Washington Football Team: Play-action could be offense’s bread and butter
By Hunter Noll
The Washington Football Team might have found its strength with play-action passes as the calling card of the offense.
In their Thursday Night Football win in Week 2, the Washington Football Team looked great on offense for the most part. Quarterback Taylor Heinicke looked especially strong, finishing 34-for-46 for 336 yards and two touchdowns compared to one interception. It was when they ran play-action that things got ramped up even more though.
As Next Gen Stats showed on Twitter, Heinicke went 13-for-15 on play-action passes, racking up 153 yards and both of his touchdowns. Those are elite numbers. So maybe it’s time for play-action to be the default of the offense.
Running out of play-action has a lot of advantages. For one thing, it should help the running game. Antonio Gibson has looked really solid so far this season. Now imagine if Washington can keep the defense guessing at all times.
It also helps that Heinicke is a mobile quarterback. Remember the success Washington had in Robert Griffin III’s rookie season? Yes, Heinicke isn’t as mobile as him. However, he’s easily got the legs to take off whenever he wants. And this opens up even more possibilities.
Finally, it helps in the passing game because defenses won’t have the luxury of playing the pass nearly as much. That split-second of indecision when you can’t tell if it’s a run or a pass should be all they need.
Give Terry McLaurin an inch and he’ll take it to the end zone. Dyami Brown is explosive as well. Meanwhile, Logan Thomas is proving last season wasn’t a fluke and Adam Humphries has been fantastic. Just wait until Curtis Samuel comes back too.
Clearly, Taylor Heinicke is comfortable working out of the play-action. More importantly, it was extremely effective. And it’s been proven to work as the default of an offense in the past.
One game against a not-very-good New York Giants team isn’t the biggest sample size. However, it was enough to plant the seeds. There’s no reason for the Washington Football Team to not try it in a larger role in Week 3, and go from there.
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Washington needs a spark. They are absolutely a contender to win the NFC East. But let’s also not pretend like they are far from flawless. Finding an offensive scheme that works could go a long way for them. And there are too many positives coming out of a play-action offense to not give it a shot.