Austin Ekeler takes Grant & Danny through his experience in the Hail Mary

He didn’t tip it, he didn’t catch it, but Austin Ekeler was out there blocking for Jayden Daniels to give him time to throw the Hail Mary that gave the Commanders their first walk-off win in the Super Bowl era.

“That was an incredible moment to be a part of, just something that I will never forget. I'm so excited to have been a part of that for not only our team, but as I continue to learn more about kind of the history of what this team has been through over the past few years, it’s great that we're bringing some new energy to the DMV area,” Ekeler told Grant & Danny Tuesday. “I wasn’t looking down the field, just was making sure Jayden had time to throw.”

Once he saw the defense start to look for the ball, Ekeler did, too, but because of the crowd around Noah Brown, he didn’t really see what happened…but he sure did hear it.

“We heard everyone going crazy, so we assumed that someone like fell with it into the end zone or something like that, but the thing that I distinctly remember and I will always remember is the eruption of roars in the stands, and how it just was so loud,” Ekeler said. “It was almost even just like an energy; I just felt like I was a part of this big ball of just loud, passionate, energy, and then all of a sudden I see everyone running off the sidelines flipping up their headsets and towels and everything, Man, it was something that definitely got me emotional, because I was like, wow, like this all of this just happened in this one moment. It was pretty cool to share in, and I get excited every time I see it.”

Grant went cheesy and compared it to a surprise entrant in a Royal Rumble or something, as to him, ’only sports can have 50,000 strangers watching one thing all together, being kind of overcome with that joy where it's like where's a stranger, let me hug them.’

“I don’t know, I’ve seen some of these Taylor Swift concerts, they might be close,” Ekeler laughed, “it’s gonna be a different tone, a little higher pitch, but you’re 100 percent right. It was cool watching the videos of people that were at sports bars, you know, everyone's just hugging everybody and just cheering and jumping around and enjoying the moment. So yeah, it’s great that we're enjoying some of these moments out here, because this city has definitely deserved it. That’s been long overdue.”

So what was going through Ekeler’s mind in the moments before the throw as he was blocking for Daniels for 13 seconds?

“The only thing in my mind is do not get sacked, give us a chance! And if you heard any of his interviews after the game, that's exactly what he was thinking too, just give the guys a chance,” Ekeler said. “He needed some time to buy to let guys get down there and set up, and fortunate for us, they only rushed three, so it allowed us to have three double teams. We could have blocked longer, but it was enough for him to find someone – my head was like ‘come on Jayden, throw it,’ but he finally gave it a heave and we got it.”

Take a listen to Ekeler’s entire visit above, as he also goes into his role in the game at large, the Commanders’ red zone issues, how the team managed Jayden Daniels’ rib injury and more!