Zane Gonzalez caromed a 37-yard field goal off the inside of the right upright and through the goal posts as time expired to give the Washington Commanders a 23-20 victory over the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night in an NFC wild-card game.
Jayden Daniels completed 24 of 35 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns for the sixth-seeded Commanders, who will face the top-seeded Detroit Lions on Saturday in the divisional round.
The postseason victory is Washington’s first since the 2005 season when Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs was head coach. That win also came against the Buccaneers.
“It means a lot,” Daniels said about the team’s first playoff win in 19 years. “You can see all the fans over here. They’re waiting for us. They’ve waited a long time for this moment and this feeling, so I’m just so happy for them.”
Gonzalez kicked field goals of 52 and 22 yards earlier in the game and was set up for the game-winning attempt. His kick started to fade right before making the dreaded doink sound, but it went through to sink the third-seeded Buccaneers.
Terry McLaurin caught seven passes for 89 yards and a touchdown and Dyami Brown had five receptions for 89 yards and a score for Washington. Bobby Wagner had a key fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.
Baker Mayfield completed 15 of 18 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns for Tampa Bay, which ran just 44 plays and was dominated in time of possession by nearly 11 minutes. The Commanders ran 69 plays.
“Not doing all the little things right will always come back to beat you in the playoffs, because you’re always playing a good team in the playoffs and they’re going to capitalize on it, and they did that,” Mayfield said. “You look at a loss like this as extremely disappointing because you feel like you can control it and could’ve capitalized on some of the things we did.”
Mike Evans had seven receptions for 92 yards and one touchdown for the Buccaneers. Bucky Irving rushed for 77 yards on 17 carries and caught a scoring pass for Tampa Bay.
Washington had the ball first in the second half and cashed in on Gonzalez’s 22-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead.
The Buccaneers went ahead nearly six minutes later when Mayfield hit Irving with a 4-yard scoring pass.
The Commanders had a chance to regain the lead when they had first-and-goal from the Tampa Bay 1-yard line in the first minute of the final quarter. They ended up with fourth down from the 3, and Daniels’ pass to Zach Ertz was incomplete.
Tampa Bay, though, gave the ball right back to the Commanders. The timing was off as Jalen McMillan came across the backfield in motion, and as Mayfield attempted a handoff to him, the ball bounced off McMillan’s hip and was recovered by Wagner at the Buccaneers’ 13.
“I’m supposed to go full speed,” McMillan said. “It’s Baker’s job to get the timing right on the snap.”
Wagner added: “I just saw the ball on the ground and had to go get it. We needed a play, and I just tried to make it.”
The Commanders cashed in — this time converting on fourth-and-2 — as Daniels tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin for a 20-17 advantage with 9:46 left in the game.
Mayfield tossed a 1-yard pass to Evans with 10 seconds left in the first half to knot the score at 10.
Tampa Bay scored on the first drive of the game when Chase McLaughlin booted a 50-yard field goal.
The Commanders scored the next 10 points, starting with a 17-play, 92-yard drive that took 9:08. Daniels threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Brown to cap it. Gonzalez kicked a 52-yard field goal with 1:52 left in the half.
–Field Level Media
