Washington Redskins Forgotten Classic: Williams Nails Down the Job

This game, the 1987 regular season finale, had no significance in and of itself for Washington. The Redskins already had wrapped up the division title and their playoff seeding was set. The significance of this contest was the Jay Schroeder started the game and Doug Williams finished it. Based on the fact that Schroeder was ineffective and that Williams rallied the team to an overtime win, Joe Gibbs gave Williams the nod to be the starter for the playoffs. The rest, as they say, is history, such as the 35 points the Redskins racked up in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII with Williams pulling the trigger. You have to wonder what might have happened if Schroeder had played well, or even just OK. I don't think that the Redskins win it all with Schroeder behind center, but you never know. From the pages of my upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle : The Metrodome— Doug Williams replaced an ineffective Jay Schroeder at quarterback and, along with Barry Wilburn and Ricky Sanders, ... (link)