The Washington Football Team (7-9) hosts Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) at FedEx Field in the first round of the NFC playoffs Saturday. Follow along for live updates during the game.
What you need to know
- How to watch: Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. Eastern on NBC; stream on the NFL app; listen on 630 and 980 AM, and 105.9 FM.
- What to watch for: Tampa Bay’s third-ranked scoring offense represents the biggest challenge yet for rookie Chase Young and the Washington defense, whose best hope of an upset depends on generating pressure against the 43-year-old Brady. Washington, which is looking for its first playoff win in 15 years, is an 8.5-point underdog.
- Complete playoff schedule and results
Is this the end of Alex Smith’s inspiring comeback season?
By Scott Allen
If Taylor Heinicke isn’t able to lead Washington to an upset win, it will mark a cruel end to a remarkable comeback season for Alex Smith. After suffering a gruesome, life-threatening leg injury in November 2018, Smith underwent 17 surgeries and months of arduous rehab to return to the field in October. A little more than a month later, Smith made his first start since his injury, a loss to the Lions.
Washington won Smith’s next five starts, including last Sunday’s NFC East-clinching win at Philadelphia. What Smith went through to achieve his goal of playing football again, including a stint at a military rehab facility, is remarkable.
Washington goes three-and-out on its opening possession
By Scott Allen
Washington went three-and-out on its opening possession. On second-and-long after running back Antonio Gibson was dropped for a loss and with plenty of time to operate in the pocket, Taylor Heinicke threw a beautiful ball on a deep post intended for Cam Sims, but the wide receiver couldn’t make a leaping grab. (Tampa Bay 3, Washington 0, 10:11 left in the first quarter)
Buccaneers take 3-0 lead with field goal on opening drive
By Scott Allen
Washington won the coin toss and elected to defer, giving Tampa Bay the ball first. The Buccaneers moved quickly into Washington territory, but ultimately settled for a 29-yard field goal by Ryan Succop to cap a nine-play drive.
Tom Brady was 2 for 5 for 32 yards on the march, and while he wasn’t sacked, he was knocked down a couple of times, including on a third-down incompletion that preceded the field goal. (Tampa Bay 3, Washington 0, 11:49 left in the first quarter)
NBC’s Mike Tirico to call game from home due to coronavirus protocols
By Scott Allen
NBC play-by-play man Mike Tirico will call Saturday’s game from his home “in accordance with covid-19 protocol,” the network announced Friday. Analyst Tony Dungy and reporter Kathryn Tappen will both be at FedEx Field.
Taylor Heinicke goes from ‘quarantine quarterback’ to playoff starter
By Scott Allen
Five weeks ago, Taylor Heinicke was at home preparing for finals at Old Dominion, where he’s working toward his bachelor’s degree, when the Washington Football Team signed him to its practice squad. On Saturday, the 27-year-old, undrafted journeyman will make his NFL playoff debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, starting in place of the injured Alex Smith, who is inactive with a calf strain.
“We do a great job in that quarterback room of really preparing like everyone’s going to play, so, whether it’s Alex, whether it’s Steven Montez, or whether it’s me, we all feel pretty comfortable about the game plan," Heinicke, whose professors agreed to postpone two of his exams until after the season, told reporters earlier this week.
When Heinicke arrived in Washington, he was expected to serve as the team’s “quarantine quarterback,” a player who is involved in the offensive game-planning but either trains on his own or remains distanced from the other quarterbacks on the roster to safeguard against a coronavirus outbreak among the position group. After Smith suffered a calf injury in Week 14, Heinicke was promoted to the active roster.
Heinicke went undrafted in 2015 after setting numerous passing records at Old Dominion. As a sophomore in 2012, he threw for a Division I-record 730 yards in a win over New Hampshire and won the Walter Payton Award, the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
The fatal flaw that could stop each NFL playoff team, including the Bucs or Washington
By Neil Greenberg
None of the 14 playoff teams is without a weakness that, if properly exploited, could end its Super Bowl hopes early. Here are the potentially fatal flaws for the Seahawks and Rams; click below to see the rest of the field.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Slow starts
Tom Brady saw his team trail a lot early this season. The Buccaneers fell behind by 10 points in the first half to the Saints in the season opener, 10 points to the Los Angeles Chargers a few weeks later, 31 points to the Saints again in Week 9 and then had two first-half, double-digit deficits in three weeks to the Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons near the end of the season.
In all, the Bucs trailed by 10 or more points in the first half seven times this year. Only Washington, the New York Jets, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans did that more times in 2020. Tampa Bay trailed by 15 or more points in the first half four times. Only the Jets had more experiences with that large a deficit so early.
Washington Football Team: Lackluster quarterback play
The return of Alex Smith was one of the feel-good stories of 2020 but he is inactive for Saturday’s game. Backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke isn’t much of an upgrade, leaving Washington without an impact player at the game’s most important position.
A brief history of sub-.500 teams in the playoffs
By Scott Allen
At 7-9, Washington is only the third team to qualify for the NFL playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike-shortened season, joining the 2010 Seattle Seahawks (7-9) and 2014 Carolina Panthers (7-8-1). Both of those teams won their first-round games.
Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Quake” paved the way for the Seahawks’ 41-36 upset of the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 8, 2011. While Seattle lost the following week, that win was the start of something big under Pete Carroll.
Ron Rivera was the coach of the 2014 Panthers team that knocked off the Arizona Cardinals, 27-16, in the wild-card round. Due to injuries, the Cardinals were forced to start third-string quarterback Ryan Lindley.
