Brady and Bucs plus Bills and Rams win NFL wild-card games
Old hat for Brady, new thrills for Buffalo.
And a defensive gem by the Rams.
The first tripleheader of NFL wild-card games saw Tom Brady extend his postseason record for victories to 31 with a 31-23 win for Tampa Bay at Washington on Saturday. Brady was the key to New England winning six Super Bowls and making nine overall, and now he has taken the Buccaneers (12-5) to their first playoff victory since their 2002 run to the NFL title.
After a quarter-century, the Bills got one of those triumphs that Brady collects — and they even figured out how to stop a Hail Mary.
Buffalo (14-3) snapped a 0-6 postseason skid with a 27-24 victory Saturday over Indianapolis (11-6). The previous playoff win was over Miami on Dec. 30, 1995. And it came in the Bills' first home playoff game in 24 years, with a limited number of fans in attendance (6,700) for the first time this season.
Los Angeles (11-6) rattled Russell Wilson and dominated even though it was without unanimous All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald for much of the second half of a 30-20 victory at Seattle. A pick-6 by Darious Williams was a major contributor, as were five sacks, two by Donald. Buccaneers 31, Washington 23 Brady threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns in his 42nd postseason start and first not in a New England uniform. He used all of his weapons well, from receivers Mike Evans, Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin to tight end Cameron Brate and running back Leonard Fournette.
But Tampa Bay's defense got leaky and Washington's unheralded Taylor Heinicke, in his second pro start in place of injured starter Alex Smith, ran for 46 yards and a touchdown and threw for 306 yards and a score.
In the end, though, it was another W for Brady.
“He is a fighter, he plays hard, works hard and studies hard,” Fournette said of Brady, “and he is the man for the job.”
Well, yeah — for two decades.
Bills 27, Colts 24
Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes, scored another rushing, and Micah Hyde batted down Philip Rivers' desperation pass to end the game. Buffalo will host an AFC divisional-round game.
“It doesn't matter how it looks," Allen said. "It's the playoffs. It's win or go home and we got it done. We've got to turn our focus to whoever we got next week.”
In Buffalo's last loss before winning its next six games and the AFC East crown, Hyde was one of three defenders who failed to knock down the ball. DeAndre Hopkins' 43-yard leaping catch on Kyler Murray's desperation throw — the “Hail Murray” — won that game for Arizona. The Bills learned from it, and Philip River's heave for T. Y. Hilton was incomplete.
“It's been a long time since Bills Mafia has been able to celebrate like this," Allen said. “But it's one game.”
Rams 30, Seahawks 20
Whether it was John Wolford's inexperience or Jared Goff's battered thumb under center, the Seattle Seahawks should have had the advantage.
No way the champs of the NFC West would lose at home to a quarterback making his second career start, or the guy less than two weeks removed from thumb surgery. Right?
“I think about two weeks ago, I was sitting right here in this chair, knowing I have a broken thumb and lying to you guys,” Goff said. “And coming back here and winning this game in a big way is meaningful.”
While it was a combination of running and defense that proved the difference, Goff played a major role in the Rams' 30-20 win over the Seahawks on Saturday.
Goff's numbers weren't special, but they probably shouldn't have. It was two weeks ago he suffered a thumb injury in the Week 16 loss to the Seahawks that required surgery.
It wasn't even supposed to be Goff's day to shine.
That opportunity was set for Wolford, who led the Rams to a Week 17 win to clinch a playoff spot and seemed just fine in the first quarter against Seattle. But the plan changed when Wolford was injured on a 2-yard run with 5:19 left in the first quarter. Wolford went head first and into the right shoulder of Jamal Adams. Wolford left the field on his own, but eventually went to a local hospital as a precaution.
Suddenly, Goff was thrust into a much larger role. He finished 9 of 19 for 155 yards and a late 15-yard TD pass to Robert Woods. Most importantly, Goff didn't turn over the ball after throwing a costly interception in the Week 16 loss.
“My thumb is fine. It's coming along. It's not 100% because it had surgery 12 days ago, but it's in a good place,” Goff said.
“I'm very capable with what I've got going on right now. I'm very proud of our team. It's an exciting game. It's an exciting day.”
What made the day so successful for Goff was Seattle's defense getting exposed in a way it rarely had. Seattle was best in the league at limiting points the second-half of the season. But the one constant, even early in the season when the Seahawks were struggling defensively, was the ability to stop the run.
That was absent against the Rams. Cam Akers rushed for 131 yards and had lanes of space to run through, often breaking tackles to get to the second level. And because Seattle couldn't slow down Akers or Malcolm Brown, it never forced Goff to have to make exceptional throws even though he was limited.
The Rams rushed for 164 yards, third most allowed this season by Seattle.
“They've played us enough and they found out where they wanted to go and we just didn't stop it,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “There was a lot of similar plays that they ran and we were doing our things to try and get them stopped, and they just were able to keep pecking away.”