Stafford, Rams get wild win over Bucs
TAMPA, Fla. – There was no epic comeback, after all. And no repeat crown. If this is it for Tom Brady, what a downer.
Brady and the defending Super Bowl champions were clipped by the Los Angeles Rams, 30-27, in an NFC divisional playoff result that was almost too wild to believe.
The Rams (14-5), with new quarterback Matthew Stafford living up to the promise envisioned when he was obtained from Detroit in an offseason trade, are headed home to face their NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.
Brady, meanwhile, could be headed into the sundown of his storied career. The marquee quarterback hasn’t committed to return next season, which means the Tampa Bay era just might be finished. According to multiple reports, Brady, 44, will contemplate his future with his family over the next few weeks.
Regardless, his setback on Sunday goes down as a deflating performance – and this includes his supporting cast, too – that does no justice to a career marked by a record seven Super Bowl victories.
Brady went down swinging, for sure. The Bucs rallied from a 27-3 deficit to tie the game in the final minute – only to lose the game in the final seconds when the defense couldn’t prevent the Rams from a comeback of their own.
Not only did Brady leave with a big L he drew the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his 22-year career after yelling at referee Shawn Hochuli during a heated, second-quarter exchange after he absorbed a hit from Von Miller.
And Brady endured a bloody lip, too, a picture that said the proverbial 1,000 words about the pain inflicted on him by the Rams’ defensive front.
It figured that if any team would stop the bid by the Bucs (14-5) to become the first repeat Super Bowl champion since Brady led the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl XXXIX crown in 2005, it would be the Rams.
Since Brady arrived in 2020, he’s gone 0-for-LA – losing all three matchups against Sean McVay’s team.
In September at Los Angeles, the Bucs fell 34-24 in a Week 3 contest when Brady passed 55 times and was also the team’s leading rusher, while Stafford burned Tampa Bay for 343 yards and 4 TDs. In November of 2020, the Rams scratched out a 27-24 win here in a game when Brady was intercepted twice by Jordan Fuller.
Now this. The Bucs didn’t score a touchdown on Sunday until 12 seconds remained in the third quarter – and even Leonard Fournette’s 1-yard plunge was iffy after Tampa Bay was set up at the Rams 30-yard line by a Cooper Kupp fumble that was recovered by Sean Murphy-Bunting. The drive was kept alive by a fourth-and-nine completion to Scott Miller, who had to doubleclutch the football to secure the first down. It was that close. Earlier, the Bucs settled for a pair of Ryan Succop field goals and had a drive stall when Succop missed a 48-yard kick. It all added up to distress for an offense working with a depleted wide receiver corps and a battered offensive line.