Tag: WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM
Washington’s Heinicke on starting: ‘I’m excited for the opportunity’
Coming into the 2021 NFL season, Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke was slated and prepared to be the backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick. However, things have now changed.
Fitzpatrick could reportedly miss 6-8 weeks due to a right hip subluxation that he suffered on Sunday in a loss against the Chargers.
If the 28-year-old Heinicke plays well, this could be his job for the rest of the season and beyond. In four seasons, Heinicke has started just one regular-season game in 2018 with the Panthers and started a playoff game for Washington last season, where he threw for over 300 yards in a losing effort to the world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild-Card round.
At this point, with Fitzpatrick out, Washington has not brought in another veteran quarterback, which means Washington is giving Heinicke a chance to shine.
“I think someone asked me the question after the game, you’ve had a lot of doubters out there, stuff like that, and I don’t care about the doubters outside the facility,” Heinicke said on Tuesday. “It’s the people in the facility that I care about. If they have confidence in me and they believe in me, that’s all that I care about. Like you just said, that kinda tells me they have that confidence in me. So, it means a lot to me; it helps me play better. It gives me a lot more confidence, and I’m excited for the opportunity.”
Heinicke has been dreaming about being a starting quarterback in the NFL, but for Heinicke to keep the job, his mindset has to be one play at a time.
“Something I’ve been dreaming about my whole life, being a starting quarterback in the NFL, and here we are,” he said. “So, I really try and take it one day at a time, one meeting at a time, one play at a time. I feel like if I just live in the moment, everything else will take care of itself. I don’t try and get too ahead of myself. When we’re at practice, I just listen to the play, remember what we talked about — meetings, what we’re trying to get accomplished, and really take it one play at a time. We’ll worry about the other stuff later.”
Look, you never want to see anybody get injured, but it’s next man up in the NFL, so Heinicke has to seize the moment. If he wants to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, he must play well during this stretch, which begins on Thursday night at home against the New York Giants.
Washington to start Henicke against Giants in Week 2 after Fitzpatrick injury
On Monday, the Washington Football Team got some bad news when they learned that starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would have to go on injured reserve after an MRI revealed a right hip subluxation.
Fitzpatrick will have to go on IR for at least three weeks, but according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Fitzpatrick is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
The 38-year-old injured his hip after being hit by Chargers LB Uchenna Nwosu on a pass play in the second quarter in the team’s 20-16 loss to Los Angeles on Sunday.
Taylor Heinicke, who replaced Fitzpatrick on Sunday, will get the start against the Giants on Thursday night. The fourth-year quarterback was 11/15 for 122 yards and one touchdown against the Chargers, and Washington head coach Ron Rivera was pleased by what he saw from Heinicke.
“Well, obviously, we were pleased,” Rivera said about Heinicke. “We moved the ball well; we made some things happen. We moved to ball well early, too. We just didn’t put it in the end zone, but with Taylor, we got one in the end zone. I thought the throw that he made to [TE] Logan [Thomas] was a heck of a throw.”
Kyle Allen will be the backup to Heinicke.
This injury is a tough break for Fitzpatrick, but at the same time, it could open the door for Heinicke to prove that maybe he has what it takes to be a starting quarterback for Washington going forward.
This could also open the door for Washington to think about free-agent quarterback Cam Newton, who is available after being recently released by the Patriots. Rivera and Newton have history together as the two spent time with each other in Carolina. However, Newton is not vaccinated for Covid-19, which could make things tricky.
Newton had his best years with Rivera in Carolina, including being the league MVP in 2015 and leading to the Super Bowl that same season. Who knows if the 32-year-old Newton gets a shot in Washington, but if it happened, it sure would be interesting to see.
Washington’s Rivera on Herbert: ‘He’ll be a formidable player for a long time in this league’
Much is expected out of Los Angeles Chargers second-year quarterback Justin Herbert in 2021. Last season, as a rookie, the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, threw for 4336 yards and 31 touchdowns. Herbert became the fourth rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 4000 yards and set a rookie record for most touchdown passes in a season.
