Washington Football Team: Taylor Heinicke nailed trial by fire

The Washington Football Team may have lost but Taylor Heinicke was a big winner.

The Washington Football Team went 7-9 in the regular season. It was not great, but it was just enough to win the terrible NFC East.

The good news was they had gotten hot down the stretch of the regular season. Their defense was elite and had some good offensive weapons. Meanwhile, the offensive line looked solid. However, it was a pedestrian offense at best. And that is being extremely nice about it. The biggest culprit would be the quarterback position. That dumpster fire started with Dwayne Haskins.

Haskins was not terrible to start the year, to be fair. He wasn’t great either, though, and, after four weeks of the offense not doing much, he was benched for Kyle Allen.

The offense improved a little bit with Allen, but it wasn’t suddenly shaking fear into any defenses. We didn’t really get to see it for all that long, however, as Allen suffered a nasty ankle injury that forced him to miss the rest of the year.

That brought Alex Smith back into an NFL game. The quarterback had not played since that terrible leg injury back in 2018. He became Washington’s starter and actually looked pretty good.

Smith was a little more turnover-prone than usual but was moving the offense a little better. Still nothing great but things were moving a little bit. Then came the calf tightness. That forced Smith out of a game and suddenly Haskins was back. He struggled mightily and off-field problems were plentiful. Not only was he quickly benched again, but he was also cut.

This gave us our first glimpse of Taylor Heinicke. In just a half of play in Week 16, he made fans pretty happy. However, it was short-lived as Smith was back in for Week 17.

Smith looked very immobile and had a lot of fans calling for Heinicke as they felt the quarterback was not healthy enough to help the team win. It appears they were not wrong as Heinicke was called upon for Washington’s playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Taylor Heinicke made himself money with his performance for the Washington Football Team.

As we all know by now, the Washington Football Team lost that game. They only lost 31-23, though. They were in it the entire way; Heinicke made sure of that. He kept the offense moving. His only real mistake was an interception that was tipped at the line (he also had a pass across the middle that he put too much on and overthrew Logan Thomas which maybe should have been intercepted).

Heinicke was moving around in the pocket, avoiding sacks, and making plays. He was accurate with his passes, throwing the ball down the field, and running for first downs.

The quarterback finished the game completing 26-of-44 passes for 306 yards and one touchdown along with that one interception. He also had six carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown came on an immaculate scramble that saw him evade multiple sacks and tacklers, before an incredible dive for the pylon.

Heinicke was without a doubt the most electrifying quarterback Washington had all year. Sure you could say the bar was not high, but it still was nice to see. Smith had the incredible story of overcoming a terrible injury, but on the field, he was not all that exciting to watch. In fact, it was usually more terrifying than anything.

What made Heinicke’s game even more special was the circumstances. As the broadcast loved to remind everyone every few plays, this is someone that was taking online classes for Old Dominion just a few weeks ago. He was in the XFL before the lockdown and had not thrown a pass in the NFL before this season since 2018.

His NFL time was very limited too. Heinicke had 58 career passing attempts heading into 2020. 77 attempts heading into this game. This was a trial by fire. If he flamed out, no one would have blamed him. Washington would have gotten eaten alive and it would have been expected.

They were the bad team from the bad division with a no-name quarterback going up against the mighty Tom Brady and his new powerhouse team. Of course, they were going to lose. Taylor Heinicke would go back to his online classes and Washington would move into next season looking for their new quarterback.

If he rose to the occasion, however, a new legend could be born. A random quarterback comes out of nowhere and beats Brady and leads Washington to a playoff win. He becomes the new face of the franchise and the rest is history.

We’re somewhere in the middle. Heinicke and Washington lost. He played a fantastic game, though. He made it interesting and became a social media favorite overnight. He hasn’t become the face of the franchise and will likely want to finish up those college classes.

However, he now has something on his resume. Something that gives him a shot. By no means should Washington chalk this up as a victory and go into next season with blinders on thinking Heinicke is 100 percent the answer and there is zero reason to even look for anyone else.

That being said, he has proven something. He took that trial by fire and walked out the other side dripping wet. The Washington Football Team will go into the offseason with many questions.

They need to look for help at the wide receiver position. The offensive line and secondary need depth. And all quarterbacks have to be on their radar. That includes Taylor Heinicke now though. He is officially in the mix. Is he the answer? That remains to be seen and there is no reason to overreact from one game. But it was a hell of a high-stakes audition.