After sitting through the first six weeks of the season, Taylor Heinicke has quarterbacked the Commanders back into the playoff race. The 29-year-old undrafted quarterback out of Old Dominion has cashed in on his second-chance opportunity in the NFL and appears to be unready to give it up yet, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. 
Despite proving himself as a serviceable starting quarterback last year, when he took over for an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick to start nearly the entire rest of the year and lead Washington to a 7-8 record in games he started, the Commanders went out and traded with the Colts in order to acquire Carson Wentz. When Wentz was placed on injured reserve with a fractured ring finger on his throwing hand, the Commanders had a measly 2-4 record. Heinicke came in without skipping a beat and immediately helped Washington to win five of its next six games.
Enroute to a 5-2-1 record as a starter, Heinicke has continued his brand of consistent play. Unfortunately for the Commanders, in order to achieve Heinicke’s brand of consistency, they tend to sacrifice explosiveness and excitement. And when the team finds itself behind, like it did last night, a lack of explosive play and an over-dependency on the running game is not an ideal recipe for a comeback.
When the Commanders failed to make a comeback in last night’s loss to the Giants, ceding crucial ground in the NFC Wild Card race, head coach Ron Rivera immediately brought Heinicke into his office, still in his stained jersey and pads. The content of the conversation was reportedly candid and sobering. Rivera recalled to the media part of the conversation:
“My conversation with Taylor last night, it was: ‘Hey, look, we had some really good moments during this game. We did some really good things, but we’ve got to build on it now. We’ve got to finish. We truthfully got to finish in the red zone.'”
This has been an echo all season in the Commanders’ facilities. Missed opportunities due to poor execution continuously lead to situations in the redzone where instead of coming away with seven points, the team has to send the kicking unit onto the field or, even worse, turns the ball over for no points. This was emphasized last night when Washington only converted one of three redzone attempts into a touchdown.
Despite the tough conversation, Rivera reaffirmed to the media that he wants to move forward with Heinicke as the starter and Wentz as the backup. “I think that the biggest thing more than anything else is sticking with Taylor and what we’re trying to establish,” Rivera said. He admitted that the long-term future at quarterback is something that he has to consider at some point, but, for now, he will stay with the hot hand and try to keep the momentum that the team earned after their 2-4 start.
The road to the playoffs will certainly not be easy. The schedule for Washington wraps up with a road trip to a surging 49ers squad on Christmas Eve, followed with a matchup against the Deshaun Watson-led Browns, and finishing with a division matchup against the Cowboys.
Rivera plans to face that daunting stretch by sticking with the team’s recent identity of consistent quarterback play backed with a run-first attack. He just needs Heinicke to help increase his team’s efficiency in the redzone and not leave points on the board. Rivera put his trust in Heinicke, saying, “As long as I’m open with him and he understands where I’m coming from, I think we both get the messaging.”
Wentz obviously offers higher athletic talent if healthy (which he hasn’t really been for several years), but Heinicke’s leadership and determination are exemplary and are contagious on offense. The Commanders have different players back behind center between he and Wentz.
Most importantly, Heinicke has been the starter for most of the season at this point. Wentz hasn’t shown himself to be a significant improvement at this moment, so there isn’t much reason to switch. Besides, Heinicke’s athletic talent is slightly underrated in my opinion. He can throw a good ball with zip if need be, and has some mobility outside the pocket as well. Unless he starts playing terribly, or the Commanders feel that they need to open up the playbook beyond Heinicke and that Wentz (who, again, has not played for much of the season) would allow them to do so, I don’t really see any compelling reason to make a switch right now.
This is probably a good move. Nick bosa is going to rent an apartment above a bar in this guys head and plant petunias in the window flower box next week. It’s about to get real rill, commies
Can someone teach him to secure the ball when he has pressure or is inside the 5 yard line? His two fumbles cost them the game. Not mentioning the refs, oops I did.
Uh yeah, those refs. I’m sure they all got a memo from Goodell suggesting all possible assistance should be extended to Dan Snyder’s team.
He choked, poor red zone mgmt no question. Poor reads on the defense alignment several times… got to pick his game up, and the top complaint is the drama Queen style he has for making plays at the end of games… get your act together in the first half for a change
A true run-first attack? Against not only the number ONE defense in the league, BUT the TOP run defense, giving up an avg of 73yds/game. This should be a great game for that d-line of the 9ers!