LANDOVER, Md. – New team, the same success in Tom Brady’s playoffs.
Brady pitched for 381 yards and two touchdowns to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers past Washington. 31-23. on his NFC wild-card game Saturday night for his first playoff victory since 2002.
In his 42nd start of the postseason and first without the New England Patriots uniform, Brady made the most of the lack of pressure to divide the NFL’s runner-up defense into 22 out of 40 passes.
He had to beat Taylor Heinicke of Washington, who had a great performance in just his second professional game and first in the playoffs in place of injured starter Alex Smith. Heinicke – hired in early December for the training team – ran for 46 yards and a touchdown and shot for 306 yards and a score.
But that was not enough to overcome Brady’s brilliance.
While Bill Belichick and the Patriots watch from home with their playoff streak broken in 11 after a 7-9 season, Brady has the opportunity to play in another Super Bowl – in his new stadium.
Buccaneers await the result of Chicago in New Orleans on Sunday to see if they will visit Drew Brees and the Saints or perform the Los Angeles Rams next weekend. They would need an upset Bears to play at home in the divisional round.
There is not much of a slowdown for Brady, who at 43 years and 159 days passed George Blanda as the oldest player to launch a TD pass in a playoff game. A 36-yard connection with Antonio Brown was Brady’s longest in the playoffs since 2011.
Brady was methodical in the first half with 12 submissions for 209 yards and was not fired until the final minute of the second quarter.
Heinicke made things interesting in the third, most notably fighting for an 8-yard tank destroyer by diving into the pole in the corner of the end zone. The move even caught the attention of the current Super Bowl champion, Patrick Mahomes, who tweeted: “Mano what!?!?!”
In the series after Heinicke hit his left shoulder, Brady designed a 69-yard scoring drive culminating in a 3-yard Leonard Fournette TD run. This made it 28-16, which was enough to resist Heinicke’s attempt to be the unlikely hero.