By Harry Minium

Taylor Heinicke and the Washington Football Team have finally beaten the GOAT.

In what surely was the biggest game of Heinicke's NFL career so far, the former Old Dominion quarterback completed 26 of 32 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown to lead Washington to a 29-19 victory over Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

With seven Super Bowl rings, Brady is clearly the NFL's Greatest of All Time. But on Sunday afternoon, Heinicke was the better quarterback. He completed 81.2 percent of his passes and did not throw an interception while Brady had two passes picked off.

"These are the games you dream of as a kid," Heinicke said. "It was the moment I was, I'm about to get emotional here."

He paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"It's a moment I dreamt of last year when I wasn't playing," he said. "I told myself that if I get another chance to play, I'm going to go out there and do something great.

"And it's these games that you want. It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to those guys to get a win like that against a team like that."

Heinicke had a lot of time to dream given his long, tortuous path to an NFL starting job. He bounced around from team to team for much of six seasons, even spending much of a season as a backup quarterback in the XFL. No team really gave him much of a chance to show what he could do.

Most judged that he was too short to make it in the NFL, as football experts also once said of Russell Wilson.

Heinicke wasn't given a chance to try out a training camp in the fall of 2020 and stayed in his hometown of Atlanta working out last fall and early winter. As October and November passed, he acknowledged he was getting discouraged.

"I was so close to calling it quits," he said.

But then came a call from Washington, where he quickly impressed coach Ron Rivera. After nearly a month of playing sparingly, and learning the system, an injury to Alex Smith gave Heinicke his first start in of all games, a wild-card NFL playoff game against Tampa Bay and Brady.

Many in the national media made fun of Heinicke, with some saying that never has a quarterback been so overmatched.



Undaunted, Heinicke nearly led Washington to an upset of the Bucs, completing 26 of 44 passes for 306 yards and running six more times for 46 yards and a TD.

It was the first time Heinicke was given a real shot, behind an offensive line that afforded him good protection, and the first time anyone in the NFL saw the Taylor Heinicke we all saw play at ODU.

He is deceptively fast and eludes defenders who seem to have him in their grasp. He also has the innate ability to check three or four reads in a few seconds, meaning if someone is open, he'll find him.

National TV personalities, and many of his teammates, wondered aloud, why wasn't he playing somewhere all this time?

As did those of us at ODU who knew Heinicke could play in the NFL.

Although Washington lost, 31-23, his performance won him a two-year, $4.75 million contract.

Heinicke is a cult hero in the Washington area, where thousands of fans wear "The Legend of Taylor Heinicke" shirts and sweat shirts, with an artist's rendering of him diving over a pylon.

In the playoff loss to the Bucs, Heinicke dove, with his arms outstretched, over a pylon and scored on a 4-yard touchdown run. The photo of that dive, one we often saw at ODU, epitomized his hustle and determination and helped make him a fan favorite. 

Heinicke was the backup quarterback when this season began and became the starter after Ryan Fitzpatrick was injured in Washington's first game. Many anticipated that Fitzpatrick, who has a $10 million, one-year contract, would eventually win his starting position again.

But the NFL Network reported Sunday that Fitzpatrick almost surely won't return this season, meaning Heinicke likely will start the rest of the season.

Heinicke starred in a 30-29 victory over the New York Giants, in which he threw for 336 yards, and in an emotional, 34-30 victory over Atlanta in his hometown, when he passed for 290 yards.


ODU fans Mary Ann Grogan and Diane Ruhl cheering on Heinicke. 

But Washington had lost four in a row prior to Sunday and Heinicke had struggled in most of those games.

Sunday's victory improved Washington's record to 4-6 and the team remains in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot.

Tampa Bay tried containing Heinicke in the pocket in the first half, and then blitzed him in the second half, when he frustrated the Bucs by completing short passes just before he was hit by defenders.

He was at his best with 10 minutes left, with Washington holding a precarious 4-point lead after Brady completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans.

Brady spent 10 frustrating minutes watching Heinicke skillfully manage a 19-play drive that ate up all but the final seconds on the clock. Rushed from the pocket, Heinicke ran for a first down on one third down play, and completed two third-down passes.

He was clutch, he was gutsy, and he was in control.

"He's a great football player," Bucs linebacker Devin White told the Tampa Bay Times. "I talked to him after the game, told him, man, I love his game, I love his tenacity just to keep plays alive for his squad and then find a (receiver)."

Heinicke said the last drive should give Washington a ton of confidence.

"For our offense to have the ball with 10 minutes left, up by four, and to go 19 plays and go down there and end it like that was huge for us, especially with how it's been going the last four weeks," he said. "It's definitely something to build off of.

"I told myself when I was driving to the game today to have fun and leave it all out there. This time of the season a year ago, I didn't know whether I'd ever play again.

"When I drive into the facility every day for practice, I think about where I was last year. There's nothing I'd rather be doing than playing football.

"For me to go out there and do that today, it was a dream come true."

Other Monarchs in the NFL from Sunday
Rick Lovato played for the Eagles on Sunday as they won 30-13 over the Broncos. Lovato recorded eight snaps, three punts, three field goals and two extra points. 
 
Zach Pascal caught two passes for nine yards for the Colts in their 23-17 win over the Jaguars on Sunday night. 
 

Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot, where he won 27 writing awards. He covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu