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Washington's Josh Johnson: I played 'Madden' to learn my teammates' names

When you’re a player who joins a team midway through the season, there’s a lot you have to learn.

How to get from your temporary digs to the facility is No. 1, and there’s Waze for that.

Learning the playbook is obviously No. 2, especially if you want to get on the field. There’s coaches and iPads for that.

And if you’re invested in learning who you’re sharing a locker room with, well, there’s a method for that too.

Josh Johnson gets assist from ‘Madden’

Washington quarterback Josh Johnson wanted to learn his new teammates, so he clicked on the video game console. (AP)
Washington quarterback Josh Johnson wanted to learn his new teammates, so he clicked on the video game console. (AP)

After Washington’s 40-16 loss to the New York Giants, quarterback Josh Johnson told reporters that he played the “Madden” video game to help him learn his teammates’ names.

“I had to play ‘Madden,'” he said. “I told the coaches that. Just to learn my teammates. Coming in on a short week, you learn. There’s so many moving parts, but for me, I play ‘Madden’ so I was able to get on ‘Madden’ and learn my teammates.”

Washington is the 12th team Johnson has spent time with since he was drafted in 2008, so he certainly has a lot of experience learning on the fly.

Charity hoops to practice field

Johnson was playing in a charity basketball game in his native Oakland, California, when he got the call from Washington last week that it wanted to sign him; he was one of several quarterbacks the team brought in for a tryout a couple of weeks ago, after Alex Smith’s devastating injury.

At the time, those players were auditioning to be Colt McCoy’s backup. But McCoy also suffered a broken leg, so the player initially signed to be the No. 2 quarterback, Mark Sanchez, became the starter. Johnson was signed to be Sanchez’s backup.

Sanchez was so bad on Sunday against the Giants — he had a passer rating of 10.7 after completing 6-of-14 passes for 38 yards and two interceptions — that Johnson finished the game and will start Sunday, on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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