While Justin Herbert recovers and the Chiefs game looms, Taylor Heinicke wins over the Chargers

Taylor Heinicke shouldn't be in the spotlight like this. The backup quarterback stood in front of his locker full of freshly laundered sweatshirts and spoke to a group of reporters when concerns about starter Justin Herbert's ankle began to emerge. After the group had disbanded, Heinicke was able to devote himself again to his main task.

Heinicke sat down and pulled a tablet onto his lap. The feature film was already on the screen.

Even in a state of uncertainty due to Herbert's ankle injury, the Chargers' quarterback room remains calm, anchored by the backups whose job it is to stay in the shadows yet be ready to take center stage.

Heinicke and Easton Stick are under no illusions that they can drive the ball like Herbert, but the quarterback trio's skills overlap in one key area.

“The most important thing in this room,” Herbert said, “is that everyone wants to win.”

The star quarterback could still play on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs (1:25 p.m. PDT) at SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers (2-1) hope to end a five-game losing streak against their AFC West rival.

Herbert played with almost no practice time against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week and still managed 125 passing yards and a touchdown before re-injuring his ankle in the third quarter.

While Herbert hobbled to the sideline and fell to the ground next to the coaches as he left the field, Heinicke calmly trudged on. Unimpressed, the NFL journeyman called it: “The same as always in my entire career.”

Since going undrafted in 2015 after a record-setting career at Old Dominion, Heinicke has served primarily as a backup during a seven-team NFL tour. He became a national name in 2020 when he graduated from college on his sister's couch and led Washington in a playoff game.

However, after fans chanting his name fell silent, Heinicke was in Atlanta this offseason hoping to help starter Kirk Cousins ​​and first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr. as best he could.

A few hours after Heinicke was added to the initial 53-man roster, he was traded to the Chargers and took over his role alongside Stick.

“At the end of the day, me and Taylor are here to support Justin, and that's our main job,” said Stick, who started four games for the Chargers last season, “and then to be able to be prepared and go out and execute, when we are.” called.”

Read more:Even though he has an off week ahead of him, Justin Herbert is determined not to miss the Chargers Chiefs

Although Stick lost his No. 2 spot after a shaky preseason that led the Chargers to trade for Heinicke, there was no tension in the quarterback room, he said. The former North Dakota State star learned from Herbert and Heinicke's experiences playing more than 100 NFL games.

Stick hopes to provide at least one or two nuggets per week at meetings or games. The group's teamwork was “unimaginable,” said offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

After Heinicke started the game against the Steelers, the quarterbacks remained in constant communication about what they saw on the field and from the sideline tablets. Heinicke completed both pass attempts for 24 yards, including an 18-yard strike over the middle to Ladd McConkey on third-and-2 in the fourth quarter.

“Taylor is a baller,” running back JK Dobbins said.

Used to learning playbooks quickly after bouncing around the league, Heinicke was forced to work overtime after being traded to the Chargers on August 28. Not knowing when the team might need him, Heinicke buried his head in the playbooks, learning a system that he said was the most complex he's ever learned.

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But like Herbert, who majored in general studies at Oregon, Heinicke is willing to learn. He studied engineering at Old Dominion before switching his major to mathematics.

Reading a Roman play call so long that quarterbacks have to wear armbands doesn't seem so difficult after he unravels the differential equations.

“That's what I think has allowed Taylor to stay in the league as long as he has, because he's so intellectual,” said former Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder. “He can still function at a pretty high level without this insane amount of work.”

Since the starting quarterbacks get almost all of their reps during practice each week, the backup players must subsist primarily on scout team reps and studying film.

Only the smartest quarterbacks – or those with extreme athleticism – can be prepared to play in a game without any practice, as backups must, Wilder said. Otherwise, “playing with an unknown receiver set looks like a really bad fire drill.”

After spending three solid weeks learning the offense, Heinicke said developing chemistry with his offensive teammates is “the next step in the process.” He's already mimicking Herbert's communication habits while showing off and switching plays at the line of scrimmage.

“You wouldn’t think it would make that much of a difference,” center Bradley Bozeman said, “but for us it’s huge.”

But there are things Heinicke can't emulate about Herbert. The 6-foot-6 Herbert can fly the ball 80 yards in the air. He admits that the 1.90 meter tall and 100 kilogram Heinicke simply can't do it. He and Stick play to their strengths on the court by using their checkdowns and extending plays with their legs.

Heinicke is still Old Dominion's all-time leader in nearly every major passing category and has shown how effective a well-prepared game plan can be.

Read more:Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs: How to watch the game, predictions and betting odds

“He’s not what you spit out of a computer and say he’s my perfect NFL quarterback,” Wilder said. “He’s not Justin Herbert. He doesn't have the size, he doesn't have the arm strength, he's not that guy. His team mentality makes him a very elite backup player. I just want to help my team and their proven ability to go into a game and win.”

Both of the Chargers' backup quarterbacks are proven winners.

Stick is the winningest Football Championship Subdivision quarterback in history with a 49-3 record as a starter at North Dakota State and four FCS national championships.

Heinicke posted a 31-14 record and helped Old Dominion – which was only two years old as a football program at the time – gain entry into the Colonial Athletic Assn. and moved from Heinicke to Conference USA last year.

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Heinicke didn't expect Herbert to know him when he joined the team in August, but Herbert remembered his new teammate from 2021 when Heinicke, then with the Washington Football Team, attended a game against the Chargers.

Heinicke remembers this game as the moment his career took a turn for the better, as he was able to showcase his ability as a starter for most of the season.

Never far from that starting chance again, Heinicke isn't anxious to show what he can do when Herbert sits.

“I don’t feel the pressure of having to prove (something) to other teams,” said Heinicke. “I feel the pressure to win.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.