Taylor Heinicke’s first start at quarterback for Washington Commanders didn’t begin well. Heinicke started 1 for 7 in Washington’s Week 7 game against the Green Bay Packers.
In the second quarter, Heinicke was intercepted by Green Bay linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who returned it 63 yards for a touchdown and gave the Packers a 14-3 lead.
It had some on Twitter wondering if it was too soon to turn to rookie quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
But, in typical Heinicke fashion, he bounced back. He led the Commanders on an impressive drive before halftime, finding running back Antonio Gibson for a nine-yard touchdown to trim Green Bay’s lead to 14-10.
On the Commanders’ first drive of the second half, Heinicke dropped back and found wide receiver Terry McLaurin for a beautiful 37-yard strike. Suddenly, the Commanders took the lead and would never look back.
Heinicke was excellent on third downs, and one such third-down conversion in the fourth quarter was one of his better passes of the day, again finding McLaurin to give Washington another first down, allowing them to burn close to two minutes more off the clock.
Next Gen Stats ranked Heinicke’s most impressive throws. Here is the touchdown pass to McLaurin.
Taylor Heinicke & Terry McLaurin (37-yd TD)
🔹 Air Distance: 49.4 yds
🔹 Target Separation: 1.1 yds
🔹 Completion Probability: 19.8%McLaurin: 11th reception of his career with a completion probability under 25% (T-most in NFL since 2019, Mike Williams)#GBvsWAS #HTTC pic.twitter.com/R3ixXBI6Tp
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 23, 2022
One of the other two impressive throws also went to McLaurin, including the aforementioned third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter.
There’s no doubt that McLaurin and Heinicke have a special chemistry. The Commanders head back on the road in Week 8 when they travel to Indianapolis to play the Colts.
