Taylor Heinicke
Heinicke was facing third-team/practice squad/scout players when he came in, so his performance may have been inflated, but the way he played was significantly better than Allen or Grier. And as indicated by the accuracy splits from the beginning of this article, his accuracy was well ahead of the other two.
From his very first snap of the game…
…the Bills bring interior pressure. Heinicke steps up in the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield…
…and finds Andre Levrone over the middle for a gain of 19.
This is a straight-up dart to Levrone, and the pass and velocity make it’s delivery on time. This is by no means an easy throw to make over the middle, so the accuracy here is impressive.
Later in the game, on 2nd-and-8, Heinicke fits a well thrown ball into the arms of tight end Temarrick Hemingway over the middle for a gain of 20 yards.
Hemingway bobbles the ball but ultimately makes the catch before hitting the ground.
Heinicke does a nice job of leading his receiver to the ball. The pass is slightly low, but this is a catchable ball and it results in a completion without any harm.
I’m skeptical that Heinicke can do this against higher tiers of competition – he threw three interceptions in Week 16, albeit with a torn tricep – but based on his performance against the Bills, he deserves a chance to get that opportunity because he played well for the situation he was in.
That the QB competition is this wide open three weeks into the preseason is not good for the Allen and certainly not for Grier, who was brought in to be the backup from the start – but the fact that Heinicke is outplaying both of them even with limited reps during practice?
That’s even worse.
