Is it time to take the backup tag off of Heinicke?

By Dan Ryans

WASHINGTON–The Washington Football Team needed to win on Thursday night, and they got it. But what they needed the most was peace of mind at quarterback. Yes, this player has some flaws and needs to clean up some issues early in the game. However, from the two starts, we have seen from Taylor Heinicke in a Washington uniform, it is clear that the backup QB tag must be removed from him. 

On Thursday, Heinicke completed 34 of 46 passes (73.91% on completions) for 336 yards and two touchdowns. With this performance, there were two statement drives, both occurring in the fourth quarter. The first statement drive started with under five minutes left in the game. Washington was down by six, and the drive’s first play was a beautiful strike from Heinicke to J.D. McKissic, who took it downfield for a huge 56-yard gain. Washington finished the drive on the next play, which was a nice throw to Ricky Seals-Jones at the corner of the end zone. The second statement drive came with about a minute left in the game. New York had retaken the lead, and WFT needed a field goal to win the game. In a series aided by Giants penalties on defense, short passes to Logan Thomas, Adam Humphries, and Terry McLaurin got Washington into field goal range. WFT successfully completed the drive with a game-winning 43-yard field goal by kicker Dustin Hopkins. Those two big scoring drives clearly showed a bounce-back performance for Heinicke after a tough start to the season.

Here are some of the Washington players speaking highly of the quarterback after the game:

Chase Young: “He came in last year and showed he can sling it. You just give him camp with the whole team and all these practices…we have all trust in 4, and we’re on his side.”

J.D. McKissic: “You’re looking at a team who has 100 percent confidence in their quarterback, we’re 100 percent behind him, we truly believe we could win with him, and I think he’s shown that time and time again.”

Terry McLaurin: “He’s always ready for his moment, and I love guys who are always ready for their moment, always prepared. He doesn’t complain about the reps that he gets in practice; even when he wasn’t the starter, he just makes the most of his opportunities. That’s all you can ask for…”

It’s over! Taylor Heinicke is QB1 moving forward, and nothing except a terrible injury (knock on wood) should take that away from him. The team and the fans love his style of play and trust him to lead Washington to victory.