Entering the Wild Card round game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Football Team on Sunday, the two squads seemed to be polar opposites when it came to their quarterback situation.
Lining up behind center for Tampa Bay was six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, correctly regarded by many as the greatest quarterback of all time.
And then there is Taylor Heinicke, who was signed to Washington’s practice squad in December before being used as their emergency starting quarterback with Alex Smith inactive.
Well, the unlikely hero shocked the sports world, as Heinicke kept the Football Team in the game and even had a decent chance to win it on Washington’s final drive.
Ultimately, the Buccaneers pulled out a 31-23 win, but Heinicke became the darling of NFL Twitter, outshining even Brady’s performance.
Heinicke and Brady briefly were teammates, kind of, as the former previously played on the New England Patriots practice squad in 2017. But beyond that, the duo have even more in common.
There are only two players in the Super Bowl era to tally more than 250 passing yards, one rushing touchdown in their first career playoff start who were selected in the sixth round or later, per NFL Research.
Turns out, those two players are Brady and Heinicke.
How about that.
