The Washington Football Team will ride into Arlington with one last shot at salvaging their season. And they’ll have their regular gunslinger back for the showdown.
Washington has reactivated quarterback Taylor Heinicke from the Reserve/COVID list, paving the way for him to be under center once again for Sunday night’s rematch against the Cowboys.
The Dallas defense got the better of Heinicke in Week 14, limiting him to 11-of-25 on pass attempts and holding him to just 122 passing yards and one touchdown in a 27-20 Cowboys win. Heinicke was injured during the game on a Neville Gallimore sack (one of five the Cowboys logged); backup Kyle Allen was pressed into duty for most of the fourth quarter.
Heinicke was placed on the team’s COVID list the following Friday. Washington signed former Cowboys backup Garrett Gilbert that same day and started him four days later against Philadelphia.
Gilbert, who had made his first NFL start in the Cowboys’ Week 9 game in 2020 versus Pittsburgh, nearly engineered an improbable win that day with Dak Prescott and Andy Dalton sidelined by injury. He threw for 243 yards and a score as Dallas came up on the short end of a 24-19 final. A late training camp cut in 2021, Gilbert was subsequently signed by New England to their practice squad before joining Washington’s roster on Dec. 17.
Gilbert went 20-of-31 with 194 yards for WFT on Tuesday night, the game having been postponed two days due to COVID absences. Washington lost 27-17 and fell to 6-8 on the season.
The Washington Football Team officially announced the return of QB Taylor Heinicke, LB David Mayo, and TE Temarrick Hemingway. They get their starting QB back.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 23, 2021
Now with Heinicke back, Washington finds themselves in a must-win situation with over a dozen players still on the COVID watchlist, and facing a swarming Cowboys defense that has carried the team on a current three-game win streak. Dallas is tied for most takeaways leaguewide and has both the NFL’s interception leader in cornerback Trevon Diggs and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Micah Parsons, both of whom were just named to the 2022 Pro Bowl.
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