The 6-6 Herbert was named the NFL Rookie of the Year in 2020 and clearly looks like a player who could be an upper-echelon quarterback for years to come.
On Sunday, the Chargers travel to D.C. to face the Washington Football Team. Washington head coach Ron Rivera liked what he saw out Herbert last season and believes Herbert could be a special player.
“Well, when we looked at him, we really liked who he is as a football player,” Rivera said on Monday. “He has got a nice, strong arm, and he’s built for the position. He’s very athletic for a big guy. He’s got a tremendous arm. He sees the field very well. He’s a good decision-maker. I mean, you put the tape on from last year, you got an opportunity to watch him make all the throws, literally make all the throws.
“It’s just one of those things that you draft who you think you need, and that’s what we did. But, I really think that this is a good football player. He’s a young guy who’s going to continue to develop and grow, and he’ll be a formidable player for a long time in this league.”
In the 2020 NFL Draft, Washington had a shot at Herbert but ultimately drafted DE Chase Young with the second overall pick. At the time, Washington had Dwayne Haskins at quarterback, and the hope was that he could be the team’s franchise quarterback. That never came to fruition, and Haskins was released near the end of last season.
Passing on Herbert could come back to haunt Washington and the other teams that passed on him.
Fortunately for the Chargers, he will probably only get better in Year 2
Washington’s Fitzpatrick: ‘I haven’t even had an opportunity like this in my career’
For the second straight season, Washington Football Team quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick begins the season as a starter. In 2020, Fitzpatrick began the season as the starter for the Miami Dolphins. He started the first six games and had the Dolphins at 3-3 before losing his job to then-rookie QB and Dolphins 2020 first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa.
Fitzpatrick beat out Taylor Heinicke for the starting job this season and officially was named Washington’s starting QB last week. At age 38, this will probably be Fitzpatrick’s last chance to be a starter in the NFL.
“I’ve said to you guys a lot, but I see this as a great opportunity for me,” Fitzpatrick said on Thursday. “One that, maybe I haven’t even had an opportunity like this in my career, and I’m looking forward to doing everything I can to take advantage of it.”
The 17-year veteran loves to take chances with the football, and at times, it’s gotten him trouble, but Fitzpatrick, who led the league with 23 interceptions in 2011, has limited the turnovers over the years, and according to him, that came with age and experience.
“I think early in my career, some of it was not really understanding that throws couldn’t be worth 14 points,” Fitzpatrick said. “Like just going out there when you’re behind and trying to force everything in there. So some of that has come with age and experience. I’m going to push the ball down the field. I’m going to take chances. I’m going to give my guys opportunities. Some of that stuff will continue to happen. You just try to limit it. And you try to; I try to make educated decisions sometimes when it’s not necessarily a 50-50 ball, maybe it’s a 70-30 ball. You just make those educated decisions and go from there.”
Washington should have a pretty good defense in 2021. Last season, they were second in total defense and fourth in points allowed, so they will keep this team in games. Fitzpatrick may have to be that game manager for Washington in 2021.
On Thursday, he defined what being a game manager means to him.
“There’s a lot of different things, you’re on the edge of field goal range, and you’re not taking sacks,” he said. “Those types of things that you hear all the time on the broadcast, those are really important pieces of playing the quarterback position. So to me, managing a game and making the right decisions, it doesn’t necessarily mean just dinking and dunking and throwing short passes. It means making good decisions that pertain to the certain particular situation that you’re in during a game.”
The NFC East is a very winnable division. Every team in the division has its issues. If Fitzpatrick can protect the football, make a few plays, and be that game manager, Washington has enough talent to win the division again in 2022, but one thing working against them is history. No team has won back-to-back NFC East titles since 2004.
For Washington, If we get “Fitzmagic,” this could be their division, but if we get “Fitztragic,” well, it could be a struggle in D.C.
