![]() ![]() One catch later, the league's leading receiver landed a 70-yard haymaker directly on the jaw of the Buccaneers, his touchdown making it a 14-point lead for the Rams early in the second quarter. The Bucs were able to squeeze in a field goal after a 7-yard touchdown catch by tight end Kendall Blanton - fueled largely by a taunting penalty against Ndamukong Suh - but that was made inconsequential when Tampa Bay's defense decided to leave Kupp wide open. The tide could've turned quickly if the Buccaneers' defense was able to reel in a potential red-zone interception by Stafford, but failed to do so and it led to the first points of the game by way of a 26-yard field goal from Gay, and eventually the Rams landing two haymakers thereafter. instead found an early groove to take a 10-point lead on the road. In the absence of starting tackle Tristan Wirfs, Rams head coach Sean McVay deployed perennial All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald to the edge to take advantage of that matchup, and it left Brady unsettled for the entirety of the first quarter - while Stafford and Co. It was a carousel of bad from the start for the Bucs. Doing so allows the Rams to avoid making the wrong type of NFL history, and proves Stafford can get the job done in the postseason after he helped dismantle the Arizona Cardinals one week prior. But, again, the Rams couldn't get out of their own way as the game wore on, and constantly traded highlights with the Bucs to the degree they found themselves in a tie game and facing overtime if they couldn't finally nail the coffin closed.Īnd so they did, after seeing Leonard Fournette's game-tying touchdown and not hanging their heads, instead punishing defensive coordinator Todd Bowles for what would become the final decision of his regular season - by way of the bomb from Stafford to Kupp to set up the game-winning boot from Matt Gay. Remember what I said about gut checks, though, because that error by the Rams would turn out to not matter whatsoever, after a 33-yard punt return by Los Angeles set up a highlight catch by Odell Beckham Jr., rewarded by Stafford with a 1-yard touchdown sneak to extend the lead to 24 points in the third quarter. prevented an early kill shot from the Rams to keep the Bucs alive with only two quarters left to stave off the upset. But a forced fumble and recovery by Antoine Winfield Jr. ![]() Another field goal by the Rams in the second quarter answered the miss by Ryan Succop, and Brady's reply to that was an interception with under two minutes to Nick Scott, fueling the Buccaneers' tailspin that continued ahead of halftime. They couldn't shut him down completely, though, allowing Brady to come alive around the same time Stafford and the offense began to concoct a mix of plays that were either bang or bust with no in-between. They made Brady uncomfortable early and often, landing both an interception and a sack-fumble, while also forcing him into 24 incompletions and a passer rating of 72.2 that was below 60.0 for most of the contest. After jumping all over the Bucs with a 27-3 lead, they began to implode on cosmic levels - forcing themselves into a gut check time and again until the clock hit all zeroes. The name of the game is to survive and advance, and the Rams quite literally did exactly that. But the seven-time Super Bowl winner and reigning Super Bowl MVP was ultimately outdueled on his own field by Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp, among others, in what was easily one of the best playoff games you've ever witnessed, and that's not an exaggeration. This game had it all - from critical takeaways and highlight touchdowns that wildly swung momentum back and forth like a crazed pendulum to a clash between a bloody-lipped Brady and lead official Shawn Hochuli.Ĭredit the Buccaneers for clawing back from a 24-point deficit to nearly stun the Rams and, in the process, grant Brady another one of the biggest postseason comebacks in NFL history. The latter began running away with the game over the course of the first half, but suffered mistake after mistake and, as such, allowed Tom Brady to nearly go full "Tom Brady" in the fourth quarter. Things didn't remotely go as planned for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC divisional round, losing 30-27 to the Los Angeles Rams at Raymond James Stadium. ![]()
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