The Bucs – winners of six out of their last seven games – returned to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday night to host the Commanders, who came into the playoffs on a five-game winning streak, in an NFC Wild Card matchup.

Two of the highest-scoring teams in the league surprisingly played a pretty defensive game. A 17-play, nine-minute drive led to a significant swing in favor of the Commanders in the first half, as it took a lot out of the Bucs defense and kept Baker Mayfield and the offense on the sideline.

But when Tampa Bay held Washington to a field goal just after the first half’s two-minute warning, a masterful drive from Mayfield culminated in a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans. That sent the game into halftime tied at 10.

The two teams went back and forth in the second half before an offensive miscue forced the Bucs to settle for a game-tying field goal with 4:41 to go. From there, the offense never saw the ball again. Jayden Daniels led the Commanders offense down the field and Zane Gonzalez made a 37-yard field goal as time expired to secure a 23-20 win for Washington.

Here is a recap of all the action from Sunday night’s devastating playoff loss at Raymond James Stadium:

Commanders 23, Bucs 20

Bucs K Chase McLaughlin – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff, and it didn’t take long for Baker Mayfield to find Mike Evans. The two linked up for 11 yards and a first down on the first play before connecting again for 23 on a 3rd & 7. But on another 3rd & 7, Mayfield threw incomplete and Tampa Bay settled for a 50-yard Chase McLaughlin field goal.

Still, it was an early 3-0 lead for the Bucs, who came into play with a 9-1 record when scoring first.

Todd Bowles’ defense brought heavy pressure early on rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to start the first Washington possession, but Daniels responded well on the first third down he faced by unloading a beautiful ball for a 35-yard gain to Terry McLaurin.

But the Buccaneer defense stepped up from there, with Lavonte David credited for a third-down sack after chasing Daniels out of bounds on 3rd & 2. And when the Commanders opted to go for it on 4th & 2 from the 20, the defense brought more pressure and forced an incompletion for a huge stop.

The Tampa Bay offense got to midfield on its next drive, but the Washington defense came up with a stop to force a Jack Browning punt. Browning delivered a good one, as his kick was fair caught at the 8-yard line.

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels – Photo by: USA Today

Daniels converted a 3rd & 8 early on the ensuing possession, finding Zach Ertz for nine yards before throwing to McLaurin for another 18. The Commanders then got across midfield with a throw to Austin Ekeler, and that brought the first quarter to an end with the Bucs leading 3-0.

Washington kept its drive going as the second quarter began, getting all the way down to the Tampa Bay 23 before facing a 4th & 1. A 2-yard run from Austin Ekeler picked it up, then the Commanders converted another third down before Daniels had all the time in the world to find Dyami Brown for a 10-yard touchdown on 3rd & Goal.

With that, the visitors went up 7-3 after a 17-play, 92-yard drive that took 9:08 off the clock.

The Buccaneer offense didn’t help matters on its next possession, quickly going three-and-out after an early chop block penalty set them behind the sticks.

After a second straight Browning punt, the Commanders went right back to work on the Bucs defense. The big moment on the drive was a Zyon McCollum holding penalty erasing a Yaya Diaby third-down sack. But McCollum later made up for it with a pass breakup on third down, forcing the Commanders to settle for a field goal. Still, they extended their lead to 10-3 with a 52-yarder by Zane Gonzalez.

Tampa Bay’s offense avoided a disastrous three-and-out on its next drive as Mayfield scrambled for an 18-yard gain on 3rd & 9. That got the drive going, as he then found Evans for an 11-yard gain and Cade Otton for a 12-yarder before going back to Evans for 20. That set up 1st & 10 at the 12-yard line with 17 seconds left in the half.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Then, just one play after Marshon Lattimore was screaming at the officials for pass interference on Evans, he was called for defensive pass interference himself. The foul occurred in the end zone, too, giving the Bucs a first down at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Mayfield fired a tight-window throw right to Evans for a touchdown. That sent the two teams into halftime tied at 10.

