Taylor Heinicke bursts the Carson Wentz bubbles, proves to be superior QB as Commanders take down undefeated Eagles
The Heinicke vs. Wentz battle is all but over, but it never should've been a thing in the first place.
You can change the name of the NFL team from Washington as many times as you'd like, but you can't change the head scratching decisions the franchise seems to make on a yearly basis. The Commanders proved that true by trading for Carson Wentz, shoving Taylor Heinicke to the side in the process.
Heinicke completed 65% of his passes last season, with 20 touchdowns and 3,419 yards through the air. Despite a promising first season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Washington decided to put the Heinicke experiment on pause and search for a new signal caller.
That's where Carson Wentz comes in.
Commanders shipped a second and third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, along with a conditional '23 third-rounder, in exchange for Carson Wentz and the Colts' '22 second-round pick. With that, the Carson Wentz era began in Washington - but the move never made sense to begin with, and makes even less sense after Heinicke's monstrous win over the undefeated Eagles.
With Wentz out for the fourth-week in a row, Heinicke once again found himself as Washington's QB1. This time, it was against Wentz' old team; the Philadelphia Eagles, who were yet to record a loss.
The third-year Washington quarterback couldn't have handled business better.
By the stats, Heinicke's day was nothing special. The 29-year-old logged 211 passing yards on 19-for-27 passing, with a goose egg in the touchdown column. As we know, numbers can be deceiving - and these numbers serve as a perfect example of that.
While the QB didn't record a single touchdown, he did lead his team to points more often than not. In fact, Washington's offense put points on the board every time they touched the ball throughout the first half, and the team's punting unit wouldn't see the field until the fourth-quarter.
A big reason for that was Heinicke's ability to make throws of this caliber.
TAYLOR HEINECKE DIME TO TERRY MCLAURIN 🎯
https://t.co/XWYTkFMQIW
And so, the Commanders would go onto win yet another game under their backup quarterback who never should've been replaced to begin with; this time, vs. their division rivals who entered the game as the only undefeated team in the league.
Another week, another showing of why the Carson Wentz trade was always a mistake.
Heinicke continues collecting wins in absense of struggling Wentz
Carson Wentz is still on the IR list, but the Commanders can't stop winning. With their latest win, Heinicke has surpassed Wentz' win total this season despite playing 33% less games.
This win also gives the quarterback a winning record over his last two seasons (10-9), with a 75% win percentage (3-1) this season alone; a number much better than Wentz' 33% win percentage (2-4).
Even the Commanders one loss under their backup was a mere three-point defeat against the 8-1 Vikings. In comparison, all four of Wentz' losses were by greater deficits.
It isn't just the final scores separating the two, either.
This season, Heinicke has posted a superior completion percentage, touchdown percentage, yards per completion mark and quarterback rating. Wentz is even below his backup when it comes to on target throws percentage.
Passing yards aside, there's not too much pointing in Wentz' favor, neither on the stat sheet nor in the win column.
What did Washington expect to happen? After all, their newly acquired quarterback is responsible for a 26-29-1 record between the '18 and '21 seasons.
With a win over the Eagles, who stood atop the standings in the NFL, the fight between the two quarterbacks is coming to an end. Taylor Heinicke should have no trouble grabbing the QB1 spot; a spot he never should've lost to begin with.