In the heat of the moment, it's rather thrilling to evaluate what coach Ron Rivera did in handing the quarterback duties to Taylor Heinicke for Saturday night's wild-card meeting against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, yeah, the Bucs prevailed, winning 31-23.
READ MORE: NFL Playoffs: Bucs Get Win, Washington Gets Scar Tissue
But what about that Heinicke?
"I'd take No. 4 on my team any day of the week and twice on Sundays,'' said receiver Terry McLaurin of Heinicke: "I hope we can be teammates in the future.
"That dude plays with no fear.''
He also played well, and he played hurt - he sustained an AC joint separation of his shoulder during the game - and he went 26 of 44 for 306 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown in only his second NFL start.
Starting in place of the injured Alex Smith, he gave the underdog WFT a chance to win a FedExField start against the goat, Tom Brady.
Heinicke said of Smith: "He's been helping me since the moment I got here. It just speaks volumes about Alex. ... He's a big part of this."
Teamwork and effort and near-heroics ... That was all one could ask on this Saturday. But what about asking for it for 2021?
Heinicke's scrambling, diving 8-yard TD run was inspirational. So was his return after having exited with that shoulder injury. With one arm hanging limp, he tossed a late TD pass to Steven Sims to make this a one-possession game.
"It just hurts like hell right now,'' Heinicke said, noting that surgery is not planned.
Was he Brady-esque? Nah. Brady, the oldest player to throw a touchdown pass in NFL playoff history at 43 years and 159 days old, went 22 of 40 for 381 yards and two touchdowns.
But was the 27-year-old journeyman Heinicke, making $900,000 on his one-year deal, as good as Alex Smith might've been?
"Gutsy. It really was," Rivera said, before turning his attention to the future. "It's one of those things that ... a guy like him who works hard at what he does, he's created an opportunity for himself. And we'll see what happens."
What happens for next year's WFT is that they will view themselves as being a QB away. Heinicke - undrafted in 2015 and an NFL cup-of-coffee guy who was recently a backup for the XFL's St. Louis BattleHawks - has established himself worthy of competing. Smith will be among those who do the same. And if Washington gets substantially better QB play than it did during 2020? Washington can be the first repeat NFC East champ in 17 years.
"He does everything you could ask of a quarterback in this league,'' said McLaurin. And that is, frankly, overstating it. But Taylor Heinicke made a name for himself as an NFL QB. It's a start.
"Give" - Google News
January 10, 2021 at 12:37PM
https://ift.tt/38tvmcF
Do Heinicke Heroics Give QB A WFT Future? - Sports Illustrated
"Give" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YqGX80
https://ift.tt/2YquBwx
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Do Heinicke Heroics Give QB A WFT Future? - Sports Illustrated"
Post a Comment