Doug Williams won Super Bowl XXII with the Redskins, but the next season, he had to compete with Mark Rypien for the starting gig – and even though he lost, the two were so close and formed such a bond of support that Williams was one of the biggest Rypien backers over his final two seasons in DC.
So, he can empathize with what Jacoby Brissett is feeling now, as Jacoby has built such a bond with Sam Howell and now is tasked with guiding the Commanders over the final two games of the Ron Rivera era after Howell faltered bad enough to be replaced.
“I watch those two every day basically, and I’ve never seen two guys get along and be so close like that,’ Williams said. “Jacoby has a calming sense about himself, and Sam is an unconcerned type of guy, too; he’s a ball player, that’s all he does. It’s unfortunate down the stretch that he hasn’t played well, and Jacoby came in the last couple of weeks and showed that that he's capable of playing. But the bottom line is everybody has to be on the same page and playing at the same level; you can't expect your QB to play at a level if everybody else is not playing at that level, because we all know you can't play the position if you're not standing up or if you're running for your life all the time. A lot of stuff goes into it.”
Make no mistake, the Super Bowl XXII MVP says, Howell can play, but it’s time for a break – and it’s going to be a different world for Brissett starting the game as opposed to coming into the last two in relief with the team down big.
“It’s a whole different ball game coming out of the dugout, so to speak, than it is to start, but Jacoby has been there before,” Williams said. “This ain't his first rodeo of being a starter, and I think he’ll do well.”
Williams was a backup to Jay Schroeder before coming on to lead the Redskins through the playoffs in that 1987 season, so he knows exactly what Brissett has dealt with this season, and what he’s dealing with now.
“My thought back in the day was, you know you're the backup, but mentally, you're the starter, and I think that’s happened with Jacoby,” Williams said. “Because he has started, his mindset was that he’s not the backup. There are guys in this league that are backups and that's their mentality, they go in with that sense and they’re surprised when they have success, and they don't know how to handle it right off the bat. But as a starter, you go in there, and if things don't go right, it don't go right, but you expect it to go well.”
Beyond this season, it appears Washington is going to be looking for a quarterback…but even though Williams thinks there are five QBs worthy of a first-round grade, he would put Sam Howell ahead of most of them?
“I’m not in the personnel department so I don't spend a lot of time like they do, but I watch them, and I think there are five exceptional guys that are coming out, and if you want to make that move to get a quarterback, you can,” the Commanders’ senior advisor said, “but at the same time, I put Sam in that bunch, and right now, I think Sam is ahead of them because he has these games up under his belt. He’s played, he knows what to expect, and if you get an offensive line and people to play with, you can go out and play better. Everybody’s looking for the quarterback, but you never know who’s the real guy.”
Doc reminded that Patrick Mahomes was a first-round pick and sat for a year learning from Alex Smith, so would maybe bringing back Brissett to do the same for a first-round QB be a viable option in DC?
“People didn’t think Alex Smith was going to be a good player, but he knew how to handle a team and get everybody to buy in – now, these guys come out and want to brand themselves right away,” Williams said, “and that’s how you lose the team right there, because it's all about you.”