QB Review: Heinicke struggles against Cowboys
Breaking down Taylor Heinicke's struggles against the Cowboys
Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke had by far his worst performance of the season on Sunday. Against the Cowboys, Heinicke completed just 11 of his 25 passes for 122 yards with one touchdown and one interception. That one interception is perhaps misleading, as Heinicke had a number of very risky throws that could easily have been intercepted too. We’ve seen all season that Heinicke is willing to take risks and that Washington has to be willing to ride the rollercoaster with him, hoping it will end up with more good plays than bad. Unfortunately against Dallas, that was not the case. Let’s take a closer look at his performance.
Risky throws
As I mentioned in the intro, Heinicke had a number of risky throws that could easily have been intercepted. Funnily enough though, the one throw that was intercepted was perhaps slightly unfortunate for Heinicke.
On third and 10, Washington motions to an empty formation and Dallas responds with a blitz-heavy look. The Cowboys, in fact, are in Cover-0, with no safety help in the middle of the field and pure man-to-man coverage on the outside. This guarantees the defense can rush one more defender than the offense can bring, but also risks giving up yards after the catch. Washington run a tunnel screen to the left, which is a solid call against Cover-0. However, defensive end Randy Gregory makes a fantastic play. Left tackle attempts to cut block Gregory, as is standard on screen passes. Gregory recognizes the cut block and does a great job staying on his feet and then getting his hands up quickly to tip the pass. He’s somewhat fortunate to tip the pass straight up to himself for an easy interception, but he made his own luck by reading and anticipating the play so well.
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