Tom Brady Propels Buccaneers Past Washington, Into NFC Divisional Round

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are moving on.

The Buccaneers defeated the fourth-seeded Washington Football Team 31-23 Saturday night. It was the 31st playoff win of Brady’s career, but the first Tampa Bay postseason victory since 2003.

After the game, Brady reflected on the Wild Card matchup.

“It was a tough, hard-nosed game,” Brady told reporters postgame, per the team. “Washington had a lot of fight in them. We had opportunities to pull away and just couldn’t quite do it. Didn’t score enough in the red area so certainly a lot to improve on, but great to get a win.”

The Buccaneers don’t yet know who they will play next. If the second-seeded Saints beat the Bears on Sunday, Tampa Bay will travel to New Orleans. If Chicago beats the Saints, however, the Buccaneers will host the Rams and the Bears will travel to Green Bay.

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Brady threw for 381 yards with two touchdowns in his first career playoff game wearing something other than a New England Patriots uniform. The 43-year-old quarterback completed 22 of his 40 passes, though those stats were impacted by a number of drops by receivers. Brady’s 381 passing yards were his fourth-most in a playoff game.

Despite Tampa Bay’s 502 yards of offense, the Buccaneers were a modest 6-for-14 on third down and converted just one of their five red-zone opportunities. It showed how there was plenty for Tampa Bay to improve upon, which is all the more notable seeing how its offense scored 31 points against a good defense.

“We hit some big plays, made some chunks, but not scoring enough in the red area probably is the thing that bothers us,” Brady told reporters. “Missed a two-point play, had other opportunities to score and just didn’t quite take advantage. Moved the ball OK. I think we had decent yardage, but at the end of the day it comes down to points and we got to do a better job scoring points. We’ll work on that next week.”

Washington was the 17th team Brady defeated in the postseason.