Crazy for Carson vs Hype up Heinicke

If you conducted a random poll with the question Heinicke or Wentz to start vs. Houston, I would hazard a guess that number 4 polls significantly higher than #11.

However, turn back to the off-season and the front office were dead set against Heinicke as a starter and made the trade with Indy for the bigger armed Carson Wentz to start under centre.

This was not a training camp competition either; it was a straight up Carson is QB1 in Washington.

On a pure win record basis, Heinicke has outperformed Wentz. But might there be a surprise from HC Rivera by putting Wentz back in for Week 11?

Defending Carson is James Lowe of the Washington FCUK podcast and hyping Heinicke is UKHTTC founder Christian Burt.

First up, James.

Ron Rivera and the personnel department watched Taylor Heinicke start 15 games last year and they then declared all off season that they were looking for a QB. They took a huge swing at Russell Wilson, and then decided to go and get Carson Wentz. They also drafted Sam Howell in the fifth round of the draft.

The coaching staff need to remember the reason why they did not believe Heinicke was the answer at QB. His arm strength limits the playbook. Combined with his short stature it means he finds throws over the middle of the field more challenging.

Memories are short it seems for the Heinicke fanatics. He threw away the game against the Vikings last week when he sailed a pass to a wide-open Logan Thomas over the middle. Rivera said after the loss “A couple times it comes out hot and high, but (he's played) well enough to give us a chance to win in two out of the last three games."”

The other way to look at Heinicke after a two-point win over Green Bay and one point win over the colts is that Heinicke has also put us in position to lose.

Against a poor Green Bay, he was 20 of 33 for 201 yards. Heinicke could easily have thrown 4 picks before the half. I cannot ignore the miraculous fourth quarter play it was spectacular, but you cannot rely on these over a season. Against the Colts and backup QB Sam Ehlinger he was 23 of 31 for 279. He struggled for most of the game but again pulled it together in the nick of time with a 2 minute, 9 play, 89 yard drive to take the lead.

Against the Vikings Heinicke was 15 of 28 for 149 yards (49 yards of which came on the crazy play to Samuel which was a certain pick before the referee collided with Bynum). Heinicke quipped “Give a game ball to the ref”

Heinicke hasn’t exactly been Kurt Warner!

Now I know Wentz was having a tough time of it before injury ruled him out. But I cannot get the Jaguars game out of my head. Wentz provided some of the best QB play I have seen in over a decade for Washington. Yes, the back-to-back interceptions were alarming but the arm talent is elite.

The team is different beast to the one Wentz left against the Bears (and let’s not forget that Wentz was a part of that team that turned things around and started the winning run against the Bears on Thursday Night Football). The defence is playing at an elite level and the run game they are playing now is one of the best in the league. The run game has transformed the offensive line who were a disaster blocking for Wentz.

With the much-improved run game Wentz can run more play-action against opponents. As play-action tends to open up the middle of the field when the line backers come up to stop the run, this gives Wentz has a massive advantage over Heinicke.

Heinicke’s spark may be needed again given Wentz’s injury record, but I do think he is better in short bursts, it’s one of the reasons why I think he’s the best backup QB in the league. When he played 15 games last year the team energy wasn’t always there.

Rivera’s team will play hard whoever is QB and I believe the return of QB1 Wentz could be another big boost before the business end of the season.

Christian UKHTTC in the Heinicke camp.

Firstly, thank you to James for the planting the seed of this latest blog idea; and for having an opinion that pushes against the grain.

There is much about the reasoning above from James that rings true. Rivera and the staff have had a decent sized body of work to assess Taylor and it is obvious that they do not view him as a QB1 in the NFL. The limitations have been well-documented and often well-evidenced. Taylor does not have an elite arm and is not consistently accurate.

There is, however, a few facts to consider and one intangible that we cannot forget about Heinicke.

For a team who now stands at .500, and with a vastly improved Defense, having a QB who is comfortable in the Scott Turner system is important when making a potential play-off push. The OL in Washington is not elite (far from it), but Heinicke has looked better than Wentz in using his legs outside of the pocket when pass protection has not always been at the level you would like to see in D.C.

With regard to Wentz, his truly best days seem over to me. He often looked shaken in the pocket and without the ability to get away from trouble on the ground. His accuracy has been often all over the place too and the narrative that “it was all in the OL” seems to have disappeared with Heinicke under centre.

The intangible is there to be seen and heard in the Commanders locker room.

There is the legitimate love that the roster has for Taylor; he really does seem to be their guy. Maybe it is the backyard football approach that makes playing the game fun or the underdog story as Heinicke scalps one supposedly superior QB at a time (and now brilliantly purchases a pair of Air Jordan’s with the defeated teams colours, the legend).

This is a young team who seem to be growing up together and, without being disrespectful to Carson, who I feel they admire for what he has done in the game, there is more obvious love in the air for the Old Dominion QB than the highly paid Wentz.

In all honesty, I do not expect Taylor to have another seven years in the NFL, but I do expect that Rivera will stick with #4 for the last seven of the regular season and I am hyped to see if that may be extended into the post-season too.