Indianapolis Colts Media Conference

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Taylor Heinicke

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Commanders 17, Colts 16

Q. Talk about Terry playing in front of the home crown.

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Yeah, he continues to make plays. Very blessed that he's on our team. I can't say enough good things about Terry. Not just on the field, off the field stuff. Man, he brings the people in the locker room together. He carries himself in a very professional way. People want to fight for him. To see him fight for everyone else, too, it speaks volumes. The guys is a treasure. Very happy he's on our team, and I'll continue to give him shots. We need him.

Q. What was your read on that pass?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: So Terry was actually kind of a decoy on that, based on the coverage that we got. We're really trying to pry a hole open for the No. 2 guy. I wasn't comfortable throwing to No. 2. I just couldn't see clearly. He might have been open, maybe not, I don't know, and then it turned into a scramble drill. Before I got out of the pocket I kind of saw that the pocket was very clean, so I kind of stood back there and let the receivers do their thing, kind of get open. I looked back left and I see Terry behind Gilmore, and I said, hey, let's give this guy another shot, and he continues to make the plays.

Again, Terry is that dude. He's got that dog in him. Again, I'm going to continue to give him opportunities to make big plays.

Q. How did you kind of gather yourself after that interception and then go on to finish?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Yeah, you know what, the defense played a great game. They held them down there in the red zone multiple times, whether it's a field goal or turnovers, and they kept us in the game. After that interception, I think it was a 10-point game and Rivera came to me and said we're not going to score 10 points in one play. Either we need to get a field goal or a touchdown this drive, either one is fine, and just make sure you're completing the ball and moving the ball. I think that really calmed people down. We executed when we needed to.

Again, I'm very proud of the guys. They played hard, and it was a full team effort.

Q. Did he get a piece of your arm on the interception?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Yeah, he did.

Q. What was the difference on that last drive that you were able to move the ball?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: You know, when you're in that situation, the defense plays very soft, they're not trying to give up big chunk plays, so you know you can kind of check the ball down and get bit by bit, but then there's times where you kind of need to get a big play, and Cam Sims made that big play today, big deep route right there at midfield, great catch and got down.

You kind of go back to when I played in college. We were a two-minute offense the whole time. So I'm very comfortable with that type of pace of play.

Again, offensive line did a great job of just giving me time to work.

Q. With Terry, early in the season he would never say this because he's not a diva, but you could sense he wanted to be more involved in the offense. Did you have that in the back of your mind that you sensed he was itching for more action?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: I don't think about it too much because then maybe sometimes I force him the ball, but I do know when the opportunity is there and the coverage is right for him to get the ball and to get the chance, I give him that chance, because again, he continues to make the plays.

Q. How was he today after -- last week he was flying pretty high.

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Oh, yeah. I would say his energy was right up there again this week. It's very fun to see, because again, you know Terry is very conservative, very quiet, but when he's making big plays, you can see the character in him come out. It's really cool to see.

Q. These last two weeks, is that building your confidence in what you're doing?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Yeah, you know, every time you get out there, it's an opportunity to go play. It's just more experience. The more reps you get, the more experience you get, the more comfortable you get.

That's not to say I'm very comfortable with where I'm at right now. There's a lot to improve on. But the reps, the more reps you get, the more comfortable you get.

Again, hopefully we can build on this and go beat Minnesota.

Q. Their stats analyze everything, offense, defense, whatever. Resiliency is not one of those things that can be quantified easily. How do you quantify that? It seems like people are not afraid to think that you and Terry are going to come after these guys.

TAYLOR HEINICKE: Yeah, I think it's the intangible things that really keep this team together. A lot of the wins aren't pretty, but it's a win nonetheless.

The guys have a lot of heart. They keep battling. If we're down two scores, we're going to keep battling. That's just our team. We're just a bunch of guys out there working hard and trying to play our best ball, and we don't give up on each other.

I love this team. It's my favorite team I've been on, favorite locker room I've been with, and I can't say enough good things about all the guys in there.

Q. What's basically your favorite or at least things that stand out to you?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: There's some teams here and there that there's quarterbacks talk to each other. Running backs talk to each other. You go in, you see it. You go in our locker room, everyone is hanging out, whether it's a offensive lineman with a DB or quarterback with a linebacker. Everyone gets along. We all have fun.

We all work hard together. We all live together. We all do everything together.

I think that goes a long way. You see it out in the field. We keep battling for each other. There's some intangible things on our team that keep us going.

Q. How does that happen? Does that come from Ron or just the guys?

TAYLOR HEINICKE: I think a lot of it has to do with Ron. I felt the same way when I was in Carolina. It was a very fun locker room, people battled for each other. There's a combination of that and the guys on the team. We have a great group of guys, guys that just want to work hard and play ball, and that's all you can ask for.

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126617-1-1002 2022-10-31 01:04:00 GMT

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