The perils of Danny not joining Grant out in Vegas on Radio Row, because someone else was paying for GP to be there: he missed out on Super Bowl 22 MVP Doug Williams!
DR at least got to talk to him, as Williams joined G&D for a bit of a chat, and that’s where we found out that Doug walks around Radio Row, even 35 years after he won it all, he’s still part of an elite club.
“If you think about it, you have guys that got multiple rings, so you realize this is a very small club, and it's a pleasure to be in that club,” Williams said. “Not that many people get this opportunity, and I was fortunate enough to be with the Redskins at that particular time and got that chance to win the Super Bowl.”
After a little reminiscing about that, the guys got down to business: the current Commanders. It’s now been 30 years since the Commanders won a Super Bowl, meaning there’s a whole generation that is, as Grant said, ‘chasing that ghost’ of seeing one.
Even GP, who is in his mid-thirties, was still in pre-school when Mark Rypien last led the Burgundy & Gold to the Lombardi, so anyone under that age really has no idea what a title looks like.
“That's the unfortunate part about this whole thing; you got parents who got kids that hadn't had an opportunity to enjoy what they enjoyed, but I think that's what we're working towards,” Williams said. “I think we just got to get to the point where we can put ourselves in the tournament, and then to stay. And I think now, with the new ownership and the new regime coming in, they understood what winning was back in the 80s, and I think that's what they want to get back to – and I think we've done the first step of doing that with the coaching staff and with the ownership doing what they're doing. We want to get the younger generation the same thing that their parents were able to get back then.”
Will they be doing so with the Commanders name?
“I think it's one of those names that you find some people who like it, and some people who don't, and at the end of the day, leave all that up to ownership to decide,” WIlliams said. “We can keep ascending with Commanders, or if they want something else different, it'll be up to them.”
Maybe it will happen, maybe not, but like everything else so far, ownership isn't making rash decisions.
“They came in and were quiet, they do what they gotta do and weren’t stepping on anybody's toes like this past year,” Willims said. “They didn't come in trying to interfere with anything, they let everything work itself out and made ey made the decision. Now, I think you see more of them, they're working in the organization. They went out and vetted the best general manager, and then worked towards the head coach. Those are the two biggest hires that this organization has made so far, and pretty much set the tone for what we want to be. And I think looking from that standpoint, they feel good about that.”
The next big decision is the quarterback, and where to go at No. 2, and while nobody knows what will happen, Williams can for sure know this decision won’t necessarily be as painful as 2012 if things don’t pan out.
“There's an awful lot of them taken at the top of the draft that didn’t make it, and a lot that did, so it’s a crap shoot,” Williams said, “but with the No. 2 pick, everybody figured that you're gonna get a quarterback and that it would rise the fan base. The good thing compared to 2012 is we didn’t have to give up the farm to do it, and whether they make a trade or whatever, you got three guys for sure that will be in the Top 5 or 6 as a quarterback. You pick one of those guys, you keep your picks to build around them, and at the end of the day, it's about building around the quarterback, because that's what this league is all about now. So you got No. 2, and you have a lot of picks within the Top 100.”