Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera made the decision last week to turn back to Carson Wentz as starting quarterback after Taylor Heinicke started nine games. And it didn’t take long for that decision to backfire.
Wentz — who wasn’t expected to have a short leash in Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns — threw a pair of interceptions in the opening 16 minutes of the game. Understandably, the crowd at FedEx Field had seen enough.
Videos from the game showed that the crowd started chanting for Heinicke after Wentz’s second interception of the first half — an underthrown ball into double coverage. It got to the point where Commanders players actually had to urge the fans to stop chanting during an injury timeout.
Two Carson Wentz INTs already… only took 16 minutes of play.
Fans started to chant "HEINICKE"pic.twitter.com/aiROVi8V2O
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 1, 2023
More “HEIN-I-CKE!” chants at FedEx Field. pic.twitter.com/qTsAuyAF2u
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) January 1, 2023
You can hear the Heinicke chants here, and keep in mind there’s glass windows here too: pic.twitter.com/hhYtvRY71K
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) January 1, 2023
More Heinicke chants but Commanders players do the "quiet" arm motion thing as Jonathan Allen is down with an injury. The vibes at this stadium are…….. very off right now
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) January 1, 2023
The plan was for Wentz to remain at quarterback for the rest of the season, and Rivera appeared committed to that plan as Wentz stayed in the game and scored a touchdown on a 21-play drive.
Still, fans had plenty of thoughts about Wentz’s early struggles.