The first step for Tom Brady: Turn the Buccaneers into winners in the regular season and get them into the playoffs.
Check.
The second step: Start the postseason off with something his new franchise had not done in 18 years.
Check.
This is why Brady came to Tampa. Not to ease into anything. Not to build, slowly and steadily. Brady left the Patriots after 20 years for the sun of Florida, not to retire but to stay active and get another team to the promised land.
Brady did his thing, but the Bucs are going to have to be much better to get Brady to his 10th Super Bowl. For a stretch, the Bucs were unable to corral Taylor Heinicke, the unknown newcomer who made a name for himself with his guile for Washington.
Favored by more than a touchdown on the road, the Buccaneers did just enough, outlasting the sub-.500 Washington Football Team 31-23 at FedEx Field. Brady moves on, as usual, after the Bucs notched their first playoff victory since 2002.
Brady completed just 22 of 40 passes, but he got the ball down the field for 381 yards and fired a 36-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown late in the first quarter and a 27-yard scoring pass to Chris Godwin early in the second quarter. Leonard Fournette, carrying the load with Ronald Jones out with a quad injury, ran 19 times for 93 yards. The Bucs, though, settled for field goals on their first three trips inside the red zone and missed on a two-point conversion attempt.
“Washington had a lot of fight in ’em,’’ Brady said. “We had opportunities to pull away and just couldn’t do it. Certainly a lot to improve on.’’
Heinicke, making his second NFL start at the age of 27, was a dervish, making plays with his arm and especially his legs. His stunning 8-yard touchdown scramble, reaching out to hit the pylon with a head-first dive, brought Washington within 18-16 with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter.
Just when the Bucs were challenged, Brady heated up. He found Mike Evans for 20 yards and then, after side-stepping pressure in the pocket, hit Evans for 19 yards to the Washington 3-yard line. Fournette powered in for the touchdown and order was restored, with the Bucs ahead 28-16 with 9:11 to go.
Heinicke (26 of 44, 306 yards) had to hit the locker room to have his shoulder checked out, returned and gutted out a 75-yard drive, expertly lofting a pass to Steven Sims for a 15-yard touchdown with 4:51 remaining.
But the upset bid was thwarted. Brady lofted one to Evans for 35 yards, leading to a Ryan Succop field goal to boost the Tampa Bay lead to eight points with 2:49 to play. Heinicke was sacked by Lavonte David on third down and a desperation fourth-down pass to Logan Thomas with 1:51 to go was knocked away.
“It was great,’’ Bucs coach Bruce Arians said of the late sack, “because we weren’t tackling worth a s–t the whole game. We finally got him when it mattered. I don’t think it was the best our defense has played. It was terrible up until the last eight minutes.’’
The Football Team did not have the services of Alex Smith, their inspiring 36-year old quarterback, who was inactive because of a calf injury. The absence of Smith figured to be a boon to the Bucs, especially with the inexperienced Heinicke as the replacement, but Arians saw it completely differently.
“[Heinicke] was very elusive,’’ Arians said. “We knew he was going to scramble around and there was going to be bootlegs. We really were hoping for Alex because we knew that part of the game wasn’t going to be there.’’
Brady, counting the postseason, made his 341st career start. Heinicke was making his second NFL start. He previously played in eight games for four different teams and was finishing up his degree in engineering from Old Dominion when he was signed by Washington in early December as an insurance quarantine quarterback. He previously was a backup for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the XFL.
Washington was 7-9 in the regular season but won the decrepit NFC East, edging out the Giants after beating the Eagles in Week 17. Afterward, rookie defensive end Chase Young exclaimed “I want Tom,’’ referring to Brady, of course.
Brady was sacked three times, but Young did not have a big game, going against left tackle Donovan Smith.
“I think it was the biggest storyline of the week, just because one guy says ‘I want Tom’ and all of a sudden they got a great front,’’ Arians said. “Our guys took it to heart, they were going to block him and I thought we blocked him really, really well. No, they didn’t scare us.’’