It was the fourth quarter and the quarter-21, and after escaping the Tampa Bay race, Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke launched a double coverage pass.
This was a prayer that could keep the miracle alive. A great hope that, if guaranteed by teammate Logan Thomas, he can prolong one of the most unlikely duels in the NFL playoffs – Tom Brady and his six Super Bowl rings against Taylor Heinicke and his, well, early career before Saturday.
That’s what they make Disney films – a newsboy from Old Dominion, a 27-year-old with 126 NHL combinations, a guy who jumped through five franchises only to be dumped three times and cut three more times, all while almost never playing. He even spent a few weeks on the New England Patriots training team, apparently a teammate with Brady himself.
Now, however, they were, in some way, going toe to toe – GOAT and that other guy.
Brady was looking for his 31st playoff victory, a record, of course. Heinicke was looking for his first victory of any kind as an NFL starter.
However, within the two-minute warning, the scoreboard read: Tampa Bay 31, Washington 23. A one-score game. Washington had the ball. Everything was possible.
Heinicke was not in the NFL squad in 2019. In the spring of 2020, he joined the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks, only he couldn’t even get his initial job. When the league doubled and interest in the NFL did not materialize, he thought it might be time to move on.
He re-enrolled at Old Dominion to finish his engineering degree. The 2020 NFL season continued without him. Then, in early December, in the middle of the finals, Washington called and offered him a job for the rest of the season. It was not glamorous. Washington basically wanted him to be a “quarantine quarterback”, just in case everyone else has COVID-19 and can’t play.
Hey, it was a chance. Heinicke asked his teachers for extensions on their final exams.
“I had to send them an email telling them the whole situation and asking if I could accept them after the season,” said Heinicke.
Ah, the old excuse of just being hired to play as a defender in the NFL …
“They were very nice,” he said.
Things have progressed quickly. Due to injuries (Alex Smith) and immaturity (Dwayne Haskins), Heinicke found himself in the Week 16 game in Washington. He made 12 of 19 and hit a touchdown, just the second of his career. Smith returned for the end of the season, but was excluded from Saturday’s wild card game due to pain in his calves.
Just like that, Heinicke was against the future Hall of Fame.
Brady was Brady, 381 yards and two touchdowns passing. Tampa was not great, but he operated a balanced attack that should have been enough to comfortably win against an unnamed QB. Except, apparently, Heinicke did not receive the memo. In fact, he said he made a point of not even thinking about how Tom Brady was on the other line.
“I just wanted to go out there and complete the ball,” said Heinicke. “Just complete the ball and get the first runs.”
This he did. He made passes in the race. So he ran when they thought he was going to pass. He dismissed the mistakes. He launched 306 yards and a touchdown. He ran for another 46 yards and another scoreboard – closed by a brilliant dip for the pylon who played the two-point game at the time.
“He has that factor,” said Washington striker Morgan Moses. “You can’t teach.”
The dive was painful, however, causing the AC joint to detach from his shoulder. A few hard hits in the next series sent Heinicke to the locker room, but he ran back to the field and didn’t miss a wink.
“It was a gust of wind,” said Washington coach Ron Rivera. “It really was.”
Throughout the NFL, the questions were the same. How was this guy not in the league? And where is the guy who started it again at XFL? (He is also not in the league.)
“He made a lot of plays,” said Tampa coach Bruce Arians. “He had a lot of posture.”
Now he needed one more. On the third down, with the ball at Tampa’s 49-yard line, he tried to do a lot and was fired. Now it was desperation, with a packet of Bucs coming for him. He turned, stepped back and finally lifted it.
Heinicke was trying to write that Disney movie. And Disney movies are fun. The reality is a different beast. The passage was high and floating. Tampa’s defense took him down.
The dream is over. Tom Brady would win again. Then, they shared a moment of mutual congratulations.
“We put everything at stake,” said Heinicke. “But it ended up a little short.
Heinicke’s moment in the spotlight is not necessarily over. He may never be able to face off in a playoff game against Tom Brady again, but you play like that and don’t sign up for more engineering classes. Either Washington will keep him or someone will grab him.
“A guy like him, who works hard for what he does, created an opportunity for himself,” said Rivera.
“I’ve been to the real world,” noted Heinicke. “It’s not fun. It’s not as much fun as that.”
About this real world. The season is over, the finals await.
“I hope these teachers send me an email saying, ‘You passed, you are good,'” Heinicke said as a joke.
“I’m pretty sure it won’t happen,” he continued. “In a few weeks, I will take them. And I hope you pass them on. “
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