Alex Smith Inactive vs. Bucs with Calf Injury; Taylor Heinicke to Start for WFT

Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith will miss Saturday's NFL playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Taylor Heinicke will start instead.

Washington originally listed Smith as questionable, with a calf problem limiting him in practice Wednesday and Thursday.

Smith, 36, has had a remarkable year in one sense and a difficult one in another. The fact that he returned to football at all after suffering a devastating and ultimately life-threatening leg injury in 2018 is a minor miracle. 

Not only that, but Smith ascended to the starting role after Dwayne Haskins' struggles—and release in late December—and Kyle Allen's season-ending ankle injury.

But Smith has dealt with injury issues of his own, with a calf problem costing him two games later in the season. And while Washington has gone 5-1 in his starts, his actual regular-season stats (1,582 passing yards, six touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 66.7 completion percentage) have hardly been spectacular.

That Smith has been the best option for Washington for much of this season is simultaneously an incredible achievement by the veteran and an indictment of Washington's roster-building in general, particularly the decision to use a first-round pick on Haskins in 2019.  

Ron Rivera and the WFT will assuredly address the quarterback position in some fashion this offseason, either via the draft or free agency. In the interim, however, the team will be down to Heinicke with its postseason future resting in the balance.