Terry McLaurin stands out again in Commanders win over Eagles
Breaking down McLaurin’s performance against the Eagles.
Terry McLaurin had yet another outstanding performance for the Washington Commanders this week. The receiver put up season high numbers with eight catches for 128 yards and many of those catches, as has been the trend in recent weeks, came in key situations. Since Taylor Heinicke came in for the injured Carson Wentz, McLaurin has become the go-to target on third downs and other critical moments in the game. In fact, almost all of McLaurin’s numbers have improved since Heinicke took over.
In four games with Heinicke under center, McLaurin has 24 catches from 36 targets for 370 yards at 15.4 yards per catch and a touchdown. That averages out at six catches per game from nine targets for 92.5 yards per game.
By contrast, in six games with Wentz, McLaurin had just 22 catches from 37 targets for 367 yards at 16.7 yards per catch and a touchdown. That’s an average of 3.6 catches from 6.2 targets for 61.2 yards per game.
There are lots of factors involved in why those numbers are so different; Heinicke has a history with McLaurin while Wentz didn’t get a chance to throw to him until after the contract was sorted this summer, Wentz clearly built a rapport with Curtis Samuel, who’s numbers are very much the opposite of McLaurin’s with Wentz/Heinicke, Wentz had an extra receiver to get the ball to in Jahan Dotson. But regardless, it’s clear that McLaurin is the guy Heinicke looks to in key spots and the play-calling has changed to reflect that. In the victory over the Eagles, McLaurin ran a lot more quick game concepts in order to get the ball out fast and into his hands.
There was obvious intent to get the ball to McLaurin quickly throughout the game. He ran a number of shorter routes, like simple slant routes, which proved to be effective. McLaurin’s quickness and release ability makes him hard to defend on slant routes and if his toughness after the catch means he can take a catch over the middle and pick up significant yards after the catch. The Commanders did a good job putting him in situations to be successful with slant routes, like these two plays.
On the first play of this clip, the Commanders face a third and seven situation. McLaurin is isolated to the left of the formation with the corner sitting off and a safety inside hovering over him. Off the snap, the safety bails out deep to stay on top of any potential deep route from McLaurin, vacating a gap in the middle of the field. The corner sits off and McLaurin breaks inside unchallenged. Heinicke’s throw is a little off target, forcing McLaurin to reach back for the ball, but McLaurin makes the adjustment and pulls in the catch for the first down.
On the second play of the clip, the Commanders work out of an empty backfield with McLaurin stacked tight to the left of the formation alongside Curtis Samuel. Samuel runs a pivot route, breaking outside initially before working back outside. This takes his defender outside and vacates space over the middle for McLaurin. On the other side of the field, the route combination all works out towards the sideline, again deliberately designed to vacate the middle of the field for McLaurin. McLaurin runs a quick slant into that vacated space and beats his defender with his quickness. The defender makes a diving attempt and just manages to trip up McLaurin, but McLaurin still manages to bring in the catch and pick up a solid chunk of yards.
It wasn’t just slant routes either. There were other situations in which the Commanders worked McLaurin with quick game concepts in key spots.
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