For fans of Taylor Heinicke's flashy, improvisational style of play, Sunday's loss to the Bills dealt a devastating blow, the first he's looked a mere mortal in a Washington uniform.
Heinicke wasn't bad, per se, completing 14 of his 24 passes (58.3%) for 212 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. But he certainly wasn't good, either, on a day where Washington probably needed him to be, going up against a high-powered Bills offense that put up 43 points. Heinicke also rushed for a touchdown.
Heinicke had done enough to keep Washington in the game, up to a point, trailing 21-14 with roughly seven and a half minutes to play in the second quarter. But then the wheels came off, and Washington's offense stopped scoring as Buffalo kept surging ahead. The Bills owned the game's next five scoring drives, and by the end of the third quarter had developed a hearty 22-point lead.
And now, it seems, Washington head coach Ron Rivera wants Heinicke to take a step back, and lean into more of a game manager role as they look to rebound from their 1-2 start to the season against Atlanta (1-2).
On Monday, Rivera was asked if there are elements of Heinicke's game (e.g. scrambling, improvising, diving for the pylon) that are just inherent to how he plays, and if there are times when Rivera wishes Heinicke would make smarter decisions, in more of a game manager type of way.
"Yes, I'd like to see him do things in more of a game manager way," Rivera said. "Sometimes that is really just taking what's given to you. Go ahead and throw the checkdown, go ahead and throw the drag or the slant, as opposed to, okay, I'm gonna wait for the dig to get into that middle window, and then in the meantime everything is closing around me as the quarterback. I'm gonna go ahead and scramble out to my right and I'm gonna wait for the guy to come across, I'm gonna throw across my body."
"Those are the things that you don't want to see him do," he said. "Take what's there in front of him. Again, it might be a simple checkdown on third-and-8, and give the guy a chance to catch it, turn and run and see if he can pick it up. You don't have to throw the ball to a receiver that's beyond the down marker.
"And that's some of the things that he has to understand as far as game management. We'll make the right decision. Not the decision because it's hard or the decision because it's easy, but the right one. And if the right one is throwing the checkdown, we'll live with the checkdown. We'll live with the good decisions, the right decisions."
This wouldn't be the first time a young Washington passer has had to wear the 'game manager' label like a badge of honor.
Fans may remember back to Kirk Cousins' breakout 2015 season, the year Jay Gruden declared it's "Kirk's team." Cousins began the year declaring he wanted to be a "boring game manager," someone who "makes good decisions, protects the football, finds completions" and moves the chains.
"If we're finding ways to move the football, we're putting points on the scoreboard and, ultimately, putting wins up on the scoreboard, the rest will take care of itself," Cousins told 106.7 The Fan's Grant & Danny at the time.
Cousins wound up throwing for 4,166 yards, 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions that season and managed the Redskins to a 9-7 record and their first (and only) playoff appearance under Gruden.
That is to say that being a game manager doesn't have to be a bad thing.
But, it could mean Heinicke eliminating, or at least minimizing, the flashy parts of his game that make him so exciting to watch and which give fans so much hope when the ball's in his hand. At least for the time being.
The big play always seems to be just around the corner with Heinicke, a characteristic that can push an offense to that next level. Sometimes, it arises when Heinicke takes off out of the pocket to buy himself more time to find a receiver. Or when he identifies a tight window 30 yards downfield and threads a needle, as opposed to hitting the open man eight yards in front of him.
That's the type of offense that Washington's already proven it's capable of running with Heinicke, but one that's maybe too risky to run when handcuffed to a defense that currently ranks in the bottom of the league in every meaningful category. It's the type of offense that every team should and does aspire to have, a modern era passing game that scores relentlessly, complemented by a quarterback with wheels. It's the way the league is going and presently is.
It also sounds like the type of offense that Rivera doesn't want at this moment. The head coach sounds more of the mind to have Heinicke stick in the pocket and make the "right decision," which more often than not will translate into checking it down.
And that's a shame for fans of exciting offense. But it also doesn't have to be a death sentence. As Cousins proved in 2015, it could be a winning formula. As a young quarterback, it could also help Heinicke develop a sturdy foundation from which he can develop into a more consistent passer, a base that he can always come back to and draw from when things start to get hairy.
It could also be a formula for a stagnant offense that consistently produces seven to nine wins year after year. Or, in other words, a formula for middling.
