Bald Guys On The Bench
Bald Guys On The Bench
Special Guest: Taylor Heinicke
December 15th, 2025
Beer cracked, mics hot, and Taylor Heinicke is here for the hang you didn’t know you needed. We go deep on the two obsessions fueling his off‑field life—dialing a golf swing toward consistency and staying mentally sharp enough to enter an NFL game at a moment’s notice. Taylor opens up about finishing his degree at ODU, planning a wedding, and settling in Virginia Beach, then takes us inside the lessons that turned him from casual weekend rounds to a bona fide golf junkie. From wrist hinge fixes to shallowing the club and trusting an inside‑out path, he explains why short game is the real separator once you hit a six handicap.
We rewind the tape on some of his best football memories: that electric Monday night win in Philadelphia, go balls to Terry McLaurin, clutch throws in Indy, and the reality of learning a new system on the fly in Los Angeles. The stories are equal parts grit and humor—yes, the bush light fine happened, yes, TJ Watt made his helmet a meme, and yes, Micah Parsons hit like a different species. Taylor breaks down mental reps on the sideline, how to process protections and reads in real time, and why staying engaged without getting tense is the secret to being ready. Coaches, players, and sports parents will love his clean, practical framework for preparation.
Golf fans get the good stuff too. We trade notes on YouTube golf—Bob Does Sports, Good Good, Grant Horvat, and the Bryan Bros. We compare the feel of Ryder Cup and F1 in person versus the clarity of TV, then gush about Augusta’s magic that somehow exceeds the hype. It’s a warm, fast-moving conversation about competition, craft, and keeping joy at the center of it all.
If you vibed with this one, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves football and golf, and drop a review telling us your favorite Taylor Heinicke moment or your go-to swing thought.
Welcome to another episode of the Bald Guys on the Bench podcast with your hosts Graham Cohen and Scott Wasco.
Scott:What's up everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Bald Guys on the Bench. We got a fun evening planned for you. We got former NFL quarterback Taylor Heineke on the show.
Taylor Heinicke:And current kind of let's go.
Graham:TH4 baby. Hey, we got a tradition. Let's this is how we start. Let's grab one and crack one, brother.
Scott:Let's do it. Dude, Taylor. Cheers. Two and a half years we've been doing this show, and I finally had the balls to ask you why. I don't know. I mean, yeah. I don't know. I mentioned it to you one time, and you were like, whenever you want, dude. But what's up? What's going on? What are you doing?
Taylor Heinicke:Right now I'm at home just training a little bit. Um, we got a lot of time on my hands. Um, I did finish my last class at ODU. Let's go. Officially a graduate. Um, nice, nice. Don't have to tell people I'm a 30-year, 30-year-old dropout anymore, so that's nice.
Scott:Yeah.
Taylor Heinicke:Um, I think it worked out for you okay, though. Yeah. I've been getting a lot of golfing, man. Um, you know, obviously I've I've golfed with you a good amount of times, and as you can probably remember, my my back swing and was very shallow. Yeah. And then I was very steep coming down. Had that high right going. Yeah. So I've been getting some lessons from a guy in Virginia Beach. I I really like them, but it's kind of tough when you do it online because you don't get that instant feedback. It's hard. So the back swing looks a lot better now. I got the wrist hinge, more vertical. Now I'm working on getting it shallow and coming inside out, and that's where I'm at right now, but it's tough.
Scott:All right. So what else is going on? I know you got a little wedding planning going on, or is that in her department? Yep, yeah. That's her department.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. Smart man. But yeah. We got engaged in June. Getting married next June, June 2026. Okay. So it's an exciting time. And then um, we actually just closed on a house in Virginia Beach. What? Yeah, gonna be moving up there in the next five months, hopefully. Are you going to Bayville? I've already put my name in, man. Are you in or are you on the waiting list? I'm pretty sure I'm on like the six-year waiting list, so I don't know who's uh who I need to rub elbows with, but yeah. Jeez. Come on, Scotty.
Graham:Well, I gotta pull some strings for the game.
