The Washington Football Team is considering a quarterback rotation in its Wild Card round playoff game against Tampa Bay on Saturday, coach Ron Rivera says.
Although 7-9 Washington is playing at home as the NFC East division winner, it faces a tall task in derailing six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and his 11-5 Buccaneers, the better team by record and betting lines. Vegas has Washington as home dogs by 7.5 points.
Alex Smith, who missed two consecutive games with a calf strain, threw for just 162 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in Sunday's 20-14 division-clinching win over the Eagles, his first game back from injury. Smith took three sacks in the game and looked noticeably incapable of moving around in the pocket.
Taylor Heinicke, who signed with Washington as its quarantine quarterback in December, looked impressive in relief of Dwayne Haskins, in limited action against Carolina the week prior. In less than a quarter of play, Heinicke led Washington to a touchdown on 12-of-19 passing and 137 yards, picking up 22 yards with his feet. He ultimately ran short on time, with Washington falling 20-13, but threw some brilliant balls that were dropped while flashing a breadth of knowledge of the offense and strong pocket awareness.
"Honestly, the thing that we have to be willing to do and what we really have to think about it whether or not to rotate him in and out with Taylor [Heinicke]," Rivera told reporters on Tuesday, referencing how Washington can scheme up ways to take some pressure off of Smith. "We have to look at it. There's nothing you can do about it, that's the truth of the matter. We're going to play a very aggressive defense this week. Obviously, it's something we most certainly have to look at."
That Rivera's even considering playing Heinicke — who, again, has been with Washington for all of a month — in an elimination game shows you how lackluster Smith performed on Sunday. Still, Heinicke has shown enough in his limited play that Rivera felt comfortable releasing former first-round pick Haskins less than a week out from a potential playoff run.
Is this purely an act of gamesmanship by Rivera? Tying up the opposing defense by giving them two quarterbacks to prepare for? Possibly.
It's also quite possible Rivera intends to go with Heinicke to start the game, or start Smith but with a quick hook, and the coach's comments about a rotation only serve as PR cover for Smith — taking the sting out of his potential benching, thus saving the respected veteran some level of embarrassment.
The other option is to take what Rivera says at face value. Perhaps he truly intends to rotate both quarterbacks in a playoff game against Tampa.
Whatever Rivera's choice ends up being, this will certainly be a leading storyline as Washington prepares for its first playoff game in five years.