Ravens defeat Washington to capture their 20th straight preseason victory
The Washington Football Team handled the last preseason game like the last preseason game. Head coach Ron Rivera sat all of the starters on Saturday at FedExField, and ultimately, Washington would fall to the Ravens 37-3.
“Not to get anybody hurt,” Rivera said about why he rested his starters. “It was something we decided on a few days ago. We didn’t want to get anybody hurt. We had a big camp, it’s been successful, and a lot of guys worked. A lot of people we feel really comfortable and confident in who they are for us. We just felt exposing is not the thing to do, so we didn’t expose them.”
Conversely, Baltimore played many of its starters, but not for long, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, who saw his first preseason action on Saturday and played one series.
According to Jackson, he was happy to be out there against Washington.
“Yeah, just to get my feet wet for the regular season,” Jackson said. “I’ve got to feel that contact, that real contact because you know guys in practice aren’t hitting me or anything like that. It was great to get my feet wet.”
For Baltimore, the concern is running back J.K Dobbins, who left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury. According to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Dobbins will undergo testing on Sunday.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the expectation is that Dobbins had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Jackson hopes everything will be okay with Dobbins, but he has confidence in the other backs on the team.
“Hopefully, we don’t miss him. He’s a tremendous back,” Jackson said. “We have Gus [Edwards], and we’ve got Ty [Ty’son Williams], but hopefully, he’s good.”
Baltimore got a big-time performance from third-string quarterback Tyler Huntley, who threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns against Washington.
With the win against Washington, Baltimore won an NFL record 20th straight preseason game. The last time Baltimore lost a preseason game was in 2015.
“I just think it’s really cool for the guys,” Harbaugh said about winning 20 straight preseason games. “I’ll tell you this; there’s a lot of guys watching on TV with their kids, telling their kids about that accomplishment and the fact that they were a part of that. That’s the most meaningful thing. I think there are other aspects of it, but to me, that’s the thing that means the most.”
It’s time to prepare for the regular season. Washington hosts the Chargers in Week 1, while the Ravens go on the road to play the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
Washington’s Rivera wants team to prepare for preseason finale like it’s the regular season
As the Washington Football prepares for their preseason finale on Saturday against the Ravens, head coach Ron Rivera wants his player to prepare like it’s the regular season. After Saturday, Washington will have to wait 15 days for their season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.
On Monday, Rivera explained what he wanted to see out his team as they prepare for the final preseason game.
“Well, just the biggest thing more than anything else is really about us going through the process of what that’s going to be like during the regular season,” he said. “Everything from the way we’re going to meet to the way we walk through, the way we practice, and then the post-practice lifts and meetings. It’s just to get a sense and feel for that. Be very direct with the game planning, getting an understanding and feel for how we’re going to game plan. Then also for the guys to develop and understand how important it is for them to take advantage of their own time. Some of the things that we do in some of our meetings, there’s a period where there’s a group of guys that aren’t involved in special teams that have some downtime.
“What I’ve told them is I want them to take care of three things, either getting extra treatment, getting their strength conditioning done, or spending some time watching film. I mean, it’s an opportunity to take about 40 minutes to get a little bit ahead of some things and an opportunity to watch your opponent and kind of study what we’re going to do. It’s about time management now, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
In the past, when teams played four preseason games, the third preseason game was like a dress rehearsal, but with only three preseason games, each team will handle things differently. At this point, Rivera is unsure how long his starters will play against Baltimore.
“When we get together as coaches in the next couple of days, we’ll talk about how much we want to see everybody play, and we’ll go from there,” Rivera said.
The last preseason game is also a chance for players on the bubble to impress, which Rivera discussed on Monday.
“We’ll have some guys that would play an awful lot, and we’re going to look for them to be put in situations and do they capitalize on those things,” he said. “How they prepare this week also, we’ll get an opportunity to really watch to see if they get it. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for guys that are going to take advantage of these opportunities, make plays, make things happen, and handle the situations and opportunities.”
