Commander Country

NFL Playoffs: Bucs Get Win, WFT Gets Scar Tissue

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers crushed the Washington Football Team's Dreams. But WFT now now possesses some valuable scar tissue.
Mike Fisher|
NFL Playoffs: Bucs Get Win, WFT Gets Scar Tissue
NFL Playoffs: Bucs Get Win, WFT Gets Scar Tissue

It is OK to believe in dreams. It is even more OK to believe in something quite the opposite of that: scar tissue.

Dreams are delightful, and the 2020 Washington Football Team experienced more than a 7-9 record's share. But the reality of the path to greatness—and coach Ron Rivera's team might very well be on that path—is that it is occupied by road blocks and potholes and pain, and teams that develop scar tissue from losing ...

That leads to winning.

Tampa Bay 31, WFT 23 is, hopefully, the first step toward how this works. WFT entered Saturday's wild-card playoff at FedEx Field pitting QB Taylor Heinicke against Patriots-turned-Bucs QB Tom Brady. Considering that entering the game, Brady has thrown for 581 TDs in his career and Heinicke, subbing for an injured Alex Smith, 579 fewer than that ... WFT fans probably knew what they were in for here.

In the first half, Brady (22 of 40 for 381 yards) found Antonio Brown ...

And then Chris Godwin ...

And the superior offensive team took charge—at least for the first half. And then hung on late.

To WFT's credit, there was no give-up here, witness Heinicke's gutsy TD to close the second-half gap to 18-16 ...

And Heinicke (26 of 44 for 306 yards and an assortment of Bucs-induced ailments) played at a noteworthy level—so much so that a reevaluation of what he might be as an NFL helper is merited. But ...

The better team was the better team. Still. ...

"They played their asses off,'' Rivera said. "I'm really proud of these guys.''

Over the last 16 years, there has never been a repeat champion in the NFC East. Now it's Rivera's bunch who in 2021 are poised to change that. Washington has a top-notch receiver in Terry McLaurin (forget for the moment that Tampa has three of them) and Washington has a top-notch runner in Antonio Gibson (forget for the moment that Tampa has two of them) and Washington boasts a Chase Young-led defense that on a better day will keep the WFT in games—and win those games.

Washington does not have a QB to match Tom Brady, even at age 43 (few do), and Rivera, along with the coming new GM, will be tasked with solving that. But Washington does now possess something that you cannot buy, cannot beg for and cannot achieve via dreaming.

Said Rivera: "I told the guys, 'We're headed up. We're on our way up.'"

The Washington Football Team now has scar tissue.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.

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