Heinicke feels he is playing some of his best football ever
The Washington Football Team is currently riding a three-game winning streak heading into their week 13 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. At least on one side of the football, the primary reason is quarterback Taylor Heincke, who is surging right now. With wins against two top-tier defenses in Carolina and Tampa Bay, and a third against a feisty and physical Seahawks defense, he is playing some of his best football of the season at the right time.
If there were concerns about Heinicke’s future in Washington, those conversations are on pause right now until further notice. It is hard to ignore the team’s transformation coming out of their bye week, and it is also hard to ignore the level of football that Heinicke is playing at, too.
“Yeah, I do feel like I’m playing probably some of my best football I’ve ever played, and I think that’s, you know, a credit to the coaches and just really working hard and keeping the ball in our possession. I think that’s the biggest thing, you know. We’d like to take shots down field, we’d like to get those big chunk plays, but if they’re getting out of their checking the ball down is just as good. As long as we keep getting first downs and scoring points, that’s all that matters. And yeah, the confidence now and how we feel now before our bye week is a total 180. We still have confidence during that four-game skid that we could be great. But it was just going out there and executing and to come back after the bye against Tampa and going against them and building on that last three weeks has been huge for us.” – Heinicke on if he feels as if he’s playing his best football right now.
A lot of factors go into team success, and the same goes for a quarterback’s success. Heinicke has been a significant beneficiary of a strong run game over the past three weeks, resulting in more stable performances from the quarterback.
“I think one of the things has been he’s had time to set and find that guy. I think a lot of it has to do with being able to run the ball successfully because then it really adds to the play action. It really adds to slowing down the pass rush as opposed to them just going all out. So, that I think has really helped us, especially with him.” – Head Coach Ron Rivera on Heinicke having a higher completion percentage in the last three games.
In the three games coming out of the bye week, Heincke has completed 69-89 passes, 685yards, 5 TDs, one turnover, and some timely scrambles or designed runs to keep drives alive. Heinicke’s 77.5 completion percentage since Week 10 is the third-highest in the NFL during that span. His 112.8 rating is also the third-highest in the NFL since Week 10.
“I don’t think so. I just think running the ball effectively helps that play-action even more. When you can run the ball well and you can play action well and get those guys up and hit him behind there and mix in a couple of quick games and a couple of shots, the defense is kinda all over the place. They don’t know what’s coming. It’s just been a good three weeks and I think we can keep this thing rolling.” – Heinicke on if there have been any changes in the passing game.
The Heinicke experience should be taken one game at a time and analyzed one game at a time. Three games into the second half of the season have been very positive for Heinicke, who is still trying to prove he can play with the best of them.