. It's them and us, it's not just 'Oh, they're improving.' I think a lot of us are new people coming together and a lot of us didn't know each other. I think you see systematically and as a group there's growth there week in and week out. Just like anything, as you understand it more, you can start playing freer, you can start talking with way more confidence, you start playing with way more confidence. To me, that's the growth of those guys and I feel like the growth of all of us as a group."

But for Grubb and Durde preparing for a football game, despite this one being a little more different for them, in terms of job duty and title, they don't feel like it's any different. It's football.

"It's kind of the same challenge every year when you're getting out there and just getting a feel for your guys, how they're going to respond in an emotional moment," explained Grubb. "I think that typically can be one of the things is there's a difference between, obviously, preseason games and regular season. Seeing those big moments I think is probably the biggest thing, anticipating how you get through from point A to point B because there's always going to be tough spots in the game and how our guys are going to react to that."

Durde adding, "I think when you're playing an uncommon opponent, I think you have to kind of look at yourself. You have to be led by your rules, you have to understand how you align, you have to be able to communicate at a high level. Really, if you take that and then you look at the start of the season, the start of the season is about execution and fundamentals. Really and truthfully, everyone's still finding out who they are. That's the growth of the NFL, teams evolve over the season. It's our chance to go out there, it's all about us on Sunday. It's about us, how we approach it, and when we go out there how we execute."