Heinicke Hive: The LEGEND of Taylor Heinicke Thread

[HigSkin]

Baldinger obviously didn't read the Standig write up.  LOL

 

https://www.audacy.com/theteam980/sports/washington-football-team/brian-baldinger-can-taylor-heinicke-body-hold-up-in-nfl

 

Baldinger: Can Taylor Heinicke's body hold up against NFL hits?

 

 

Brian Baldinger once called a game for Old Dominion University. That's when he first saw star potential in the quarterback under center, a guy by the name of Taylor Heinicke.

 

Now more than a half decade removed, Heinicke has resurfaced with the Washington Football Team, thrown into the first in Week 1 when starter Ryan Fitzpatrick went down with a hip injury. Heinicke finally has his shot to prove himself as a capable NFL starter and is off to a great start, leading Washington to a 30-29 victory over the Giants last Thursday. He has at least the next six weeks to show that was no fluke, provided he can stay healthy himself.

 

"I've always liked Taylor," Baldinger told 106.7 The Fan's BMitch & Finlay. "I did one of his games I remember back in college, Old Dominion and whoever, but I saw him throw for 400 yards in that game. But then I kind of watched him in Carolina. He throws the ball with great anticipation and he knows where to go with the ball."

 

"The one thing that I think he's got to caution, I mean he takes off out of the pocket a lot, and he's not a big guy, and we're seeing these quarterbacks go down left and right," Baldinger warned. "And if he keeps doing this, like can he survive the hits in the NFL? I mean, not many can."

 

"And I know he's aggressive and he's a fighter, all that stuff," he said. "I mean, the fewer hits you can take, the longer or the better chances you have of some longevity in this business. So that's my concern about him, is how frequently he takes off. And he's pretty good at it, but these guys, they only have so many hits in 'em before they've got to take a little break."

 

Heinicke's next test arrives next Sunday in hostile territory, at Buffalo against the Bills (1-1). And defensively, the Bills have a lot they can throw at him, Baldinger says.

 

"This is a very crafty defense. They're four years together now up there," he said. "They do a lot. They blitz a lot, but they do it in ways where they're not exposed on the back end — they don't give up big plays."

 

"Tua [Tagovailoa] was completely fooled a few times yesterday before he got hurt and then [Jacoby] Brissett was fooled a bunch," he continued. "And then they've got some good pass rushers. Gregory Rousseau, this rookie, is a good player. You know, he's long and he's athletic and he beats people, and they do a lot with him. That's a tough defense to get ready for. It's probably best that they had 10 days to get ready for 'em."

 

[goskins10]

 

@zskins and @redskinss Thanks for the data. I looked like someone else did and found his comp % during his 3 starts to be 65%. His overall though is 67.4%. And if we back out his Carolina game since it was 2018, you get 66.9% for his most recent games.  That is certainly a good enough comp% for anyone. 

 

Buffalo is a big test. First team this season to have a full week to get ready. I am sure most teams had been getting ready for Fitz, as they should. Will see how Buf defends him and this offense. Scott needs to be more committed to the run which will help Taylor take some deep shots. 

 

As I said, I am a whole lot more worried about the D than the O this game. Regardless of how bad Josh Allen looked so far, our D has looked worse.  

Edited September 21, 2021 by goskins10

[wit33]

Him balancing staying in versus out of the pocket is going to be fascinating. It seemed he was hell bent last week on staying in the pocket, but hope that doesn’t lower his ceiling too much in the long run. Put up a 30 spot in the pocket last week, which is significant. Love that he has an effortless “baseball slide” when he does scramble, would seem he has the skill set to keep himself safe.
 

We’ll see. 

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

[mistertim]

1 hour ago, wit33 said:

Him balancing staying in versus out of the pocket is going to be fascinating. It seemed he was hell bent last week on staying in the pocket, but hope that doesn’t lower his ceiling too much in the long run. Put up a 30 spot in the pocket last week, which is significant. Love that he has an effortless “baseball slide” when he does scramble, would seem he has the skill set to keep himself safe.
 

We’ll see. 

 

I noticed that as well. I was wondering whether that was Heinicke or if it was more the coaches trying to get him to stay in the pocket more. I was leaning towards the latter since they didn't do much in the way of boots and rollouts vs the Giants.

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

 

 

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

[88Comrade2000]

Before we call him a legend, give a him a long term contract; let him earn it.

 

It will take 2 seasons of him playing before you can honestly say he has earned the right to be called a legend and earn a long term contract.  

[zCommander]

13 minutes ago, Rdskns2000 said:

Before we call him a legend, give a him a long term contract; let him earn it.

