Washington nearly shocks Bucs with a real wild card
Unknown journeyman Taylor Heinicke improbably almost joined Eli Manning and Nick Foles on the short list of Tom Brady’s playoff kryptonite this weekend. Heinicke, 27, Washington’s fourthstring quarterback, put up 352 total yards and two touchdowns in his second career NFL start.
His third-quarter dive for the end zone pylon was the most electric moment on Wild Card weekend. Brady’s Buccaneers still advanced in a 31-23 victory, but Heinicke unexpectedly represented himself, Washington and the NFC East with postseason flair.
“I deserve to be in this league a little longer,” Heinicke said. “I’ve been on the other side not playing and it’s not fun, not as fun as this.”
Heinicke (pronounced HIGH-nih-key) is one of the stories of the season.
The former Old Dominion standout was out of the league trying to finish his degree with four online courses when he got the call from Washington to be a “quarantine QB” in the event of a virus outbreak.
Heinicke had made only one career start for the Panthers in 2018. The undrafted free agent wasn’t even in the NFL last season. He was a backup with the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks.
But injuries to Washington QBs Kyle Allen and Alex Smith — and the team’s release of embattled 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins — cleared the way for one of the most unlikely and exciting performances of the 2020 season.
The 6-1, 210-pounder even returned to finish the game and play through a separated left shoulder.
There is no question Heinicke earned himself more money and opportunity as a pending free agent. The question is how exactly Washington will proceed at QB for 2021.
Washington coach Ron Rivera acknowledged on Sunday that the franchise’s quarterback uncertainty is “one of the most important things that we need to get done and get established.”
Smith hasn’t made a decision yet on his future. Rivera likes Allen, and Heinicke feels comfortable working with offensive coordinator Scott Turner, whom he’s spent four or five years with in Minnesota, Carolina and Washington.
But did Heinicke’s elusiveness and production in Saturday’s playoff debut actually thrust him into the mix of candidates to be next season’s Week 1 starter?
More likely, it simply proved that Heinicke is much better than a lot of teams’ No. 2 QBs and maybe even some of this season’s spot starters. So Washington could be in worse shape than to have him as its primary backup.
This adds another wrinkle into the NFC East, where the only known 2021 starting quarterbacks so far are a healthy Dak Prescott in Dallas and Daniel Jones’ in his judgment season (we think?) with the Giants.
It’s anyone’s guess what will happen with Carson Wentz in Philadelphia and how Washington will
Sunday’s news that Deshaun Watson would consider waiving his no-trade clause for the Dolphins turned up the heat on Texans owner Cal McNair and new GM Nick Caserio.
Miami holds the Texans’ No. 3 overall pick and the Dolphins’ No. 18 pick in April’s draft. Brain Flores’ rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa also was not up to the task to lead a Dolphins team that was good enough to make the playoffs otherwise with a capable offense.
Watson, 25, is one of the league’s best young stars, and as ESPN reported, there is a lot about Houston’s franchise that upsets him: the team’s trade of DeAndre Hopkins one year ago, the franchise’s insensitivity to social justice, and McNair’s decision not to interview Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy for the head coaching vacancy among them.
McNair also disregarded search firm Korn Ferry’s reported recommendations of the Steelers’ Omar Khan and ESPN’s Louis Riddick as his next GM to hire the Patriots’ Nick Caserio, a longtime associate of McNair’s consigliere with New England ties, Jack Easterby.
Caserio is a smart football person who understands Watson’s greatness. The highly sought-after executive did not take his first GM job only to trade one of the league’s best players.
Most new GMs have to go looking for great quarterbacks. Caserio already has his. That said, all of Watson’s qualms with Houston are valid, and making an overture to the Dolphins — who look like they may be a quarterback away — could invite the kind of trade off that Houston might have to consider to resolve a problem that isn’t going away quietly.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Keep an eye on the Eagles. The fallout may not be over for Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson in Philly. Owner Jeffrey Lurie is said to be still stewing and mulling his options on where to turn and whom to entrust with the cleanup and rebuild of the Birds’ disastrous 4-11-1 last-place finish and the mishandling of franchise QB Wentz. Could Philly become the seventh NFL head coaching vacancy? Will the Eagles be looking for a new GM, too? Could Roseman hit the market? One thing seems clear: Lurie hasn’t decided anything yet … Giants defensive coordinator Pat Graham and Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell both declined interview requests from the Jets. But when I see Jets coaching trackers chronicling the full search, Graham’s and Campbell’s “no thanks” to the Jets’ overtures aren’t listed. Strange. … Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, 45, makes sense as a possible match with Caserio in Houston, but he might end up coaching Justin Herbert and Chargers instead. Daboll and Chargers GM Tom Telesco went to the same high school, St. Francis, in Hamburg, N.Y. And Daboll’s work with Josh Allen in Buffalo arguably makes him most deserving to inherit Herbert. Daboll reportedly interviewed for the Jets’ and Chargers’ vacancies on Sunday.