Taylor Heinicke is a quarterback who plays for the National Football League (NFL) team, the Atlanta Falcons. He is also known by the nickname “The Great Lizard”. Heinicke played college football for the Old Dominion and was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2015.
Taylor Heinicke has played for several teams in the NFL since then and has even made appearances in the XFL for the St. Louis BattleHawks. He has featured for teams like the Minnesota Vikings, the New England Patriots, Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers, and Washington Commanders. He came to the Atlanta Falcons in March earlier this year and signed a two year contract with them.
He made his first appearance for the Falcons when he replaced starting quarterback Desmond Ridder in the second half for the game against the Tennessee Titans. The Falcons lost that game 23-28 and Heinicke recorded 175 passing yards, 14 rushing yards, and one passing touchdown.
Recently he has been named as the starting quarterback for the Falcons in the Week 9 game against the Minnesota Vikings. And it looks like the Falcons fans are pretty excited to see him on the field. The Falcons fans have shown him love along with his prior supporters from the Washington Commanders.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith says Taylor Heinicke starting is just for this week
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith confirmed in the media conferance that Heinicke will be coming in place for Desmond Ridder. However he did add that this decision was “just for this week.” “Just kinda considering everything in the last 72 hours and what we feel is good, best for this week for us against Minnesota, Taylor will play this week,” he said.
Taylor Heinicke speaking about the situation said that it still remains as Desmond Ridder’s team who has played great so far. Heinicke said that he will be coming into the game with the sole motivation of helping the team. For now it’s the decision of the head coach and they are just following it.
Taylor Heinicke getting ready to make his first start for the @AtlantaFalcons 👏 pic.twitter.com/dfxmrg5MhD
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 5, 2023
“This is Desmond’s team,” he said. “He’s played great throughout the year, obviously, there’s a couple hiccups here and there, but he’s progressing every week. He’s working hard. (Logan Woodside) and I are doing everything we can to help him in any way we can. Ultimately, that’s Arthur’s decision, but tomorrow we’re gonna come in, try and get better from the film and proceed as usual.”
Such a situation is not unknown to Taylor Heinicke who had replaced Carson Wentz when the latter had a broken finger last year. Heinicke also replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick when he had an injury. The Atlanta Falcons are currently 4-4 for the season before the Sunday showdown against the Vikings.