 

It will take 2 seasons of him playing before you can honestly say he has earned the right to be called a legend and earn a long term contract.  

 

 

A famous or important person who is known for doing something extremely well - he is already a legend because of this.

 

 

[mistertim]

Wait...Heinicke is a superstar now? All this press is interesting and I think it's cool that he was talking about not getting caught up in success...but can we be a bit realistic here? He's started 2 games for us and won 1. He's played well in both but it's not like he went out and threw for 9 TDs and 0 INTs in those 2 games or something. This feels like a trap.

[Skinsinparadise]

Bobby Wilder, his former ODU coach is interviewed in Keim's latest podcast.  

 

He obviously likes him a lot, cautions things by saying he's not suggesting he's a superstar, he goes he's no Tom Brady but he thinks he can be good.  Interestingly he said he would get banged up his first two college seasons (though I don't think he missed any time) at ODU but then got better at not risking his body. 

 

His main point was how Heinicke perservered and hung in there for years without quitting on his dream.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Skinsinparadise

[redskinss]

10 minutes ago, mistertim said:

Wait...Heinicke is a superstar now? All this press is interesting and I think it's cool that he was talking about not getting caught up in success...but can we be a bit realistic here? He's started 2 games for us and won 1. He's played well in both but it's not like he went out and threw for 9 TDs and 0 INTs in those 2 games or something. This feels like a trap.

He's played well in Two starts and also played well in Two relief appearances but I agree, very premature for superstar status.

I'm pretty excited at the possibilities that heinicke represents but also scared to dare to believe. 

 

[srtman04]

It sounds like Taylor knows exactly how to handle this press and that he still needs to prove himself.   This is all we can ask for at this point in the game and the potential for greatness is surely there.  

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

[ODU AGGIE]

4 minutes ago, mistertim said:

Wait...Heinicke is a superstar now? All this press is interesting and I think it's cool that he was talking about not getting caught up in success...but can we be a bit realistic here? He's started 2 games for us and won 1. He's played well in both but it's not like he went out and threw for 9 TDs and 0 INTs in those 2 games or something. This feels like a trap.

Is he a superstar? Not yet, but time will tell, and it does not feel like a trap to me. As you well know by now, I have more confidence in a successful outcome for Heinicke than most. Maybe it is justified. Maybe it is not. But I hope we can all agree that a successful outcome is what we want to see, with success being TH continuing to play very well while hopefully leading the Team to a playoff berth and the division championship. Anything more than that, and we can start talking abut him in real superlatives -- like superstar.

By the way, "started 2 games for us and won 1" is a little misleading at best and disingenuous at worst. He started a playoff game against the eventual super bowl champion basically coming off the street with no other starts in 2020 -- and, yes, the WFT lost that game despite a surprisingly solid performance by Heinicke. He won his first regular season game as a starter for WFT, but was a starter only after replacing the injured Fitzpatrick the week before. His performance has in fact been hugely successful to date. And, MT, that is being realistic.

[Skinsinparadise]

Can Heinicke ward him off?....

 

 

 

39 minutes ago, mistertim said:

Wait...Heinicke is a superstar now? All this press is interesting and I think it's cool that he was talking about not getting caught up in success...but can we be a bit realistic here? He's started 2 games for us and won 1. He's played well in both but it's not like he went out and threw for 9 TDs and 0 INTs in those 2 games or something. This feels like a trap.

 

The irony about this discussion is is biggest cheerleader, Bobby Wilder, goes out of his way in his interview with Keim to both plug Heinicke and flat out say he's not a superstar.  He used the actual word.  He thinks he can be a good player though. 

[mistertim]

4 minutes ago, ODU AGGIE said:

Is he a superstar? Not yet, but time will tell, and it does not feel like a trap to me. As you well know by now, I have more confidence in a successful outcome for Heinicke than most. Maybe it is justified. Maybe it is not. But I hope we can all agree that a successful outcome is what we want to see, with success being TH continuing to play very well while hopefully leading the Team to a playoff berth and the division championship. Anything more than that, and we can start talking abut him in real superlatives -- like superstar.

By the way, "started 2 games for us and won 1" is a little misleading at best and disingenuous at worst. He started a playoff game against the eventual super bowl champion basically coming off the street with no other starts in 2020 -- and, yes, the WFT lost that game despite a surprisingly solid performance by Heinicke. He won his first regular season game as a starter for WFT, but was a starter only after replacing the injured Fitzpatrick the week before. His performance has in fact been hugely successful to date. And, MT, that is being realistic.

 

How is it disingenuous? It's literally what happened.

