3 adjustments Commanders should make to maximize Taylor Heinicke at QB

3. More deep shots

Don’t confuse arm strength with the ability to throw deep. The two things are related, but it’s not as simple as it may seem. Heinicke’s lack of arm strength is most obvious on deep outs where the ball has to be thrown on a line. Though I would never call him a great deep ball passer, he has shown the ability to throw moonshots – highly lofted deep balls that give the receiver a chance to make a play. If he can’t heave it as far as Kyler Murray or Josh Allen, he can get it downfield far enough to take several deep shots during the normal course of a game.

It is imperative that Washington do this.

The biggest problem Washington had last season with Heinicke as the starter was that defenses simply were not afraid of him. They knew Washington was not going to throw deep and so they were able to crowd the line. All those fancy misdirection plays – those jet sweeps and rocket screens – they don’t work if the defense can commit all available back seven players to stopping them. We will continue to see that if Turner does not put some fear into the defense.

This year, Washington has the outside speed to get deep. A healthy Curtis Samuel, a resurgent Dyami Brown, a fresh-legged Jahan Dotson – they are all on board to aid Terry McLaurin. They can all fly. Keep an extra tight end or back in to give Heinicke the time he needs to throw a deep ball. You don’t even need a completion – pass interference seems to be called a virtually every deep back shoulder throw these days.

And even if you don’t get the completion or the PI, you have at least shown you will take the shot. A baseball guy once explained to me that the reason why batting averages were higher at altitude in Denver was not simply because more home runs were hit. That’s why slugging percentages were, but batting averages were higher because outfielders had to play deeper to guard against balls going over their heads. This left more room in front of them for singles to drop in.

If you saw the early parts of the Miami Dolphins game against Pittsburgh on Sunday night, you saw this same concept. The Steelers were so afraid of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle running past them that they dropped extra deep, leaving huge holes in the middle of the field, which the Dolphins exploited.

Washington may not have Hill and Waddle, and Taylor isn’t Tua. But the same concepts apply. If you want to run and throw short – which Washington will certainly be doing as long as Heinicke is under center, you have to sprinkle in a few long balls to create the necessary space.

I’ll be back with more helpful suggestions down the road.