Breaking down Taylor Heinicke’s performance against the Chiefs
Taking a closer look at some of the opportunities Heinicke missed against the Chiefs
Taylor Heinicke’s run as the starting quarterback in Washington continues to be a rollercoaster ride. He’s had some highs and some significant lows, with his most recent performance falling into the latter category. Against the Chiefs, Heinicke completed 24/39 passes for just 182 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He seemed to lack his spark for creating plays off-script and missed a handful of plays that were available to him on-script. Let’s take a closer look.
Disconnect with Terry McLaurin
McLaurin had eight targets in the game, but only caught four passes for 28 yards. Granted, he had one drop on a catchable but low throw from Heinicke. However, the three targets that weren’t completed passes were all significantly missed opportunities.
On Washington’s opening drive, the team faced a third and six situation. McLaurin is isolated to the left of the formation with a go route. He takes an inside release and is quickly level and then beyond the corner in coverage. Heinicke looks his way and spots the safety playing flat-footed, meaning he’s unlikely to be able to quickly turn his hips and accelerate to stay on top of McLaurin’s route, so Heinicke attempts an aggressive but smart shot down the field. Unfortunately, the throw isn’t quite right. It’s maybe a yard or two too long and a yard or two too far outside, and McLaurin can’t quite get to it despite the diving effort.
I don’t think this was a terrible miss by Heinicke, the margin for error on throws down the field is small and he was only slightly out from connecting with McLaurin on what was an aggressive but understandable shot. However, it was the deep targets to McLaurin later in the game that I had issues with.
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