At the half, Mike Evans had five catches on five targets for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Washington went right down the field on its opening possession in the second half, but a big pass breakup in the end zone by Jamel Dean on 3rd & Goal forced a field goal try. The short kick by Gonzalez made it 13-10, but that was a big stop in the red zone by Tampa Bay’s defense.

After a Dorance Armstrong facemask on Rachaad White to start the Bucs’ first offensive possession of the third quarter, Mayfield converted a 3rd & 4 at midfield with an 18-yard completion to Evans. Then, it became the Bucky Irving show. He ran for 19, 10 and six yards to set up 1st & Goal. A few plays later, Mayfield found Irving for a 4-yard touchdown to put the Bucs up 17-13 with 4:31 to go in the third quarter.

The Commanders offense came right back, with McLaurin getting free for another 17 yards and a first down into Buccaneer territory. And on an eventual 4th & 5 at the 37-yard line, the Tampa Bay defense once again couldn’t get off the field. A conversion to Ertz kept the drive alive at the 23, and the third quarter soon came to an end with the home team hanging on to a 17-13 lead.

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels and Bucs DT Calijah Kancey – Photo by: USA Today

But to start the fourth quarter, McCollum was called for pass interference in the end zone on a 3rd & 10, setting up 1st & Goal from the 1 for the Commanders. But an incompletion, a stop by Calijah Kancey and a pass breakup by Deion Jones set up 4th & Goal from the 3. And on the biggest play of the night to that point, the Tampa Bay defense held, forcing a Daniels incompletion that turned the ball over to Mayfield and the offense.

Just after a huge swing in favor of the Bucs, Mayfield fumbled on a handoff to McMillan and Bobby Wagner recovered, setting the Commanders up at the Tampa Bay 13. Four plays later – on another fourth down – Daniels found an open McLaurin for a 5-yard touchdown. With that, Washington took a 20-17 lead with 9:46 left.

A 26-yard completion from Mayfield to McMillan got the next drive going, then Mayfield hit Otton for a 20-yard gain later in the drive. But after Irving ran for nine yards and stopped his own momentum on a 1st & 10, Tampa Bay couldn’t get one more yard. A Mayfield run went nowhere on second down, then it looked as if something went wrong operationally between Graham Barton and Mayfield, leading to a tackle for loss. With that, the Bucs had to settle for a McLaughlin field goal to tie the game at 20 with 4:41 left.

This gave the ball back to Jayden Daniels and the Commanders offense with a chance to go down the field and win the game late. Tampa Bay’s defense quickly got them to a 3rd & 6… but then allowed a 21-yard catch by Dyami Brown that took the game to the two-minute warning.

An 18-yard pass to Ekeler then got Washington into field goal range, and Todd Bowles let the clock run a bit before he called a timeout. Another first down later, the Commanders were able to kill the rest of the clock and set Zane Gonzalez up for the game-winning field goal. He made it interesting, but the 37-yarder doinked in off the upright to give the Commanders a 23-20 win.

Baker Mayfield finished the game 15-of-18 for 185 yards and two touchdowns, but had a costly fumble inside his own 20-yard line that turned the game. Mike Evans was the star of the show on offense, catching all seven of his targets for 92 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, rookie Bucky Irving ran for 77 yards on 17 carries and caught a 4-yard touchdown.

The difference was the Buccaneer defense’s inability to get off the field. Jayden Daniels finished 24-of-35 for 268 yards and two touchdowns while running 13 times for 36 yards. The Commanders had a 35:26-24:34 advantage in time of possession thanks to an 8-of-15 mark on third downs and a 3-of-5 mark on fourth downs. Washington ran 69 offensive plays to Tampa Bay’s 44.

With that, the Commanders will move on to the NFC Divisional Round, where they will face No. 1 seed Lions in Detroit. For the Bucs, the 2024 season is over.