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Taylor Heinicke effective in win

Taylor Heinicke completed 16 of his 22 attempts for 206 yards and three touchdowns leading Washington to a solid 27-21 win over the Carolina Panthers Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Twice in the first half after the Panthers (5-6) scored touchdowns, Heinicke answered for Washington.

Trailing 7-0 late in the opening quarter, Heinicke led Washington (4-6) on a seven play-66 yard drive, concluding with a six-yard touchdown pass to Cam Sims, tying the game early in the second quarter.

Again trailing (14-7), Washington drove 71 yards in 12 plays when Heinicke connected with Terry McLaurin from 12 yards with only nine seconds remaining in the half, tying the score 14-14.

In the opening drive of the second half, Heinicke found DeAndre Carter from four yards out, finishing off a 10-play drive of 66 yards.

The touchdown pass provided Washington its first lead of the game (21-14) at 9:21 of the third quarter.

During the drive, Heinicke converted two big third-down plays.                   On 3rd & 5 at the 50, Heinicke found Cam Sims for 13 yards to the Carolina 37. He then found Carter on 3rd & Goal from the four for the go-ahead touchdown.

After the Panthers tied the score at 21-21 in the final quarter, Heinicke made perhaps his biggest plays of the day.

On 2nd & 8 from the WFT 27, Heinicke ran for eight yards and a first down sliding at the last possible second, taking a blow from Panthers’ safety Justin Burris, who was subsequently flagged an extra 15 yards.

Brian Burns sacked Heinicke for a loss of nine yards, setting up a 3rd & 21 back at the WFT 39.

Maintaining his poise, the former Old Dominion QB connected with Adam Humphries for 18 yards to the Carolina 43, setting up a 4th & 3.              Coach Ron Rivera decided to go for it, and number 4 delivered mostly with his feet, moving to his left, avoiding being sacked twice, and finding John Bates for six yards to the Panthers 37.

On 2nd & 12 at the Carolina 39, Heinicke again displayed his athleticism, scooting around left end for 14 yards and another Washington first down.  Heinicke came back down to earth on 3rd & 7 from the 22, when he led Terry McLaurin too far for what would have been a touchdown.  Yet, the drive ended in a 36-yard Joey Slye field goal for a 24-21 lead.

One might look at his stats and not be satisfied with only 206 passing yards.

Still, Heinicke finished the day with an always significant TD/ INT ratio of 3:0.

It was his efficiency that stood out Sunday, as Heinicke only had six incompletions in 22 attempts. Oh, he also averaged 9.4 yards per attempt, finishing the game with a 141.3 rating; both very impressive numbers.

Say what you want, but Sunday against Carolina on the road, Taylor Heinicke was productive, clever, shrewd, skillful, energetic, effective and quite capable.

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