Bucs’ Evans: ‘Our roster, I feel like, is the most talented roster in the league’
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans has never played this late into a season. In fact, this is his first time being in the playoffs. Evans, who was a limited participant at practice on Wednesday due to a knee injury he suffered in Week 17 against the Falcons, played well in his first career playoff game and finished with six catches for 119 yards in Tampa Bay’s 31-23 road victory over the Washington Football Team in the Wild Card game last Saturday night.
For Evans, playing in his first playoff game was special to the seven-year veteran.
“It meant a lot. I haven’t been to the playoffs – it was my first time, first game in the playoffs,” Evans said on Wednesday. “I was excited to play, it was great weather [and] we had a great week of preparation. It just meant a lot to be out there and to try to make plays to help my team win. The goal is to do enough each week to play the next week, so that’s what we’re doing this week.”
Now, the Buccaneers prepare for a familiar foe in Divisional Round, as they travel to New Orleans to battle the Saints, who have beaten Tampa Bay twice this season and five times overall. In 2020, New Orleans outscored the Buccaneers 72-26, including the Saints’ 38-3 victory over Tampa Bay in November.
According to Evans, who became the first player in NFL history with at least 1,000 receiving yards in seven consecutive seasons to begin his career, Tampa Bay is a much different team since that November matchup.
“I feel like we’re getting healthier,’ he said. “Our roster, I feel like, is the most talented roster in the league. We started off as a good team because we just have a lot of great players on our team. But now, we’re forming into a great team. We’ve just got to keep going each week, battling, finding ways to get better, and finding ways to win tough games.”
Even though Tampa Bay has not beaten New Orleans in five tries, Evans believes the Saints are Tampa’s biggest rival.
“It’s definitely a great rivalry,” he said. “When we play each other, [there] is a lot of emotion, a lot of physicality. As players, we love it – we love this rivalry. I know the fans love it. I would say it is our biggest rivalry.”
New Orleans has Tampa Bay’s number at this point, but it’s tough to beat a team three times in a season, so that could work in the Buccaneers’ favor. They have the talent to defeat New Orleans, but based on what we have seen in the regular season, it won’t be easy.
Bucs’ Arians believes team has to be better defensively if they want to win in Divisional Round
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got their first playoff victory since the 2002 season on Saturday night when they defeated the Washington Football Team 31-23 at FedEx Field in the wild card game.
Tom Brady was solid against Washington. The 43-year-old Brady went 22-of-40 for 381 yards and two touchdowns. His 381 passing yards set a new single-game franchise postseason record. The postseason win was the 31st of Brady’s NFL career, which are the most playoff wins by any player in league history.
“I think it’s good to win and advance,” Brady said after the game. “If we don’t play well next week, we’re not going to be happy. [I’m] glad we won [and] glad we have another week of work. We’re going to go in there and try to do a much better job this week and get ready for whoever our opponent is – it’s going to be a good one. We’re going to have to go play great football.”
According to Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate, who caught four passes for 80 yards – the second-most receiving yards by a tight end in Buccaneers playoff history, Tampa Bay did not play their best football on Saturday, but he’s happy to get the victory.
“Super excited about the win,” Brate said. “We didn’t play our best game, but I thought Washington really played us well. Offensively, they made a bunch of plays. Defensively, they presented a big challenge with the guys they have up front. We didn’t play our best game, but at this point of the year, a win is a win.”
Tampa Bay’s defense allowed Washington QB Taylor Heinicke, who started for an injured Alex Smith, to throw for 306 yards and a touchdown and an interception. Heinicke also rushed for 46 yards and added a touchdown on the ground.
After the game, Arians was asked if the team’s performance against Washington was good enough to win in the Divisional Round, he said the following:
“No, this performance defensively, it wouldn’t be,” Arians said. “Offensively, it would be. We’ll show up and see. I think some of our guys – I don’t think veterans did, but some of our younger guys – might have relaxed when Alex Smith wasn’t playing. I kind of kept preaching at them, ‘This kid can run, he can do a lot of things.’ He almost beat us with his legs. I’m never going to apologize for winning, and next week’s next week.”
