Week 4: Taylor Heinicke, Washington Football Team
/Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke has been named the DC Touchdown Club Pro Football Player of the Week.
Heinicke engineered his second fourth-quarter comeback this season, completing 23 of 33 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning 30-yard score to J.D. McKissic with 33 seconds left as Washington rallied to beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-30.
Heinicke threw touchdown passes of 17 and 33 yards to Terry McLaurin. He then led Washington on the decisive drive, buying time on the winning play before throwing across his body to McKissic. McKissic outran one defender to the edge and raced down the sideline before leaping across the goal line and capping an incredible return for Heinicke, who grew up in the Atlanta suburbs.
“He’s not the most orthodox, okay?” Washington Coach Ron Rivera said in a jubilant locker room as he presented a game ball to Henecke. “But he does fight. He does play. He did come home and he did win a game.”
The rally continued a remarkable ascent for Heinecke. Undrafted out of Old Dominion University, he had been with the Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks, but was out of football and working on his college degree when he was signed to the Washington practice squad in December 2020.
Heinecke began this season as the team’s backup, but moved into the starter’s role after Ryan Fitzpatrick was injured in the season opener. Heinecke has since led Washington to a pair of comeback victories.
“He’s got tremendous ability to deliver, hats off to him,” Rivera later said during his postgame news conference. “He’s a courageous dude who plays all out. His teammates, they feed off his energy, especially on offense. They get him and understand that no play is dead. … Taylor is one of those dynamic players who knows how to make plays.”
