From final exams to final quarter
Heinicke thanks teachers for postponing ODU tests after he got call to NFL
The rest of those final exams will have to wait.
Taylor Heinicke, a legendary quarterback during his playing days for Old Dominion, was taking online classes to finish his ODU degree earlier this month. But as he prepared for his final two exams, he got a call from the Washington Football Team, and on Sunday he was thrust into the lineup in the fourth quarter.
Heinicke relieved starter Dwayne Haskins and completed 12 of 19 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in Washington’s 20-13 loss to Carolina at FedEx Field.
Heinicke was signed to Washington’s practice squad earlier this month, but was added to the roster last week. Quarterback Alex Smith has missed the past two games with a calf injury and was replaced in the starting lineup by Haskins, Washington’s 2019 firstround pick.
Haskins struggled Sunday, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble, before coach Ron Rivera pulled him for Heinicke.
“It ’s pretty bizarre, actually,” Heinicke said of his past month during a postgame video press conference. “I was taking classes online at ODU, and I was getting ready for finals and I get the call to come up here and
“There’s nothing harder than coming out cold, haven’t been on a team in a year and a half, and come in in the fourth quarter and try and get something done.”
quarantine quarterback. A week goes by like that and now I’m here playing in the fourth quarter, trying to get in the playoffs. So it’s been a bizarre month or two, but again I wouldn’t ask for anything different.”
Washington trailed 20-6 when Rivera yanked Haskins. Heinicke drove Washington 65 yards inside the Panthers’ 20 on his first drive, turning the ball over on downs after a costly holding penalty. He then capped an eight-play, 91-yard drive with a 29-yard TD pass to J.D. McKissic with 1:50 left.
Heinicke hadn’t played in the NFL since 2018 — when he was with the Panthers, then coached by Rivera.
“There’s nothing harder than coming out cold, haven’t been on a team in a year and a half, and come in in the fourth quarter and try and get something done,” Heinicke said.
Heinicke told The Pilot in July he hoped to catch on with an NFL team, but in the meantime planned to return to ODU to finish his degree. He was doing that online until Washington called.
Heinicke said his ODU professors understood when he asked to postpone his exams. He had taken two of his four scheduled finals.
“I had to email them and tell them the whole situation and ask them if I could take them after the season, and they were pretty nice about it,” he said. “So I’m thankful for that. Didn’t have to do a whole semester of work for nothing.”
Now, suddenly, Heinicke could be in the thick of the playoff race. Haskins was released Monday, and Smith’s status is unclear as Washington heads into the regular-season finale against Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Washington (6-9) must beat the
Eagles to win the NFC East and make the playoffs.
Heinicke became ODU’s starting quarterback under coach Bobby Wilder in 2011 and finished his four-year career with 14,959 passing yards and 132 touchdown passes. He was an All-American and the Walter Payton Award winner as the Football Championship Subdivision’s top offensive player as a sophomore in 2012.
Heinicke was undrafted after leaving ODU, and had short stints and limited success with four NFL teams: Minnesota, New England, Houston and Carolina. He was on the St. Louis BattleHawks’ roster in the XFL this season before the league folded.
— Taylor Heinicke, Washington quarterback