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Washington Football Team: Key numbers from Taylor Heinicke’s herculean effort

By Hirdesh Matta

Jan 9, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Football Team wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. (15) catches a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (23) defends during the fourth quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 9, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Football Team wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. (15) catches a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (23) defends during the fourth quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 9, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Football Team wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. (15) catches a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (23) defends during the fourth quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 9, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Football Team wide receiver Steven Sims Jr. (15) catches a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (23) defends during the fourth quarter at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

The Good: Washington Shows a Lot of Grit in the Losing Effort

352: The Knicks had Linsanity. Notre Dame had Rudy. And, the Washington Football Team has the Heinicke Hustle.

Taylor Heinicke proved that he deserves to stick around on an NFL roster. He finished the game with 352 total yards, going 26-for-44 for 306 yards, 1 touchdown, and an interception on a tipped ball. He also had 6 rushes for 46 yards and another touchdown.

8-10-71: After Heinicke went to the locker room to get his shoulder examined (later revealed to be a separated AC joint), Washington fell behind 28-16. Upon his return, Heinicke went 8-for-10 for 71 yards and a touchdown in the corner of the end zone to Steven Sims to pull Washington to within 5.

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6: Heinicke became just the sixth quarterback in Washington Football history to get 300+ yards passing in a postseason game, joining Kirk Cousins, Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, Joe Theismann, and Sammy Baugh.

2: According to NFL Research, during the Super Bowl era, there have only been two quarterbacks who were either drafted after the sixth round or went undrafted that passed for 250+ yards and had a rushing touchdown in their first playoff start. Both played in Saturday’s game: Tom Brady and Taylor Heinicke.

7: Cam Sims finished the game with 7 receptions for 104 yards as Heinicke was clearly comfortable looking in his direction. He finished with the second-most receiving yards in the game, behind only Mike Evans. However, he did have a big drop early in the first quarter on a beautifully placed ball, so his stat-line could’ve been better.

3, 4, 5: Montez Sweat and Daron Payne stepped it up on defense, combining for all three of Washington’s sacks, all four of Washington’s tackle for loss, and five of Washington’s seven QB hits.

3: Washington has one of the best red zone defenses in the NFL and that held true against Tampa. Tampa made it into the red zone four times and three of those trips ended with a field goal, while the last trip ended with a touchdown. The bend but don’t break mentality worked for the majority of the game until the Bucs’ late touchdown.

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