If the Saints defeat the Bears on Sunday, the fifth-seeded Buccaneers will head to New Orleans to battle the second-seeded Saints, who beat Tampa Bay twice this season. However, Arians believes his team is much better now than they were when New Orleans blew them out in Tampa Bay 38-3 back in November.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re playing – that’s all that matters,” Arians said. “We’re a better football team than the last time we played the Saints – if we go there. It doesn’t matter to me.”
The Buccaneers live to fight another day. Now, for this season to be memorable, they must continue to win, and they will have that opportunity next weekend in the Divisional Round. However, they do need to play better.
Giants’ Joe Judge believes the Eagles ‘disrespected the game’ on Sunday night
Many around the NFL are not happy with the way the Philadelphia Eagles handled their season-finale against the Washington Football Team on Sunday night. There was a lot at stake in this game. If Washington wins, they win the NFC East. If they lose, the Giants, who beat Dallas earlier in the day, win the division.
Here is what got a lot of people upset. First, with the Eagles down 17-14 in the third quarter, Philadelphia had an opportunity to tie the game with a short field goal, but Eagles head coach Doug Pederson decided to go for it on fourth down, and ultimately, Washington would stop them.
Finally, Philadelphia decided to remove their starting QB Jalen Hurts, who ran for two touchdowns on Sunday, and replaced him with Nate Sudfeld, who had not thrown a pass since 2018. Well, Sudfeld proceeded to commit two turnovers(fumble, interception) and finished the game 5/12 for 32 yards. Philadelphia would not score again and would fall to Washington 20-14.
With the loss, the Eagles secured the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Washington won the NFC East, and the Giants were eliminated.
On Monday, Giants head coach Joe Judge addressed the situation, and he was not very happy.
“I’ll let Philadelphia speak for themselves on that in terms of how they approached the game,” Judge said. “Really simply, I was in my office last night. I watched our film from the game yesterday, and then I was actually watching our first Tampa game with the Philly-Washington game on in the background. There’s been a lot made of that game internal or from the outside. Let me just be very clear on this; we had sixteen opportunities this year, that’s it. It’s our responsibility to take care of our opportunities and perform better and execute the situations when they’re on our plate. We don’t ever want to leave our fate in the hands of anybody else. We’re not going to make excuses as an organization. Not now, not ever. We had our opportunities. We need to learn from the lessons we have from this year and carry them forward. That’s the experience you truly gain. That’s really the most important thing right there, our opportunities.
“That being said, obviously, players have asked me throughout the day. The one thing to keep in mind with this season is we had a lot of people opt into this season. We had a lot of people opt-in. Coaches, players, that includes family members as well. To look at a group of grown men who I ask to give me effort on a day in day out basis and to empty the tank. I can look them in the eye and assure them that I’m always going to do everything I can to put them in a competitive advantage and play them in a position of strength. To me, you don’t ever want to disrespect those players and their effort and disrespect the game. The sacrifices that they made to come in to work every and test before coming in. To sit in meetings spaced out, to wear masks, to have shields over those masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travel in unconventional ways, and to get text messages at 6:30 in the morning telling them practice was going to be canceled we have to do a virtual day. To tell them to please don’t have your family over for Thanksgiving, please avoid Christmas gatherings, we know it’s your wife’s birthday; let’s make sure we put that one off to the offseason. There’s a number of sacrifices that have been made by all the players and coaches in this league. There’s a number of sacrifices that come along as well for the family members of the people connected to them. To disrespect the effort that everyone put forward to make this season a success for the National Football League, to disrespect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win. We will never do that as long as I am the head coach of the New York Giants.”
In life and in football, you never let anyone control your destiny, and in the end, New York did not do enough to control their destiny, and because of that, the Washington Football Team are NFC East champions. It’s that simple.
However, one thing for sure, when the Giants and Eagles play next season, it should be a lot of fun!
Watch Judge below: