Names and Roses

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June 29, 2021

By Noonefromtampa

The title comes from a Shakespeare quote in Romeo & Juliet, “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

As we enter the middle doldrums between the end of organized team activities and the opening of training camp, we at The Hog Sty are continuously looking for interesting topics with which to engage our readers.  In that spirit, in today’s retrospective we will look at common surname of players through the history of the Washington Football Team, based on Internet available data (so it might not be 100% accurate).

Unfortunately, the 2020 US Census data is not available yet, so according to the 2010 census data the most popular surname in the US are:

  1. Smith
  2. Johnson
  3. Williams
  4. Brown
  5. Jones
  6. Garcia
  7. Miller
  8. Davis
  9. Rodriguez
  10. Martinez

The most popular player surname for Washington is also Smith. From Alex to Willie, there have been 19 players with that surname who have played for the team.

Best Smith – Jerry Smith. He was a tight end who played 168 games from 1965 to 1977, who also should be in the Hall of Fame based on his playing statistics, but for the prejudice against LGBTQ players. When he left the game, his 60 touchdowns were an NFL record for tight ends and the record stood for 27 years until broken by Shannon Sharpe. He passed away too soon at age 43.

One Hit Wonder Smith – Timmy Smith. He had a career game in Super Bowl XXII rushing for 204 yards and two touchdowns in the 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos. The problem was that game was his career. He ended up being remembered as the #2 ranked player on NFL Top 10 “One Shot Wonders” episode.

The second most popular surname for Washington is Williams with 18 players.

Best Williams – Trent Williams. He defined the model for athletic left tackle in today’s modern passing offense. An 8x Pro Bowl player, he was the 4th overall pick in the 2010. His legacy with the team was tarnished at the end prior to his trade to San Francisco with the controversy regarding his medical treatment by the team.

Most Popular Williams – Doug Williams. The quarterback for the Super Bowl XXII victory. The second quarter of that game was one for the ages. He threw four touchdown passes in that quarter taking Washington from 10-0 deficit to a 35-10 halftime lead. Doug completed 18 of 29 passes for a then record 340 yards, becoming the first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl and be name the Super Bowl MVP.

Most Disliked Williams – Madieu Williams. In my opinion, he still holds this title as a result of his one season with the team. His inability to cover tight ends or running backs coming out of the backfield contributing dismal 2012 defense. He did have a pick 6 off of Christian Ponder, in a week 6 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Off the field, his foundation working toward health and wellness earned him the 2011 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

The third post popular Washington player surname is Johnson, with 16 players.

Best QB Johnson – Brad Johnson over Josh Johnson. Brad had a great 1999 season, one of the best in the Dan Snyder era, with 4,005 yards, 24 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a 90.0 passer rating. 1999 is also the year that the team had its greatest success since Snyder took over, losing to Tampa Bay in the divisional round on a botched potential gaming winning field goal.

Best OL Johnson – Tre’ Johnson (Edward Stanton Johnson, III) was a 2nd round pick in the 1994 draft. He was a mauling guard who created holes for the running game during his time with the team. His nickname of Tre comes from him being a “third” namesake.

Missing Johnson – Andre Johnson. 1st round pick in the 1996 draft. He is one of the few players in the post-merger era who was a 1st round pick who was not traded who never played a down for the team that drafted him. He is considered one of the worst first round picks of the post-merger era, and doesn’t even count as one of the 16 since he never played for the team.

The fourth most popular surname for Washington is Brown, with 15 players.

Best RB Brown – Larry Brown. Every fan should know the story of how Vince Lombardi had the medical staff check Larry’s hearing, which was found deficient and had his helmet outfitted with hearing aids. Larry went on to set franchise records for rushing attempts, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns during his career from 1969 to 1976. Though all those records are now held by John Riggins, Larry was the original “power” back for Washington in the post-merger era.

Best WR Brown – “Downtown” Charlie Brown. He was one of my father’s favorite players during the Gibbs years. He only played for Washington for 3 years until he was traded to Atlanta for Pro Bowl guard R.C. Thielemann. He was an instrumental part of the Super Bowl XVII winning team and holds the team rookie record most touchdowns by a wide receiver at eight.

The fifth most popular surname for Washington is Jones, with 14 players.

There were not many Jones names that stood out to me. Recent Jones players include Florida RB Matt Jones, who couldn’t hold on to the ball like you need to in the NFL in order to have a long career. The name that did stand out was Deacon Jones, who played one season for George Allen in 1974.

When Deacon played football, the sack was not an official statistic for defensive players. In fact, the term “sack” did not exist until Deacon invented it, which NFL historians attribute to this comment of his: “You take all the offensive linemen and put them in a burlap bag, and then you take a baseball bat and beat on the bag. You’re sacking them, you’re bagging them. And that’s what you’re doing with a quarterback.” He also innovated the now-banned head slap as part of his pass rushing moves. With his forearms taped up like clubs, he would strike opposing offensive lineman on the helmet, making the pause for the moment that Deacon needed to use his speed to get by them. Pro Football Weekly reviewed all his game tape and reported that he accumulated 173.5 sacks during his career which would have placed him first when he retired and third all-time still today.

There were 11 Davis and 5 Miller surnames on the list I compiled. The best Davis was running back Stephen Davis, who 4th All-Time franchise record in rushing with 5,790 yards and 45 touchdowns. Tight end Vernon Davis gets an honorable mention. He and Jordan Reed made a great TE combination. Tight end Fred Davis is waiting for his suspension for using banned substances to end from 2014, I think.

There have not been any outstanding Millers in the post-merger era.

Sadly, no Garcia, Martinez or Rodriguez surnames showed up on the sources I used in my research.