By Zachary McMahon-
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Washington Commanders in a NFC Wild Card matchup on Sunday night. The Bucs came in at the no. 3 seed after winning the NFC South with their victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 18. The Commanders came in at 12-5, with the no. 6 seed, and in second place in the NFC East below the Philadelphia Eagles.
This was their fourth playoff matchup between the teams dating back to 2000, where the Bucs won against Washington in the NFC Divisional Round, 14-13.
The last time Washington won a playoff game before Sunday night, was in the 2005 NFC Wild Card against the Bucs. Then, in 2020, Washington D.C., was where Tom Brady got his first postseason victory as a Bucs QB en route to his sixth Super Bowl victory against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The 2020 game is most remembered by the performance of Washington QB Taylor Heinicke, who was starting for Alex Smith, while he was out with an injury.
To put that into perspective, the QBs were Brad Johnson and Mark Brunell, Sean Taylor was still on Washington, and Washington rookie QB Jayden Daniels had turned five years old just weeks earlier, and Bucs rookie running back Bucky Irving was three years old.
Anyways, the game was tied at 10 at halftime and Daniels and Baker Mayfield each had passing touchdowns for their respective teams.
The Bucs took their first lead since the first quarter, when Mayfield had a four-yard pass to Irving to take a 17-13 lead.
Washington took it back when Daniels threw another touchdown to Terry McLaurin, playing in just his second career postseason game (both against the Bucs).
Chase McLaughlin tied it back up at 20 with 4:41 left in regulation. The Commanders took all 4:41 left of the game, and then Zane Gonzalez kicked a walk-off field goal to give Washington to their first victory in exactly 6,945 days, as they won 23-20 over the NFC South winners.
Mayfield went 15-for-18 with 185 passing yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, which earned him a 146.5 passer rating, which is the highest rating in postseason franchise history, and the ninth-highest mark by a quarterback since 2000.
Mayfield’s first half touchdown pass was to Mike Evans, who tied former running back Leonard Fournette for second-most touchdowns from scrimmage in franchise postseason history with six. Evans led the team in receiving yards with 92 yards.
Irving rushed for 77 yards, which is the new-single game rushing high for a rookie running back in Bucs history, which was previously held by Warrick Dunn, who rushed for 72 yards in 1997 against the Detroit Lions.
Daniels led the game in passing yards with 268 yards with two passing touchdowns. McLaurin and Dyami Brown both led Washington in receiving yards. Brown has his most receiving yards in a game since his 105-yarder against the Tennessee Titans in 2022. McLaurin and Brown are the fifth receiving duo to have 85+ receiving yards in the same game in Washington franchise history.
Washington tight end Zach Ertz had two receptions, which helped him get his 38th career postseason reception, which passes former Washington tight end Frank Wycheck for 14th most receptions by a tight end in postseason history.
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