Taylor Heinicke Discussion

[Bulldog]

Washington didn't have an offensive identity for most of the 3 years Ron has been here.

For that 7 game stretch under Taylor an identity began to emerge but that was in part IMO based upon what Ron and Co thought the talent could bear.

Of course the lack of resources spent on the offensive line during that 3 year stretch have a huge impact here. In 3 years Ron Rivera spent ONE #2 pick on an offensive lineman, Sam Cosmi. That's it. No first rounders, no other second rounders, no third rounders.

The fact we are now hearing Mayhew and others talking about a ball control offense, limiting mistakes and having a game manager rather than a franchise passer to lead only says to me this team is further away from contending in the 2020's.

A new owner is really going to have to come in here and clean house.

 

[burgold]

Sort of a random thought, but I think Washington screwed up the QB situation two years in a row and not the way you think. They should have actually gone with Heinicke and declared him their starter from Day 1.

The reasoning is simple. Year 1: Heinicke coming off a surprising playoff performance is signed to a two year contract as a back up, but the team decides they need a starter. Who do they pick? 88 year old professional back up Ryan Fitzpatrick to be the starter. Fitzpatrick looks terrible in the preseason and falls in game 1 to injury. Moral with hindsight: Save the ten or twelve million because 1) the difference between Heinicke and Fitzpatrick didn't warrant the signing and 2) the team saves 10 or 12 million on their cap. Year 2: Heinicke after fading hard in the second half of his first year as a starter is doubted and Rivera and company declare their number one objective is to replace him. They choose Carson Wentz. They should have stuck with Heinicke. 1) Wentz was a flawed and broken QB who didn't fit Turner's system and had never played in it before. 2) The cost of Wentz prevented Washington from signing better players on the O-Line making Wentz look even worse. 3) The draft pick cost and salary cap cost was not superior to what Heinicke gave us.

Now, most of this is hindsight. Although in real time I said I'd have given Heinicke a shot if their best plan was Fitzpatrick with the logic being that if Heinicke fails then you get your choice of QBs in the draft and if Fitzpatrick succeeds you don't have a long term answer at QB anyway, but a 1 or 2 year bandage. The Wentz situation turned out worse. We definitely could have used that 20 million to shore up the line or maybe snag a linebacker. Since Heinicke outperformed Wentz, the loss of draftpicks stings. I talked myself into Wentz over Heinicke at the time of the signing. What we should have done is really build an offense for Heinicke and lived with the results if for no other reason than that's what we did anyway.

This brings me to the present. Again, Rivera is blaming everything on QB and saying how we have to find our answer. I say no. It's time to build with what we have. Let's live and die with that. If we die then maybe we get the kid from TCU and we have our Mahomes. If Howell turns into an above average QB or a good QB then you struck gold especially on the salary cap. Let's not revisit the mistakes of Heinicke by constantly trying to upgrade with players who wind up being mediocre or worse. The likelihood of grabbing a QB in free agency or trading for one that really will make us a perennial contender is almost nil. The Washington Commanders/Redskins have been the definition of insanity. Let's stop with the crazy.

 

[Boone]

I don’t think sticking with Heinicke changes much in terms of wins. He’s a limited talent. Wentz was a major mistake who cost us cap and assets. That’s a fireable offense in my book. But it’s an assumption that we would’ve use savings from committing to Heinicke to bolster the OL. I think they believed they did bolster the OL and that it would be fine. I agree with your last paragraph except the reason to go that route is that Howell is a much more talented QB than Heinicke (not better necessarily, that remains to be seen).

 

[Boone]

Scary thought of the day…

Would anyone be shocked if they continue with Wentz?

You heard both Mayhew and Rivera doubling down yesterday that the reason Wentz struggled was because he didn’t have Robinson healthy. There are about 10 reasons that argument makes zero sense and in fact is an outright distortion of the facts, but the fact they are making the argument should frighten us all. It’s a potential rationale for going back to Wentz again in 2023.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Scary thought of the day…

Would anyone be shocked if they continue with Wentz?

You heard both Mayhew and Rivera doubling down yesterday that the reason Wentz struggled was because he didn’t have Robinson healthy. There are about 10 reasons that argument makes zero sense and in fact is an outright distortion of the facts, but the fact they are making the argument should frighten us all. It’s a potential rationale for going back to Wentz again in 2023.

Shocked, no. Mad about it, you better believe it. If Wentz didn’t play against Cleveland, I could kind of see the argument to bring him back. He got hurt, Heinicke was playing well enough they didn’t want to rock the boat and go back to him. But that’s not what happened. They gave him a chance to play and it was a disaster. In my opinion, that was his chance for next year and he failed. You could say the offense struggled without Robinson, but that doesn’t explain his interceptions. And that is where most of the frustration came against Cleveland, when Robinson played. It just makes no sense to bring him back, which is why I won’t be surprised if they do.

 

[Boone]

Absolutely. But never underestimate this regime’s ability to rationalize and deflect.

 

[Chris]

It could be argued that the best thing that happened all year for the future of the team was Wentz starting vs Cleveland.

 

[Bulldog]

Just remember that Mayhew and Hurney were front office executives for teams that overall didn't finish .500 during their tenures.

So, we are looking a bit at the blind leading the blind.

If Rivera is listening to these guys, based on their track records, the results will be fortunate to keep this team in the .475 win percentage range.