Brady guides Bucs to playoffs
QB’s 348 yards, 4 TDs in first half end 13- year drought
DETROIT — Tom Brady was so dominant that he could have left Ford Field at halftime to get his favorite chicken wings near the University of Michigan’s campus and still made it back to fly home with his team.
Brady threw four touchdown passes in the only half he needed to play, and the Buccaneers went on to rout the Lions 47- 7 on Saturday to earn a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
‘‘ When we do play the way we’re capable of playing, we’re pretty tough to beat,’’ Brady said.
The Bucs ( 10- 5) set a franchise record with 588 yards and snapped the NFL’s second- longest postseason drought behind the Browns’ 18- year run that can end Sunday.
‘‘ We’ve been scratching and clawing every single year to make the tournament,’’ said receiver Mike Evans, who was drafted by the Bucs six years ago and had 10 catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns. ‘‘ It’s been a journey, and we’re happy that we finally accomplished it.’’
The Bucs rested Brady after opening a 34- 0 lead at the half, the largest halftime lead in their history.
Brady was 22- for- 27 for 348 yards with a mix of passes deep down the field and darts in traffic. He threw touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski, Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown from 33, 27, seven and 12 yards, respectively. Backup Blaine Gabbert added touchdown passes to Gronkowski and Evans in the second half.
‘‘ When we can keep Tom standing, he’s going to deliver for us,’’ coach Bruce Arians said.
Brady, 43, started his 298th game to tie Brett Favre’s NFL record for quarterbacks and played in his 300th career game.
The Lions ( 5- 10) played without interim coach Darrell Bevell, along with several defensive assistants, because of COVID- 19 contact tracing. And they played most of the game without quarterback Matthew Stafford. He was questionable to play with hip and thumb injuries, then hurt his right ankle on the Lions’ first drive and didn’t return.
Former Bears backup Chase Daniel struggled to move the ball much for the Lions, who avoided getting shut out for the second time this season when Jamal Agnew returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Daniel was replaced in the fourth by David Blough, who played for the first time this season.
‘‘ I’ve been involved in at least one loss like this,’’ said Lions receivers coach Robert Prince, who filled in for Bevell as coach for the game. ‘‘ You can’t blame the defense for all of this. The offense has to stay on the field. If they can’t do that, it is going to wear the defense out.’’
The Bucs had been outscored 59- 7 in the first quarter of their previous six games. It looked as though they might start slowly again when Brady was sacked on third down of their first drive. The Lions, however, negated the play by being offside, and the Bucs went on to score a touchdown to get the rout rolling.
‘‘ There’s no doubt [ the Lions’] discipline — or lack of — helped us tremendously,’’ Arians said. ‘‘ I love what our guys did with that opportunity and went right down to score.’’