Heinicke to Save the Day?

The Washington Commanders came into the season with high hopes after signing Carson Wentz for a hefty amount of over $28 million. He was doing decent in his first couple games with the Commanders, but his performance seemed to get worse as the season went on. It is too soon to say whether or not he was truly bad or good, but unfortunately we won’t be able to see his full possible potential due to the recent injury he has suffered. NFL insider Ian Rapoport stated that Carson Wentz had “suffered a fractured finger on his throwing hand”. This injury has been confirmed to take Carson Wentz out for 4-6 weeks.

With Carson Wentz being out for the rest of the season, there’s a new opportunity for replacement QB Taylor Heinicke. He has played with the Washington Commanders through the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He also brought hope for the Commanders once in the past. He is back now as the new starter QB for the 2022 season. In his first season with the commanders Heinicke played well enough to have people truly believe the commanders had a chance to be a better team. He led the commanders to a 7-9 season winning the NFC East and getting them to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. This was also a much better season record than the 2019 season which ended with the Washington Commanders going 3-13. Although the Commanders suffered a first round exit, hope was restored in the Franchise. 

The 2020 season wasn’t too bad compared to the past season, but it wasn’t what fans were hoping for. There wasn’t much playoff hope it seemed, but he did bring improvement that they had hoped for. Now looking at how the current 2022 regular season is going for the Commanders, it’s hard to believe he will be able to change the team for the better. Outside of a quarterback, the Commanders are lacking a strong offensive line. This could cause a lot of trouble for Heinicke. We haven’t seen how well Heinicke performs under pressure in the pocket for a while now. If he doesn’t make smart decisions under pressure or react quickly enough, he will struggle to avoid getting sacked like Carson Wentz has this season. 

After a surprise win against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, things are looking up for the Commanders. Heinicke and the Commanders had a rough start, trailing the Packers early in the first half. They picked up the pace toward the end of the second quarter though making it a 4 point game to end the half. Heinicke really made some key plays to get the Commanders the lead in the second half. Receivers Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel really came through to help gain major yards and completions. Heinicke either found his receivers or got rid of the ball well. Although it was only the first game with Heinicke as QB this season, there are obvious improvements from the new starter QB. There is a lot more hope for the Commanders already.