Washington tabs Heinicke to face Giants
Ryan Fitzpatrick is going on injured reserve with a hip injury, and Washington is turning to Taylor Heinicke to start at quarterback against the Giants on Thursday night.
Cam Newton is not walking through that door, and Robert Griffin III is not walking through that door. This is Heinicke and Kyle Allen’s show for the foreseeable future, and coach Ron Rivera does not plan on bringing in a veteran QB any time soon.
“We like the guys that we have,” Rivera said Monday. “We’ve had them play for us. They’ve done some good things for us, so we’ll see what happens.”
Heinicke will be the 10th quarterback to start a regular-season game for Washington since the team released Griffin in 2016. Despite RG3 tweeting, “Make the call” and a clip of his 76-yard touchdown run from his rookie year 2012, a return of the former face of the franchise turned ESPN analyst is not in Rivera’s plans.
The plan is Heinicke starting, Allen backing up and Kyle Shurmur serving as the emergency third option. Washington signed the son of former Giants coach and current Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to the practice squad Monday.
RAIDERS TOP RAVENS IN OT
Derek Carr threw a 31-yard TD pass to Zay Jones after the Raiders squandered their first possession of overtime, beating the Ravens, 33-27, on Monday night in the team’s first game with fans in Las Vegas.
Carr’s second TD pass of the game came after Carl Nassib’s strip sack of Lamar Jackson at the Ravens 27. Nassib made big news this offseason when he became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.
The Raiders had thrown an interception after driving to the 1 on the opening possession of overtime and made another blunder with a delay of game.
The Raiders trailed, 14-0, early, ending a 98-game, regular-season win streak for the Ravens when leading by at least 14 points dating to 2004.
ROUGH START FOR TREVOR
Urban Meyer expected some jitters from his young team, even a few mistakes. After all, Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars were on the road with a rookie quarterback to start the franchise’s latest rebuild.
What Meyer got was closer to a meltdown. The Jaguars looked downright unprepared in their season opener, a 37-21 loss at Houston that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score might indicate.
Six dropped passes. Ten penalties. Countless defensive lapses. Several burned timeouts.
“We’ve all got our (butt) kicked before,” Meyer said, insisting his team will play better next Sunday against Denver, which beat the Giants.
It was Meyer’s first loss in a season opener as a head coach – he had been 17-0 during stops at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State – and the first time he lost his debut with a new team.
This one will be remembered for Jacksonville’s self-inflicted issues: four holding penalties and four pre-snap procedure penalties. Throw in Trevor Lawrence’s three interceptions and the Jaguars didn’t have a chance.