Scott:I'll call a couple people, but Bayville's Bayville, dude. Yeah. It's sick. So just backstory, you know, I met you in 2021 when Wilder brought you out. I'll never forget that he comes in my office and he goes, Hey, I got this guy coming in this afternoon. He wants to hit some balls. Can you look at his swing? And I'm like, Who, dude? And he's like, you know, Taylor, the Redskins quarterback. And I'm like, oh, okay, yeah, I'll look at it. And you know, I was in California when you were doing your thing at ODU, so I've I never got to see you even play a college game. You know, my dad's like, dude, this kid's throwing for 700 yards and five touchdowns a game. And I'm like, what the shit? You know, then, you know, you're playing against Brady in the wild card game. What's that COVID year? And then coach brings you out, and I'm like, all right. I'm like, this guy, he's strong. He's pounds the shit out of the ball. And you know, it was cool. I could tell you were a good dude right away. I met you twice and he sent that video for my son's flag football team. I don't know if you even remember that. And dude, then you're throwing the ball with him on the putting green at Greenbrier after the tech game, and he drops the first one, and I got the video, and he's like, Dad, you gotta edit that out. So pissed, dude. So pissed. And I was like, I'm gonna tell Taylor that uh that you made me edit that out. And he goes, No, don't do it. And I'm like, dude, you dropped a perfect pass from an NFL quarterback, not me. So, you know, just wanted to have you on. Show the world what a good dude you are. I mean, everybody knows that for that. But uh, more importantly, taught golf. And what made you because you you got became a golf nerd pretty quick. Yeah. Who got you? Was coach did coach get you into it? Like, did you play in high school or no man?
Taylor Heinicke:I've I I could probably count on one hand how many times I played from high school through college. Wow. I always enjoyed it as an excuse to go out and hang out with the boys, drink beer, see a ball fly through the air. It's pretty cool, but I remember getting the bug my rookie year when I was in Minnesota. Um, I don't know if you remember a guy named Terrence Newman. Yep. He was like a 15-year vet, yeah, old dude, and he wanted to golf every day. And he was just trying to find someone to go with him. And uh so he just asked me, he's like, hey man, you golf? I'm like, not really, but I'd like to. He's like, come on out. So during OTAs, I think we went out, probably went out and played three or four rounds a week. Like after practice, just go out there and play. Ever since then, man, I've had the bug and I haven't gotten much better. But you know, I call bullshit on that, but he's gotten better. I was I've gotten better, but I I've got down to a like a six handicap. What? Within the last year. But it's Are you in the gen system? Do I need to confirm this? Yeah, come on out. But I'm at like a six, six, seven right now, in between there. But again, it's like that's the that's that point where you're like, you feel like you're not consistent enough. It's hard. But you can still score okay. So I'm just trying to figure that out, man. I just want to be able to know, like, all right, my miss is gonna be a baby fade or a baby draw. Like, but right now it's like fuck that I don't know where my misses. Like it's left and right.
Scott:I'm just working on this new swing. And you know, when you get down like to a six, the hardest thing, how you get better is short game. It's all short game, dude. We're gonna miss shots, you're gonna miss greens. You gotta get up and down. Yeah. You know, as we're talking of golf, I'll never forget the day on the back of the range at Greenbrier when me, you, and coach, and I forget who else was back there, and you literally pounded it over the other side of the range and Volvo, and coach is like, Yeah, we're not hitting that club anymore. I'm like, oh my god, he just killed somebody. Yeah, dude. Are you in Atlanta right now? Yeah, I'm down in Atlanta. Okay, yeah. All right. Where are you playing most of your golf down there?
Taylor Heinicke:There's like four courses around here I know I kind of know like the general managers of, so they kind of look out for me. And so, but I would say mostly it's a place called Chateau Alan. It's kind of like a resort.
Scott:Okay.
Taylor Heinicke:Uh they got two public courses, one private. But now I go there three times a week and just see if I can get that handicap down. I love it.
Graham:Yeah. Since you don't get to play a lot of golf, do you watch a lot of golf or do you have guys that you like to watch specifically?
Taylor Heinicke:I watch a ton of golf, and uh my fiancee hates it. Um especially like during this time too when there's not much golf going on. I'm on YouTube watching YouTube golf like daily. Um, so she's not too fond of that. But yeah, I mean, I I love watching it. I like just seeing how good these guys are, you know. You don't really notice how good they are until you have that itch to try and become good, and you just see the what these guys are doing and the conditions that they're playing in. It's uh it's pretty wild.
