QB Review: Breaking Down Taylor Heinicke’s performance against the Falcons

Taking a closer look at how QB Taylor Heinicke performed as Washington beat Atlanta

My initial feeling just after Washington’s 34-30 victory over the Atlanta Falcons was that while quarterback Taylor Heinicke had some nice throws, he also took some big risks and was lucky to get away with them. Having now reviewed the All-22 footage, my initial feeling was wrong, or at least overly harsh. 

Heinicke finished the game completing 23 of 33 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns. There were some throws that were quite risky and he did leave a few plays out there, but overall the positive plays outweighed the negative and it was a good performance.

Playmaker Mentality

We all know by now that Heinicke plays with a gunslinger mentality, looking to make plays whenever possible. It’s extremely entertaining because he’s not afraid of taking his shots down the field, fitting the ball into tight windows or scrambling around trying to make things happen with his legs when he needs to. But it also comes with a risk factor that can lead to negative plays. Heinicke had two such plays…