Evaluating Taylor Heinicke’s performance against the Packers
Breaking down how the Commanders QB played in his first start of the season.
I’ve talked a lot this season about the rollercoaster ride that is the Carson Wentz experience, but Taylor Heinicke’s performance against the Packers on Sunday tops anything we’ve seen from Wentz in terms of ups and downs. Heinicke finished the game completing 20 of 33 passes for 201 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but those numbers do nothing to tell the story of his performance.
Heinicke started off the game desperately struggling for a completion. His first throw, a flat route to Curtis Samuel near his own goal line, was just about complete but was inches from being intercepted for what would have been a pick-six. His second throw came on the next play as he took a shot down the left sideline on third down. It’s unclear if he was throwing the go ball down the sideline to Cam Sims or the corner route to Terry McLaurin, but either way McLaurin had to end up playing defense to prevent an interception.
His third throw of the game was also nearly intercepted.
On third and four, the Commanders combine two of their favorite concepts, mesh and dagger. They work out of an empty formation with Curtis Samuel and Antonio Gibson running the mesh concept underneath while Cam Sims and Terry McLaurin execute the dagger concept. Heinicke actually makes a solid read here, looking to find McLaurin over the middle on the dig. However, his throw is way off target. It’s low and behind McLaurin, giving the trailing corner a chance to intercept it. The corner gets both his hands on the ball but fails to take advantage of the opportunity and drops it.
There were genuine opportunities to intercept all three of his first three passes. He was lucky that at least one of them wasn’t intercepted. Heinicke continued to struggle as the game progressed.
Here we see two examples of Heinicke throwing behind his receiver. This is something Heinicke struggled with all of last season. His arm strength was the thing we all remember but he also had spotty accuracy last season too. He’d often sail throws over receivers or throw behind them. On the first play of this clip, Heinicke has McLaurin on a deep hook off play-action. Granted, the Packers bring a free rusher off the edge which Heinicke has to rush his throw to avoid getting sacked, but McLaurin was open and Heinicke missed the throw way behind him. On the second play of the clip, Heinicke looks to find Samuel on a slant on third and five. This time, Heinicke has plenty of time in the pocket to set up and throw. A well placed throw out in front likely allows Samuel to run onto the pass and pick up the first down. But again, his throw is behind its target, allowing the trailing defender to make a play on the ball and break it up.
Heinicke kept playing with fire throughout the first half. Eventually, he was going to get burnt and seventh throw, the Packers finally took advantage of the opportunities that Heinicke was giving them.
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