Scott:So you mentioned YouTube golf. Are you a fan of this good good stuff and Bob does sports and all that? Bob does sports is my favorite. Is it? Okay. He's a Virginia guy, I think.
Taylor Heinicke:Fat Prez is a Virginia guy.
Scott:That's who it is.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. But I love watching them because it kind of reminds me of when I go out with my buddies. Exactly. It's you know, we're not that good, we're having to try and have a good time. I do enjoy watching good good because those guys are they're pretty decent, pretty good, you know, pretty good golfers, and they do a lot of fun different games that they do. But I would say my favorite is like the Grant Horvath and uh the Brian Bros. Yeah, I love the Brian Bros. Those guys are solid golfers, too. I mean, it's yeah solid. Like I if if I could emulate one swing, it would be George Bryan. I think he's just got a sweet, consistent swing.
Scott:That is his solid swing.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. So like I've been trying to do some of his stuff. Come on, dude.
Scott:You gotta you gotta go Cam Young. Cam Young's got the best in the business, dude.
Taylor Heinicke:He's my favorite right now. He's my favorite golfer right now.
Graham:Oh dude, he pounds it. I saw him at uh Beth Page for the Ryder Club, and just watching him, I'm like, wow.
Scott:Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, Graham went up to Beth Page and watched that ass kicking.
Graham:It was depressing to say the least. At least on Sunday, they gave you a little something, you know, that was like all right. Yeah, they did. You know, the the one thing about it is I went with one of my best friends, and you know, we got tickets for all three of the days, and we also got tickets for the practice round, and you know, we were there the whole time. And a lot of people don't realize like when you go to golf events, especially something of that magnitude, and even like majors, there's not a lot of places on the course that you can see the action going on. Like you can only see what's going on if you're there following each player. So, like the first day, we were like, all right, these are this is the group we want to follow in the first round of matches, and then the afternoon we picked a group, and then by the second day, it was just like, all right, instead of following all these people and being behind a thousand people, let's pick a spot. Went to like 12 green, sat in the grandstand, and we just watched all the groups come through, and you still would have the TV monitors up there, so we could still watch the event and do that. And it's just like it's a whole different feel from being there when you're watching it on TV. And that's a lot of things that people just don't understand.
Scott:Not only that, but it's the Ryder Cup. There's only four groups on the course. Yeah, that's what sucks. It ain't like you're at Augusta when you can just post up on whatever hole and watch the whole field come through. Yeah.
Taylor Heinicke:And I said this before I went to the US Open when it was at Pinehurst, what, two, two, three years ago? And again, it's a cool experience, but you're not getting to watch what you want to see. So, like I'd much rather just yeah, I'd much rather just watch it on TV and then go to those courses and try and play it, you know.
Scott:Exactly.
Graham:So it's not like the Masters, where you know there's no TVs, but hearing the roars. Have you been to the Masters before?
Taylor Heinicke:Been there once, but it was during the COVID year where they only let 30% people out. Oh, that's not the same. There's pros to that because I actually got to get closer with to a lot of stuff. Yeah. But also you don't get that energy that you know you've you've probably witnessed.
Scott:Dude, okay, here's the deal. You still pay an agent, I'm sure. Hit your agent up, get Thursday, Friday tickets for Augusta this year. I'll meet you down there. Let's go. I mean, dude, it's it's Augusta's insane with the people and the rewards. It is unbelievable. You walk in the gate and it's like, where the hell am I? Dude, how I mean, everybody gives you the hype, and you're like, Yeah, it ain't gonna be that good. It ain't gonna be that good. And you walk in and you're like, holy shit, it's fucking better.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah.
Scott:I mean, even the walk in when the little dudes are by the range, welcome to a welcome to the masters. And you're like, what the fuck is going on here? It's so silly.
Graham:My first time, uh, one of my buddies, I used to caddy at a private club outside of New York City called Manhattan Woods. And one of the guys that I worked with, he came up for the summertime. He's like, Yeah, this is my wintertime job. I'm like, Wintertime? I'm like, this is June. I'm like, what's your off-season job? He's like, I caddy at Augusta. And I was like, wait, come again? What? He's like, Yeah, yeah. He's like, I've been there for 20 years. And I was like, uh, I'm Graham. I'm gonna be a good best friend here, anything you need. Uh, long story short, he's like, hey man, if you ever want to come down, he's like, I'll see if I can talk to some members and get some tickets. And I was like, all right, cool. And what the first time he did, I got tickets and we went down there. And the thing for me was when you get in there and you you walk by the merchandise tent, and then you walk by the big scoreboard on the right-hand side, right before we're one tea box is like we walked out there and it was a practice round, but to go to the fairway and feel the grass, it looks like turf. It looks fake. Yeah, but then when you touch it, you're like, oh no, baby, this is real. You're just mesmerized by the whole beauty of the place and just walking around. And you know, it's just I I tell everyone if you're a golf fan and you have the opportunity, you have to go. It's a place that you just you can't explain it. And you know, the crowd roars and everything. I mean, I remember, I mean, I met Scott there one time, like we got separated and was just like, hey, meet me at this place at this time, and hopefully it works out. And sure as shit, like it between the thousands of people, I was just like, hey, I found him. Granted, he was wearing the brightest orange shirt or pink. Oh, it was pink. It was pink.
Scott:I did it on purpose because I had my chair right behind 18, so everybody at my club could see it.
Graham:It was perfect. So, for how we do the podcast, we normally do it on Sunday nights or Monday nights. It all just depends upon are his Chargers playing or are my Steelers playing. If they're playing on that Sunday or Monday night, we do it the opposite. Now, granted, I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Chargers as well. I lived in LA for about 10 years. I was a season ticket holder for those first four years at SoFi, mainly because the Steelers played the first year there. Uh, it was like week 14. And to get tickets to the game, as you know, Pittsburgh is one of those teams, like they travel the best. I mean, that first year at SoFi, tickets in the top 500 section before the season started were like 500 bucks a piece. Yeah. So Scott, being a season ticket holder at Qualcomm was just like, hey, why don't we look at season tickets and then we'll just sell off the games, we'll go to this one and we'll figure it out. I'm like, done, let's do it. So I bought season tickets, he came out for the game, I sold the home opener because it was against Dallas. Praise the Lord for that one. Um, but you know, ever since then it was just so fun going to the games, and I was just like, you know what? My two seats in the 400 section were $1,500. Yeah. Like, for eight, nine games, like, why not go? Yeah. Like, I'll just call up a buddy and be like, hey, tickets already paid for, just buy my beers. Yes, they're $20 a piece, whatever. So it was a lot of fun going those last couple years or so five. But my point to bring that up is this when we do the podcast, we talk about what's been going on in sports, especially like with football going on, but a lot of the aspect of it is we're doing live commentary, not commentary, but just like we'll make comments about what's going on live during the games. And thinking back up on it, one of our top three, top five episodes was actually the game that you played in when you beat what was it, the Eagles. Was it the Eagles? The Eagles on Monday night, yeah. The episode was going great already, but just the fact of what you did in that game, just like I mean, our excitement level was just like we were bouncing off the walls right now. It was amazing.
Taylor Heinicke:It was sick. Yeah, that was a fun game. It's funny because it was such a good game for like just our whole team, but the one play that stands out was when I just gave myself up, took a knee, and Brandon Graham hit me. And he would have thought I won the Super Bowl. Yeah. I got so much flack for that, and I'm like, dude, I was just out of the league two years ago, man. You guys are undefeated. It's funny night. You your fans suck. Like, this is great. I don't give a damn.
Scott:Thanks for the 15 yards. Appreciate it.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah.
Scott:Yeah. But that was a great night. Uh I bet that was a fun flight home.
Taylor Heinicke:It was a great flight home. And then but I got fined. Oh shit.
Scott:Is that the one you got fined for the trash?
Taylor Heinicke:That was the one I got fined for, yeah. Because I had all those bushlights. Oh. Shout out bushlights. Did they cover your fine? No, I asked Chase Young to cover my fine because he was the reason I got fined. He's the one that posted the photo. He's like, he's like, yeah, I got you, man. No worries.
Scott:I got you. No.
Taylor Heinicke:I played for free that week.
Scott:But you got some sick Jordans, green and white, or black. Green and white Jordans. There you go.
Graham:I remember that when you posted those. Those were sick.
Taylor Heinicke:Got a pushlight deal for a year. So, you know, it kind of paid off.
Scott:So talking about episodes and when we're live, my favorite episode and was we were wrapping up an episode. And I never do this in my bedroom, but I normally do it in the living room because we do it late. But obviously, wife, kids, their girlfriend, boyfriends are here tonight, and I'm like, shit, I gotta go in the bedroom. We're wrapping up the night you got traded to the Falcons. Or traded to the Chargers. And I was like through the wall. Couldn't get off this episode fast enough to go tell Kellen. And Kellen's like, what the fuck? And I'm like, dude, you're 12. You can't say that. I'm like, but you can say it. It's all good. It was sick. Uh I know I remember you saying that you were literally watching the Harbaugh thing on Netflix when the trader came down. That's pretty wild. Yeah.
Taylor Heinicke:It was crazy. Yeah, I mean. At a later date, I'll I'll tell y'all that story. But yeah, I was sitting here with Val. We were watching the Harbaugh Netflix documentary, and sure enough, and I get a call from Raheem, like, hey man, we just trade you the Chargers. I'm like, what are the chances? You know, I'm watching this, you know. But uh LA's cool, man. Beautiful weather, awesome food. I don't like the taxes, but yeah, that's why I moved home. Yeah. Like, how do you even build a life out there?
Scott:Dude, that's one again. Once again, that's why I'm back here in Virginia.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah.
Scott:So I'm sure you got to play some golf out there. What uh what was your favorite course you played?
Taylor Heinicke:I only got to play a couple courses. Um so I played Los Angeles National. Okay. Um, which is a public course, but it was it's a it's a fun little course. It's like in that little basin of mountains, so it's it's really neat, always in good shape. So I like that place, and then uh played Trump National a handful of times, which is probably one of the hardest courses I ever played.
Scott:Brutal, dude.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah.
Scott:Do you know the history of that place? No. Before Trump bought it, I forget what it was called, but like three of the holes fell into the ocean. And Trump bought it and redid it. God damn it, I wish I remembered the name of it. And dude, I went and played. I'm like, yeah, I'm playing. This is a one and done, I'm out. This is stupid. Yeah, it's hard as shit.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. Like, it's it's tough. But like it's it's one of those courses where you're like, you shoot a hundred and you're still like, this is sick. Like, you know, I had a lot of fun. That was one, and then I uh went down to the um Orange County and played Monarch something. Monarch Beach. Monarch Beach. Cool cool, which is a yeah, cool, fun, yeah, fun track. Easy. I mean nothing, nothing special, but it was fun.
Scott:They market like they're on the ocean, and every hole you get to see the ocean, and then it's like you play it's like number three or four or whatever. And it's like, oh, where'd the ocean go? Oh, yeah, it's a way the hell over there. Appreciate it. Thanks for your four hundred dollar green fee to see the ocean twice.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. Those are the three. Um I did just go on a golf trip to Vegas with one of my buddies, and we got to play um what's it called, Wolf Creek. Oh. Which was Mesquite, right? Way out there. Yeah. Sick. That's kind of like a Trump course, too, where it's like this is beautiful, this is sweet, crazy. But I'm playing it once every five years. Yeah. You know. Like that was. Where else did you play? We put it Paiute.
Scott:Paiute? I love that play. Did you play the Wolf course? Played the Wolf course. Dude, how good is that finish?
Taylor Heinicke:Awesome.
Scott:That awesome. That par three that's like 190 yards and it's an island green. You're like, whoa, wait, what? It's 190 yards? Appreciate it.
Taylor Heinicke:Yep. I actually had the best like front nine ever. I had like three birdies and four holes. Um, and ended up shooting like an 81. But was it you know? Was it howling? We were lucky it wasn't. Because I've heard it you it's usually really bad out there.
Scott:Yes.
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah.
Scott:When I was in Southern California, one of my buddies, he was friends with the general manager of that place, and we would cruise out there. Remember, we're three and a half, four hours away drive. We would cruise out there once a month and just play golf and play. I've played a hundred rounds at Pyute, all three of them. Sick place. Yeah. Sick play. Paiute's awesome. Yeah.
Taylor Heinicke:Yep. And then but uh the last day we got to play uh TPC Vegas, which is another fun track. Yep. And then um, but we were there for the the F1 race, so then we got to go to the F1 race after it was it was a great weekend, man. How was that? F1. I would say it's kind of similar to what you said about the Masters, right? Like you can only post up in one spot at a race, and in the city like that, you just you get to see this one corner, and it's like That's it. I hate saying this, and it was kind of raining. It was like, I hope someone kind of just like skids out of control. Some act. Can I get something? Yeah. But it was it was cool, man. Those those I I've I've been a F1 fan for about five years now. Um oh wow, and it's it was really cool to go to that.
Scott:It's really neat. Hell yeah. So, quick question. My girl Audrey, that's the merchandiser at Bay Creek. Uh, when you move here, we'll go play over there a hundred times. You've actually signed a couple hats for her. Um she I told her you get to ask Taylor question, and she goes, Can you before you ask the question, can you please let him know that he's my favorite quarterback of all time? And I'm like, Yes, I will let him know that. And she's been a Redskins fan her whole life. She wanted to know what was your favorite touchdown pass as a Redskin and who was your favorite teammate on the Redskins, or sorry, commanders, whatever.
Taylor Heinicke:It'll always be Redskins. Yeah. 100%. Favorite? I'll say that my favorite teammate was Logan Thomas. He was the Virginia Tech Virginia Tech quarterback, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's he's actually gonna be in my wedding. Um, we got to be very close. Nice. Um after every game, I'd usually go to his house and hang out with him and his wife. Like it was at closest with his kids. So he's my favorite teammate. I mean, obviously, it's hard to beat Terry as well. He's one of the best teammates we've ever had. Um, and he bailed me out many times. Um he's bailed a lot of people out.
Graham:Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's pretty good, you know.
Taylor Heinicke:He's awesome. Um but favorite touchdown pass. Uh I mean the playoff game was kind of tough. There was a couple in the playoff game that I was proud of, but at the same time, like there wasn't fans there, so you didn't really get that energy. Sucked. I would say maybe the the first game I started after Fitzpatrick went down, we're playing the Giants on Thursday night.
Scott:And I was at Kelly's in Greenbrier with Coach. Oh boy. Yeah, yeah. I kind of drove home like this.
Taylor Heinicke:But I would say the first touchdown pass in that game to Terry, it was just it was it was really neat. Yeah. Obviously throwing it to Terry Thursday night, everyone's watching. That was my first kind of like start. Um, so I I would I would say that one. That's the one that kind of stands out the most. And then throwing a go ball to Terry against the Packers. You know, I've there was one at home against the Packers, and there was one in Lambo against the Packers. I would put both of those up there too. I grew up with Green Bay fan, so playing at Lambo was awesome. Throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass up there was sweet. And then the next year they come down and I throw a pick six before half, and it's like, oh boy, this is not going well. And then we come out and throw another 50-yard touchdown to Terry on the right side, and that was awesome too. So y'all won that game, right?
Scott:When you right before you threw the pick six, or with the game you yeah, I that's right. Yeah.
Taylor Heinicke:Yep. So that we had a look good little run there. Um, beat Brady, yeah, beat beat Rogers, beat Cam Newton. Um, we had like a four four four or five game winning streak of just beating like legends, you know, Hall of Famers. You know, it was like, this is awesome, dude.
Scott:One of my favorite games you played in was against the Colts. Yeah, wasn't that in Indy? That was in Indy, yeah. That was a sick game.
Taylor Heinicke:That was sick. That was a lot of fun. And that was I'll say that's up there too. That I kind of threw a Hail Mary up there to Terry. He snatches it, and that's his hometown. So he's like, you know, he's all pumped up. Yeah. And there's like 20 seconds left, so like that was that was that was another one up there. Oh, sick. I feel like every game that we won, it was just mayhem, but it was it was a lot of fun. The heart was flowing, was beaten.
Scott:Oh, so my other buddy that's a golf pro, huge sports nerd. I was like, dude, what question do you want me to ask him? And he was like, dude, his son's a relief pitcher in high school. Okay. And he goes, Ask Taylor, what did he do as a backup to prepare himself to be ready to go in at any moment? What can I tell Jake? And I was like, dude, the weirdest thing for me as a Charger fan, like I'm a Charger fan. I was never an NFL fan when I grew up here in Virginia. Okay. I when I went to move to Southern California, I had season tickets and we just went and then we fell in love with them, right? I mean, I have a damn Chargers tattoo from a bet, okay? I'll explain that another time. And 2021, week one, I met you in the spring, and that's when Chargers were playing you guys in Washington, week one. Fitzpatrick goes down, and here comes TH4, and I'm like, God damn it, dude. This sucks. And dude, I remember you come in and the entire crowd is chanting, hi in a key, hi in a key. And I'm like, Kellen and I are so pumped, my dad's pumped, and you throw this, I'll never forget this past to Terry again on the sideline, right? And I'm like clapping, and this dude beside me is like, bro, I don't understand. You got a chargers hat on and a charger shirt. Why are you clapping? I'm like, long story, bro. And it was just like, it was like, God dang it. All right, whatever. Whoever wins wins. Dominate, dominate. And I was just like, I'll ask him about that. Like, because you were, you know, what it was Fitzpatrick and game one. Game one, quarter one.
Taylor Heinicke:First quarter, yeah. Personally, like, I think everyone has different ways of going about it. But for me personally, it was like every rep that you're not playing, treat it as a real rep. So, like, obviously, you're not getting the physical rep, but have the mental rep. So for me, I'm on the sideline to hear the play. I'm like, okay, I'm thinking this, this, that. Okay, I see the defense come out. Maybe it's a different look. I'm like, okay, where's my hot? Like, kind of just trying to play quarterback while not physically playing quarterback in real time. So that way, you know, God forbid someone gets hurt. You're you're not having to like catch up or remember, or you're you were practicing, you just weren't throwing the ball. Um, and I don't know how that would translate to baseball. Yeah. Um, I don't know, like, you know, I played baseball, I was never a pitcher, so I don't know if there's like a certain strategy to it, or if they're looking for things, stuff like that. But personally, for me, obviously have your body warmed up, but mentally just be there, be ready to rock at any moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's not like stress yourself out, but just be like, be in the game. Yeah, you know, and I can imagine as a relief pitcher, it it would be pretty easy just kind of sit back, relax, you know. This isn't my day, whatever. But just be in the game, pay attention to it, but you know, don't don't stress yourself out. Yeah. So that I mean that's the only thing I could say. I mean, I just I just don't know the stuff that goes into baseball or as a pitcher.
Scott:Yeah. So Graham as a Steelers fan, okay, last year.
Announcer:Uh-oh.
Scott:I'm coaching, you know, I coach Kellen's flag team, and it's week whatever three Chargers are at the Steelers, and Herbert got the ankle rolled up right against the Panthers. And I'm out there coaching with Kellen, and all of a sudden, dude, like, I don't want to know what's going on. And my watch, I forgot to set my watch on do not disturb. Herbert goes out, my watch starts blowing up like the fucking world is over. And all of a sudden, you're and I look at it and they're like, Heineken's in the game, and I'm like, oh fuck. Dude, how was that at at Heinz Field? I mean, I gotta ask just because Graham's a Steelers, you know, he waves that stupid whatever. I'm not gonna go into that.
Taylor Heinicke:Hey, hey, hey. Speaking of, they're about to they're about to kick off here. I know that was super stressful. Um one considering it was at Heinz Field against that defense. It's just like, okay, that's one beast. The other beast is I was only uh it was only my second or third week learning the offense. Yeah. And I didn't get any reps with any of those guys. Like the cadence was completely different than anywhere else I've ever been. Protections, concepts, everything. So I was just like, I mean, this is kind of like backyard ball to me. I was like, thank god that they use wristbands because they can just tell me a number and I can read it. And while everyone's getting lined up, I'm just like trying to visualize it. Okay, what do I need to do? And actually, it was going pretty well for like the first five plays. Completed a nice ball to Lad for a first down. We were going a little bit punted, and then the next two drives, TJ Watt decided to just you ever seen that picture of Aaron Rodgers with his helmet like halfway up. He hit me so hard my helmet was like halfway up my face. I'm like, oh my god. I'm that Aaron Rodgers meme right now.
Scott:Oh so as we wrap up, question. What was your welcome to the NFL moment as an NFL quarterback? Who's hit you the hardest? Where you got Michael Parsons. Parsons? Yeah. Okay. Is that that's when we go to Washington?
Taylor Heinicke:Yeah. I mean, I got hit many times really hard before that. Um like my rookie year in preseason. And this is back when you had uh there was four preseason games. Right. Well well, my rookie year, we had the Hall of Fame game too, so it was five preseason games. Oh wow. And this is back when they make cuts after every week. So we're in our fifth preseason game, and there's only 65 guys on the roster. So you're having like people that I had a fullback playing receiver the whole game because we just didn't have any other people. Um God. We had offensive linemen that we just had to keep them there because we didn't want our backups or starters to be playing in the Minnesota? Yeah. Okay. So we're playing Tennessee, and call this play. I take a quick three-step draw from gun, throw like a little five-yard route, and someone from my right hits me uh in the shins, and someone from my left hits me in the back shoulder pad at the same time, and I literally do a like a flip in the air. Do you remember Sean Hill, the quarterback? He was like a 14-year-old vet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was backing up at the time, and he told me before the game, he's like, I swear to God, if you get hurt, like, and I have to go in and play, he's like, You're you're getting fined. So I do a flip. I land, and I'm just looking at the sideline. I'm looking at him, he's like, get the fuck up. Oh man. It is funny, like how someone's you know, when you're when you're in your ninth, tenth year and you're in that last preseason game, you're like, hey rookie, you like, don't you dare come out of the game. Yeah, like this is no, this is your time. But I would say that hit was I was like, oh my god. And then Micah Parsons, I mean, he hit me three, four times, and the three or four times I played him. That was just like, this is he's a different cat.
Scott:Yeah, it sucks he got hurt last night. That blows. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's that's brutal. Dude, once again, I appreciate you coming on. Can't thank you enough. Can't wait to get you in Virginia Beach and try to get some more of that TH4 cash on the golf course.
Taylor Heinicke:When are you moving down? Or up uh well I I bought a model home in this neighborhood, and he still had five lots to sell. Okay. So it was like, okay, we bought the model home, but they still need to use it until they sell the lots. So they were like, once we're done, you can move in. So we we're thinking in between March and April.
Scott:Okay.
Taylor Heinicke:Hell yeah. We have so much stuff going on, so we don't think we're gonna be fully moved in until probably like late July. Okay. After the wedding. Yeah, after the wedding, honeymoon, all that stuff. Um but no, we you we we gotta get into like a group chat or something so I can send y'all my swing videos, y'all can give me some tips. It's not going well right now.
Scott:Dude, send me a video, please. Who are you getting lessons from at the beach?
Taylor Heinicke:Have you ever heard of Bryce Cope?
Scott:Yeah, dude, he's blown up. Yeah, he's done great things for teaching. Yes.
Taylor Heinicke:I mean, I mean, you I'll send you my I'll send you what I sent him today. Okay. My back swing looks so much better. I'm just I I have I'm I it's hard for me to chow that club.
Scott:Dude, you better not be flipping it inside still. I'm not. Okay, good. It looks nice.
Taylor Heinicke:You better not dude. If you already come on, guy.
Scott:I'm trying to do that like Victor Hovlin, like like almost like a little boomerang slap looking thing, but I remember the first time I had you on the range, and I have you stop at the top, right? And I grab your waist and I'm like, this is the feel, and you hit it, and you're like, holy shit. And then you start talking about, dude, this guy I've been working out with. Remember the whole Dak Prescott with the hip thing? You start doing that on the range. You're like, this is exactly that. I'm like, bingo, and you still keep flipping the goddamn club inside. Yeah. But but anyhow, dude, it's been fun. Appreciate you coming on. Can't wait to see you down here. Play some more golf. Send me that swing video. Yeah, Graham, get us out of here, dude.
Graham:Had a complete blast. Thanks for coming on, Scott. It's been an absolute pleasure as always. And as the best homie always says, Boo-ba!
Scott:Good night, friends. Good night, TH4. Thanks for coming on the show. Chase Young, pay my guys' fines, would you? I know you're from Ohio State, and that's hard to do. Happy New Year's, everyone. Hope you all had a good Christmas. Let's go.
Announcer:This episode of the Ball Guys on the Bench Podcast is brought to you by our friends at North Star Credit Union in Southern Auto, located in Southeast Virginia.
