New owners. New general manager. New coach. New franchise quarterback.
This is the formula—especially the quarterback—that helped Washington achieve playoff success after nearly two decades of struggles.
Jayden Daniels ran for an important first down, setting up Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal that hit the right upright and went through as time ran out. The Commanders defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 in an NFC wild-card game on Sunday night, marking the franchise’s first playoff victory in 6,945 days.
Daniels, who played with a bandage under his right eye after being bloodied, became the third rookie quarterback in the past three years to win a playoff game.
The Commanders (13-5) will now face the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions (15-2) in the divisional round.
“It means a lot, man,” Daniels said. “You could just see all the fans over here, man, 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.”
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers (10-8) missed several chances, and the veteran quarterback made a costly turnover in the fourth quarter. The Bucs couldn’t gain 1 yard on two tries from the Commanders’ 12-yard line and had to settle for a field goal to tie the game before Washington’s winning drive.
Daniels threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns, joining C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy as rookie quarterbacks who have won playoff games in the past three seasons.
Washington hadn’t won a playoff game since defeating the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay 17-10 on Jan. 7, 2006.
The turnaround for the team began when Daniel Snyder sold the franchise in 2023 to a group led by Josh Harris, which includes NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. They hired GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn after their first season and selected Daniels with the No. 2 pick in the draft that April.
“You gotta give Josh a lot of credit because we picked the right people,” Johnson said. “When you pick Adam Peters and you pick coach Quinn and they picked the right players, the culture changed.
You went from a losing culture to a winning culture. But it’s about those players. They decided they wanted to win. They didn’t worry about what all the analysts said. And, the right quarterback. Enough said right there.”
The Buccaneers opened the season with a 37-20 victory over Washington in Daniels’ first game. Daniels went on to have an impressive season, earning a Pro Bowl spot and helping Washington improve from a 4-13 record to 12-5.
Now, he’s leading the team to Detroit to face Jared Goff and the Lions’ high-powered offense.
“We’re not going to give up until the clock hits zero,” Daniels said. “We’re going to keep fighting until the end.”
After Tampa Bay’s defense held Washington inside the 5-yard line in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to maintain a 17-13 lead, Mayfield gave the Commanders the ball back when he fumbled an exchange with Jalen McMillan. Washington recovered at the Buccaneers’ 13-yard line. On fourth-and-2 from the 5, Daniels threw a touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin in the back of the end zone for a 20-17 lead.
“It’s disappointing because I believe in this team because we have the talent and the coaching staff to go far,” Mayfield said. “I did some dumb stuff and it’ll wear on me for a while.”
Mayfield drove the Buccaneers to a second-and-1 at the Commanders’ 12-yard line, but they settled for a 32-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin to tie the game at 20-20 with 4:41 left.
The Bucs never got the ball back thanks to Daniels, who led his team down the field with confidence. With less than a minute remaining, he was hit behind the line of scrimmage but scrambled for 4 yards on third-and-2, allowing him to take a knee to set up Gonzalez’s game-winning kick.
Coach Quinn had previously passed on short field goals twice on fourth down, and the offense had failed to convert before McLaurin’s touchdown catch.
On fourth down from the Buccaneers’ 4-yard line less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Daniels threw an incomplete pass. He was pressured and threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-2 from Tampa Bay’s 20-yard line on Washington’s first possession of the game.
“We were going to be bold but not reckless,” Quinn said.
Mayfield threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving to give the Buccaneers a 17-13 lead in the third quarter. On the previous play, 350-pound defensive tackle Vita Vea was Mayfield’s intended receiver, but the QB was sacked for a 2-yard loss.
Mayfield also threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans to tie the game at 10 late in the first half.
Gonzalez kicked a 22-yard field goal to give Washington a 13-10 lead on the opening drive of the second half. The Commanders had a first down at the 3-yard line, but Tampa Bay’s defense held.
After Austin Ekeler ran 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Buccaneers’ 23-yard line late in the first quarter, the Commanders took the lead on a 92-yard drive. Daniels, with his face bloodied, threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown for a 7-3 lead.
A holding penalty on cornerback Zyon McCollum negated a third-down sack by Yaya Diaby and allowed Washington to extend its next drive, which ended with Gonzalez making a 50-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.
McLaughlin kicked a 50-yard field goal on the opening drive. The Buccaneers were 9-1 when scoring first in the regular season.
