Washington Football Team: 4 incredible stats that defined WFT’s win over the Giants

It wasn’t pretty, but the Washington Football Team picked up a massive division win over the New York Giants on Thursday night.

Did Washington deserve to win? Probably. They made fewer mistakes and looked like the more dynamic offense, though the defense getting bamboozled on nearly ever Daniel Jones zone read was infuriating to watch.

But we digress. We’ll harp on the negatives from the game at a different time, because there were plenty. For now, however, let’s celebrate what could prove to be a season-defining win once the regular season wraps up.

After all, the Football Team travels to Buffalo in Week 3 and the schedule doesn’t get any easier after that. Take our advice and don’t even look it up.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Given that this was one of the most thrilling Thursday Night Football games in recent memory, let’s highlight a couple of incredible stats that defined Washington’s big win.

4 stats that defined the Football Team’s win over NYG

4. Taylor Heinicke on play action

We had a feeling that Washington was going to have to lean on play action to help Taylor Heinicke get into a rhythm and that’s exactly what happened. It helped that Antonio Gibson set the tone in the running game, taking off for 69 yards on an efficient 5.3 yards per carry, but Heinicke was unstoppable on play action snaps.

Per Next Gen Stats, Heinicke went 13-of-15 (86.6%) for 153 yards and two touchdowns on passes that included a play-fake.

It’s fitting that both of Heinicke’s touchdowns came on play action, but that stat is still difficult to wrap your head around. It turns out the 28-year-old can really sling it when he’s not running for his life. Who would’ve thought?

In all seriousness, credit to offensive coordinator Scott Turner for recognizing how much Heinicke was flourishing in play action. Turner kept going to it and the Giants’ supposed elite defense had legitimately zero answers.

3. Terry McLaurin destroys James Bradberry

We wrote leading up to the game that Terry McLaurin would have to get the better of James Bradberry if Washington was going to enjoy any success through the air. Facing all that pressure, McLaurin delivered the goods.

For the game, McLaurin hauled in a career-high 11 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, his first of the season. While Bradberry didn’t shadow McLaurin on every route, they were lined up against each other on most plays.

In fact, McLaurin was followed by Bradberry 83% of the time on Thursday night, catching five of his seven targets for 47 yards and a touchdown against the Giants cornerback. Yes, Bradberry picked off a pass intended for McLaurin, but that can be attributed to a miscommunication more than a poor route/throw.

The craziest part of McLaurin dominating Bradberry was that he found little success against him in the past. In their last three matchups, Bradberry limited the 2019 second-rounder to two catches for 16 yards and an INT.

That’s the good stuff.

Though less than half of his receptions for the game came when he was lined up against Bradberry, Heinicke was looking his way the entire fourth quarter. Washington doesn’t win that game without McLaurin. Plain and simple.

2. Darius Slayton separation on dropped touchdown

The defining moment of the game came with 6:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Giants held a 23-20 lead and had a chance to put Washington on the ropes with a touchdown. For a second, it looked as New York did just that, as wideout Darius Slayton found himself in acres of space beyond the secondary.

However, Jones led his receiver a little too much and the pigskin fell harmlessly to the turf after deflecting off Slayton’s fingertips. Based on the reaction from Giants Twitter, though, Slayton probably should’ve reeled that one in.

What made the drop all the more shocking was that there wasn’t a Washington defender in the vicinity. William Jackson clearly thought he’d get help over the top from a safety and Slayton blew past him as a result.

By the time the ball arrived, Slayton had created 13.2 yards of separation from Jackson. Think about how crazy that is! The Giants settled for a 55-yard field goal from Graham Gano and the rest, as they say, is history.

After reading that doozy, we wish there was a stat on the conversion rate of passes where the wide receiver generated over 10 yards of separation from his defender. It has to be at least 90%, if not higher, right?

13.2 yards of separation resulted in just three points on the scoreboard for the Giants. You can’t make this stuff up. As far as defining stats are concerned, this would’ve taken the cake in almost every other week.

However, there was only one player/stat deserving of the top spot.

1. Taylor Heinicke makes history

What more can be said about Taylor Heinicke? As long as he keeps performing like this, and Ron Rivera runs a meritocracy, Heinicke should undoubtedly keep the starting job when Ryan Fitzpatrick is back healthy.

For the game, Heinicke completed 73.9% of his passes (34-of-46) for 336 yards and two touchdowns to one interception. His go-ahead TD to Ricky Seals-Jones in the back corner of the with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter was one of the best throws from a Washington QB that we can remember.

Per Next Gen Stats, that play was the most improbable completion by a Washington QB since Week 9 of the 2018 season. The completion probability? 13.7% (!), so there’s an extra mind-blowing statistic for you.

That play alone was surely enough to win over fans that questioned whether Heinicke can win games as a weekly starter. However, the Old Dominion product did one better, albeit after throwing a pick, by leading Washington on a picture-perfect two-minute drill to set up Dustin Hopkins’ game-winning FG.

In doing so, Heinicke became the first QB since 1978 to register a go-head passing touchdown, an interception, and a game-winning drive in the final five minutes of regulation (all on three separate drives), per ESPN Stats and Info.

Nothing like making a little NFL history in your third career start, right? At this point, fans have no reason to doubt Heinicke until he gives them a reason to. Here’s what we know about Heinicke so far. Correct us if we’re wrong.

• He gave the Buccaneers everything they could handle in the playoffs last year
• He nearly willed Washington to a win in Week 1 after relieving the injured Ryan Fitzpatrick, posting a 119.3 passer rating in a game that was ultimately blown by the defense’s inability to get off the field on third down.
• Wins a must-have division game before the schedule really stiffens up. Throws for over 300 yards and two TDs.

Believe in Heinicke! What do you have to lose?

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