Washington Football Team gratitudes for Thanksgiving 2020
Alex Smith’s fighting spirit
We already spoke about Rivera’s leadership and him setting the example for the team, but we can’t forget about Alex Smith. This man has no quit in him.
More than two years after suffering a horrible injury where he broke his fibula and tibia in his right leg, Alex Smith won his first game in over two years. After the injury, there was a chance that Smith would not only lose his leg, but potentially lose his life due to a life-threatening infection. He underwent 17 surgeries and a hellacious rehab process to even get back to walking, let alone setting foot on an NFL field again.
But here he is, back leading another NFL franchise. One of 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL. If you don’t understand the magnitude of that and how much dedication it took for him to get to this point, then you should stop calling yourself a football fan.
When Smith first returned to the field after Kyle Allen was knocked out of the Rams game, the entire world collectively held their breath. After watching Smith get body-slammed by Aaron Donald and get back up, there was a sigh of relief. His leg held up and Alex Smith was officially back.
After looking completely rusty against the Rams, Smith made the most of his opportunity against the Lions and Bengals. I don’t care what anyone says about Smith; he is someone that Washington should be proud to have as their starting quarterback after what he has overcome to get here.
Yes, some will say he’s overpaid. He’s a check-down quarterback. He’s a game manager. But one thing you can never say about him is that he is a quitter, as he has bounced back again and again and again throughout his career.
In the last few games, he has set a career-high in passing yards (390) and has hit on multiple long balls, while also helping with the development of Cam Sims and Isaiah Wright.
His leadership is unquestioned and he is the ultimate team player, having helped mentor Colin Kaepernick, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyle Allen before he got injured. The players look up to him, and that respect goes a long way toward building culture, as Terry McLaurin mentioned:
"One thing I could say about Alex is he never makes it about him. He has every reason to kind of be, ‘look at my comeback story, look what I’ve done,’ but he makes it about the team. … He tries to keep everyone even-keeled and focused on the task at hand. To see him come back and get a win as a starter … that’s not only a motivation to us as players but motivation to everybody that has watched that [injury]."