Tom Brady praises Mike Evans, offensive line in first playoff win away from the Patriots

Tom Brady couldn’t have asked for a much better first playoff game away from the Patriots.

The now-Buccaneers quarterback completed 22 of 40 passes for 381 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 31-23 win over the Washington Football Team on Saturday. The 381 passing yards were the most yards he’s thrown in a playoff game since the 505 yards he threw in the Patriots’ loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.

A big reason for Brady’s big game was Mike Evans. The star wideout’s status to play on Saturday was in question all week after he hyperextended his knee on Sunday. Evans got the go-ahead to play and ended up with six receptions for a game-high 119 yards.

Brady praised his star receiver after the game.

“Mike played his butt off,” Brady told reporters following Saturday’s win. “He got hurt last week. We weren’t sure whether he was going to go or not. He just did an incredible job fighting through it and made a bunch of big plays when we needed it.”

Another reason for Brady’s strong showing was the Buccaneers’ offensive line. Washington recorded the sixth-most sacks in the league this season, but it sacked Brady three times on 43 dropbacks, with the third one not coming until the Buccaneers’ final drive before they knelt the clock out.

“They did a great job,” Brady said of his offensive line. “Those guys played their butts off. Tristan (Wirfs) did a great job. Donnie (Smith) had a helluva game. It’s a great front. Just a big, aggressive defense. They played well. They played hard. Just a great test for us.”

While the Buccaneers offense put up 31 points and had 507 total yards, there’s still some room for them to improve. In their five red zone drives, the Bucs only reached the end zone once. Brady couldn’t help but lament on points they left on the board.

“It was a tough, hard-nosed game,” Brady said. “Washington had a lot of fight in them. We had opportunities to pull away and just couldn’t quite do it. We didn’t score enough points in the red area. So, certainly a lot to improve on.”

“We hit some big plays, hit some chunks,” Brady later said. “I think just not scoring enough in the red area is probably the thing that bothers us. The missed 2-point play. We had other opportunities to score and just couldn’t quite take advantage. We moved the ball OK. I think we had decent yardage. But at the end of the day, it comes down to points. We’ve got to do a better job scoring more points. We’ll work on that next week.”

With the Rams defeating the Seahawks on Saturday, the Buccaneers get to avoid facing the NFC’s top-seeded Packers in the Divisional Round. Their opponent for next week will be determined in Sunday’s Bears-Saints game. If the Saints win, Brady and the Bucs will travel to New Orleans to face a Saints team that dominated them twice this season. If the Bears upset the Saints, the Buccaneers will get to host the Rams, who defeated the Buccaneers in a tight game earlier this year.

While Brady obviously cares about how he and the Bucs play, the thing he still cares the most about is the game’s final result as he continues to chase history and his seventh Super Bowl ring.

“Well, you could win 100-0 and it’s going to be the same result in the end,” Brady said. “You’d love to play great every game. I think it’s good to win and advance. If we don’t play well next week, we’re not going to be happy. So, glad we won. Glad we have another week of work. We’re going to go in there and try to do a much better job this week. We’ll get ready for whoever or opponent is going to be. It’s going to be a good one. We’re going to have to go play great football.”

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