The Washington Football Team (7-9) put up a hard fight as they took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) at FedEx Stadium in Landover, Maryland, late Saturday night. Leading the NFC East division, Washington was looking to win their first playoff game since 2006 but failed as the Buccaneers held the lead the whole game, resulting in a 31-23 victory.
All eyes were on Tom Brady to lead the team to a triumph as it was his first season and playoff game for the Buccaneers. He did so in style, and along with a successful game, Brady became the oldest player to throw a postseason touchdown pass at 43 years and 159 days old. It is clear being on a new team does not affect Brady, as he led the team with 22/40 completed passes, 381 passing yards, and 2 touchdown passes.
Others that stood out for the Buccaneers were Leonord Fournette, Mike Evans, and Cameron Brate. Fournette managed 93 rushing yards and a touchdown, Evans with 119 receiving yards, and Brate right behind Evans with 80 receiving yards. The team as a whole gained a total of 507 yards as opposed to Washington’s 375.
Brady also took the time to comment on Fournette and Evans performances, stating, “they both played great, we needed them to play great, and they made a bunch of big plays when we needed them to…”
Although Washington didn’t get the result they were hoping for; they didn’t go down easy. Taylor Heinicke (quarterback) was able to throw 26/44 passes and earned himself 306 yards. Heinicke also came up on top for his team as he had the most rushing yards at 46. Cam Sims dominated on the receiving end, getting 104 yards.
Despite a loss, Ron Rivera, Washington’s head coach, had some words of encouragement to his team after the game, commenting, “The last stretch that we went through kind of showed us what we can become.” He went on to say, “I told the guys, ‘We’re headed up, we’re on the way up.’”