Alex Smith’s wife gave him the greatest Christmas gift
By Scott Allen
Elizabeth Smith had an artist transform the metal external fixator that her husband wore for eight months after his gruesome leg injury in November 2018 into a silhouette of the Lombardi Trophy.
“We had talked a lot about doing something with the fixator,” Alex Smith said. “We tried to donate it, but apparently it’s only a one-time-use thing because they’re crazy expensive. It was really cool to open that on Christmas. Definitely the best Christmas gift I’ve ever had, so I thought it turned out awesome. Pretty cool and unique.”
How will this season’s playoffs work?
The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament that determines champions from the AFC and NFC, who then square off in the Super Bowl. The tournament has three rounds before the Super Bowl that take place over three weekends. The first round is followed by the divisional round and then championship Sunday.
The format changed this year. Rather than six teams from each conference making the playoffs with the top seeds from each conference earning a bye, seven teams make it with only the top seed earning a bye. The change will result in a more robust initial weekend, with three games on both Saturday and Sunday.
How do you solve a problem like Tom Brady? Pressure, pressure, pressure.
By Scott Allen
Washington’s defense will have its hands full with Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. The blueprint for rattling him might come from the 2015 Denver Broncos, who registered 17 quarterback hits, four sacks and two interceptions in a 20-18 win over the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. Here’s more from The Post’s Sam Fortier and Nicki Jhabvala:
Though the Broncos’ scheme (coordinator Wade Phillips’s 3-4) and roster makeup differed from Washington’s, their pass rush and stout defensive line have resemblances to Washington’s front, with Chase Young and Montez Sweat on the edge and Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen on the interior.
Denver’s defense featured the pass-rushing tandem of linebackers DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller, who combined for three sacks, 11 quarterback hits and an interception (by Miller). But much of the Broncos’ success was courtesy of the interior rush from nose tackle Sylvester Williams and ends Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson. Those three did the dirty work to set up one-on-one opportunities with New England’s tackles for Miller and Ware.
The challenge for Washington will come on the back end. Denver played man-to-man coverage more than zone defense because it could; it had one of the game’s best cover cornerbacks, Aqib Talib, and one of the best slot cornerbacks, Chris Harris Jr. Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s secondary uses more zone, and while the defensive backs have generally performed well, he doesn’t have a shutdown pair such as Harris and Talib. Brady, meanwhile, has a bevy of standout pass-catchers.
A retired Army Ranger helped Ron Rivera separate the interesting from the important
By Scott Allen
Washington Football Coach Ron Rivera likes sayings. One of his favorites, which he’s used often throughout his first season in Washington, is “don’t make what’s interesting important.”
Rivera learned the phrase from Lt. Col. JC Glick, a retired Army Ranger who worked for the Carolina Panthers as a consultant when Rivera coached the team.
“It’s an interesting phrase, I can tell you, that has become important at times,” Rivera said. “It’s just interesting to me that people jump on something and make a big deal of it.”
“Washington fans have to realize they have a leader I would go to combat with tomorrow,” Glick said. “I don’t say that lightly.”
Who to pick in Washington vs. Tampa Bay (-8½)
By Neil Greenberg
Let’s face it, Washington is lucky to be in the playoffs. It finished 7-9 and won the NFC East crown after Philadelphia Coach Doug Pederson made a controversial quarterback substitution with the game still competitive. Washington is ranked 16th overall by Football Outsiders, but that’s largely due to having the league’s third-best defense. Washington’s offense ranks dead last after adjusting for strength of schedule. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, ranks second overall, with an offense and defense both in the top five.
One interesting angle to this matchup: Washington struggles to score points, with its offense producing three fewer points per game than expected based on the down, distance and field position of each play, per data from TruMedia. In 68 first-round games played outside from 2002 to 2019, the total has gone under 50 times (74 percent). The total in this matchup is set at 45½.
Pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers -8½
Yes, Chase Young and the Washington defense wants Tom Brady
By Scott Allen
Tampa Bay Coach Bruce Arians had plenty of praise for Chase Young this week, but he also suggested that Washington’s rookie defensive end had better watch what he wishes for after Young shouted, “Tom Brady, I’m coming! I want Tom!” as he ran off the field in Philadelphia last Sunday.
“You think I’m not excited to play against the GOAT?” Young said Wednesday of his comments, which were pretty tame as far as bulletin board material goes. “You trippin’. I’m not going to apologize for saying I want Tom. No, I want every quarterback I play against. ... Ask any edge rusher in the league who they want to sack, and most might say Tom Brady.”
The fact is Brady is 43. As my colleague Sam Fortier notes, “more than three-fourths of the players on Washington’s roster are closer in age to Brady’s eldest son, 13-year-old Jack, than they are to him.”
“The guy’s sustained success at an amazing level throughout his career,” Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said. “But we’re not playing 20 years of Tom. We’re playing one night and one game, and we’re looking forward to the competition.”
Washington’s last playoff win was 15 years ago this week
By Scott Allen
Sean Taylor returned a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown and a LaVar Arrington interception set up another score, as Washington knocked off the Buccaneers, 17-10, in Tampa Bay on Jan. 7, 2006. Washington won despite generating 120 yards of total offense.
A couple members of that Joe Gibbs-coached team, which won five straight games to end the regular season, see some similarities with this year’s squad.
“It’s just the craziness about that season as a whole,” Santana Moss, who had a team-high two catches for 18 yards in the win, said this week. “We never felt like we didn’t have a chance. When you think back now, that’s what I appreciate about the Washington team this year. They always felt like there was an opportunity to win — even if no one else did.”
“You know what it was?” said Clinton Portis, who rushed for 53 yards and a touchdown. “We were counted out — just like this team was counted out.”
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