On Friday, September 16, 2016, the Washington Redskins–who were knocked around by the Pittsburgh Steelers in their first game of the season on Monday night–were given a Heavyweight motivational speech by none other than former Olympic bronze medalist and WBC champion, Deontay Wilder.
Wilder took to his Facebook page to assure people that his talk with the ‘Skins was tough ahead of the teams divisional clash against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon.
“Had a strong prep talk today with my guys for Sunday Night and man did I go hard, we’ll see what happens #GoRedSkins,” said Wilder.
Four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams took the champs advice to heart and is ready to defend the NFC East title.
“The message I got was, no matter the circumstances, your job is to win,” said Williams (via The Washington Post). “With us being the returning NFC East champs, he said, from a champion’s perspective, you don’t make excuses. You go out there and win.”
“When you’re the best, you know you’re the best, so you’ve got to come out there and act like you’re the best and show it — no matter what,” said Chris Baker, a defensive end for the Redskins.
The Redskins seem to be attemptiing to pull motivation from every direction as Katie Ledecky, the five-time medalist at this year’s Rio Olympic Games, spoke with the team a couple of weeks ago.
Coach Jay Gruden was appreciative of Wilder’s speech and knows that now the Redskins have to start winning some games.
“It was fun. Great person, heck of an athlete. Played in some pain, broken hand, torn biceps, and still whipped some people,” said Gruden (via Redskins.com).
“We’ve been fortunate, we got Katie Ledecky, we got Deontay Wilder, we got it going on here. Now we’ve just got to get some wins around here,” concluded Gruden.
The Washington Redskins take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 1:00 pm, EST on FOX from FedExField in Landover, Maryland.