 

It's just bizarre to me that he's being talked about like a superstar and talking about not letting success get to his head, even though he's hardly even played enough in the NFL to have success yet. Yes, he's played well when he's had a chance, but can we not pretend like he was having 500 yard 5 TD games? He played well, but he wasn't some unstoppable Mahomes clone or something.

[zCommander]

8 minutes ago, mistertim said:

 

How is it disingenuous? It's literally what happened.

 

It's just bizarre to me that he's being talked about like a superstar and talking about not letting success get to his head, even though he's hardly even played enough in the NFL to have success yet. Yes, he's played well when he's had a chance, but can we not pretend like he was having 500 yard 5 TD games? He played well, but he wasn't some unstoppable Mahomes clone or something

 

He has set an NFL record in his first 3 starts. Only superstars can do this. 🙂

[mistertim]

I just fear that some people are starting to set unrealistic expectations, that's all. I think Heinicke has a chance of becoming a good NFL QB, but people are literally throwing around the word superstar after 2 starts as if he's been unstoppable and is setting the league on fire. Yes both were good starts but I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who would watch those games and say "Holy crap! Patrick who??"

[ananoman]

 

17 minutes ago, mistertim said:

I just fear that some people are starting to set unrealistic expectations, that's all. I think Heinicke has a chance of becoming a good NFL QB, but people are literally throwing around the word superstar after 2 starts as if he's been unstoppable and is setting the league on fire. Yes both were good starts but I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who would watch those games and say "Holy crap! Patrick who??"

This is the hyperbolic world we live in now.  Every little thing is taken to extremes

[zCommander]

2 minutes ago, ananoman said:

 

This is the hyperbolic world we live in now.  Every little thing is taken to extremes

 

This is why the title of this forum is aptly named: EXTREME

 

[KillBill26]

1 hour ago, mistertim said:

Wait...Heinicke is a superstar now? All this press is interesting and I think it's cool that he was talking about not getting caught up in success...but can we be a bit realistic here? He's started 2 games for us and won 1. He's played well in both but it's not like he went out and threw for 9 TDs and 0 INTs in those 2 games or something. This feels like a trap.

I was talking to a friend about this the other day.  (I believe in TH, I would've been ok with him being the week 1 starter before we signed fitz due to what TH showed he could do vs t bay).  That being said, the reaction to Thursday night is so over the top, especially considering if the skins defense didn't stop the giants and force them to give us the ball back at the end (the defensive stop obviously had nothing to do with TH), then the media (and many fans) would be harping on THs careless interception at his own 20 that lost them the game, and the conversation would be how TH is reckless and inexperienced and WFT still doesn't have a QB. There is a ridiculously fine line between praise and criticism with the media.

 

Another part I don't understand, he was even better vs the eventual super bowl champion in the playoffs after being recently acquired off the street, but now that he did it against a below average team in week 2, now he has proven himself??

 

[zCommander]

28 minutes ago, KillBill26 said:

I was talking to a friend about this the other day.  (I believe in TH, I would've been ok with him being the week 1 starter before we signed fitz due to what TH showed he could do vs t bay).  That being said, the reaction to Thursday night is so over the top, especially considering if the skins defense didn't stop the giants and force them to give us the ball back at the end (the defensive stop obviously had nothing to do with TH), then the media (and many fans) would be harping on THs careless interception at his own 20 that lost them the game, and the conversation would be how TH is reckless and inexperienced and WFT still doesn't have a QB. There is a ridiculously fine line between praise and criticism with the media.

 

Another part I don't understand, he was even better vs the eventual super bowl champion in the playoffs after being recently acquired off the street, but now that he did it against a below average team in week 2, now he has proven himself??

 

 

You have to admit that our D is the reason that game was even close. If our D had done their job like Ron said then it could have been a blowout in our favor. The INT was well received in the game day thread by many poster who were okay with the INT and didn't blame TH for it. What we noticed is that even after the INT he was not rattled like some might have been. The way he got his team to field goal range after the INT speaks volume as well. TH is so far doing good and borderline great on some stuff and you wouldn't expect that from someone who just came off the street. 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by zskins

[NickyJ]

47 minutes ago, zskins said:

 

He has set an NFL record in his first 3 starts. Only superstars can do this. 🙂

Nathan Peterman set an NFL record in his very first start. Only superstars can do this.

 

The record he set? Most interceptions in a half. But it's a record!

[zCommander]

13 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

Nathan Peterman set an NFL record in his very first start. Only superstars can do this.

 

The record he set? Most interceptions in a half. But it's a record!

 

Well good thing TH set a record that was positive then. 

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by zskins