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Brees threw his second interception with simply over seven minutes left within the sport, one other pricey turnover. Brees was focusing on working again Alvin Kamara, who didn’t seem like prepared for the go. Buccaneers linebacker Devin White ran the ball to the Saints’ 20-yard line.
It’s the third time since Brees got here to New Orleans that the Saints have had three turnovers in a playoff sport.
Brady, who transformed the primary two Buccaneers takeaways into touchdowns, made it three in a row. He hit tight finish Rob Gronkowski for a 14-yard go on second-and-10 from the Saints’ 18-yard line. Two performs later, Brady ran the ball into the tip zone from the 1-yard line.
The Buccaneers now lead, 30-20, with just below 5 minutes remaining, and have scored 17 straight factors for the reason that center of the third quarter.
For all of the statistics Brady and Brees have gathered of their careers, their showdown on Sunday lacked massive go performs till the second half.
When Brady hit receiver Scottie Miller 4 minutes into the fourth quarter for a 29-yard acquire, it was his first go completion of greater than 25 yards. His first 4 tries missed.
Brees, who continues to be recovering from cracked ribs and a punctured lung that he sustained in a November sport towards the San Francisco 49ers, has not tried any passes past 25 yards.
Brady’s go to Miller, although, led to a different Buccaneers discipline aim and a 23-20 Tampa lead.
The Saints, up 20-13, and making an attempt to push a 30-yard drive previous midfield, appeared to be headed for one more landing. However after Drew Brees threaded an 8-yard go to him, tight finish Jared Cook dinner fumbled the ball, ended the drive, and gave Tom Brady and the Buccaneers an opportunity to pounce.
Brady threw a landing go to tie the sport, 20-20, with two minutes and 22 seconds remaining within the third quarter.
Brees hit Cook dinner on the Tampa Bay 47-yard line, however Buccaneers security Antoine Winfield Jr. stripped Cook dinner of the ball, which was recovered by linebacker Devin White, who returned the fumble to the Saints’ 40-yard line.
Brady wasted no time. He hit tight finish Cameron Brate for a 19-yard go. Operating backs Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette carried the ball 3 times. Then Brady threw to Fournette for a 6-yard landing. Fournette bobbled the ball earlier than spinning into the tip zone, the place he fell to the bottom untouched.
After a sluggish first half, quarterback Drew Brees obtained a landing of his personal within the third quarter.
Brees hit receiver Tre’Quan Smith close to the pylon on the correct aspect of the aim line for a 16-yard scoring go to place the Saints up, 20-13.
The Saints got here out firing on the primary drive of the second half. Brees accomplished three passes and ran for a primary down on a quarterback sneak. Operating again Alvin Kamara had a number of massive runs, together with a 17-yard acquire close to midfield to push the Saints into Tampa Bay territory.
Brees has now thrown a landing in each certainly one of his 18 profession playoff video games.
Drew Brees & Tre’Quan Smith (16-yard TD)
#10 Tre’Quan Smith by no means had greater than 1.5 yards of separation from #43 Ross Cockrell. Smith’s 0.6 yards of separation is the 2nd-smallest window on a Brees TD this season.
🔹 Completion Likelihood: 38.2%#TBvsNO | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/Caj8xHSVpp
— Subsequent Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 18, 2021
The primary half of the Tom Brady-Drew Brees showdown in New Orleans was much less about these gamers’ passing acumen and extra about everybody else on the sphere. Although each quarterbacks made a number of key passes, their offenses have been sluggish because the Buccaneers and Saints headed into halftime tied, 13-13.
The sport was punctuated by stout defenses and some surprises. The Saints’ greatest performs have been by Deonte Harris, who returned a punt for 54 yards that led to a New Orleans discipline aim, and Brees’s backup, Jameis Winston, who tossed a 56-yard landing rating.
The Buccaneers obtained their first landing after intercepting Brees, which led to a 3-yard landing toss by Brady. For a lot of the half, although, Brady relied on working backs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II, and tight finish Cameron Brate.
Early within the sport, he overthrew tight finish Rob Gronkowski. On the final drive of the primary half, Brady almost accomplished a landing go to receiver Chris Godwin, who misplaced the ball as his skidded out of bounds.
The drive led to a 37-yard discipline aim by the Buccaneers to tie the sport.
Bored with pushing up the sphere incrementally, Saints Coach Sean Payton deployed a little bit of trickery to place his workforce again within the lead, 13-10.
On first-and-10 from their very own 44-yard line, the Saints took quarterback Drew Brees out of the sport and put in his backup, Jameis Winston.
However Winston lined up as a large receiver as working again Alvin Kamara took the snap within the wildcat formation. Kamara tossed the ball to vast receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who was streaking left to proper. Sanders tossed it to Winston, who threw an extended go to vast receiver Tre’Quan Smith.
Smith streaked on their own down the center of the sphere and into the tip zone for a 56-yard rating.
The rating was Winston’s first landing go within the playoffs and it got here towards the workforce the place he spent the primary 5 seasons of his profession. He has performed sparingly for the Saints within the common season, showing in 4 video games and getting his most important time in Week 10 towards the San Francisco 49ers when Brees broke a number of ribs and punctured a lung.
The trick play offset the pricey interception of Drew Brees earlier within the quarter.
Notably, the Saints are taking part in with out one other backup quarterback, Taysom Hill, who’s out with a knee harm. Receiver Deonte Harris (neck harm) is questionable to return to the sport.
Drew Brees threw an interception deep in Saints territory, and Tom Brady made the Saints pay. Brady hit receiver Mike Evans with a 3-yard landing rating to place the Buccaneers up, 10-6.
Early within the second quarter, Brees rolled to his proper and tried to attach with receiver Michael Thomas, who had tossed his defender, Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, to the aspect. However Murphy-Bunting recovered and jumped in entrance of Thomas to choose off the go on the Saints’ 39-yard line. He stiff-armed Thomas and ran the ball all the best way to the 3-yard line earlier than being tackled by Erik McCoy.
On the subsequent play, Brady threw the sport’s first landing.
Tom Brady and Drew Brees may lead the world in passing yards and landing passes, however the one scoring of their playoff sport so far has been a pair of discipline objectives by the Saints.
Saints kicker Wil Lutz hit his second discipline aim to place the Saints up, 6-0, late within the first quarter. The Saints put collectively a 12-play drive that traveled solely 36 yards. After Brees’ go was batted away on third down, Lutz related from 42 yards.
To this point, the Saints have had higher discipline place and extra first downs, however solely six factors to point out for it.
On the finish of the primary quarter, Brady is 2 of seven for 16 yards passing; Brees is 4 of 9 for 23 yards. On what has been Tampa Bay’s greatest shot at a significant acquire, Brady threw deep on first-and-10 from midfield to Mike Evans on a put up route, however the ball was batted away by Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
Tampa Bay kicker Ryan Succop put the Buccaneers on the board with a 26-yard discipline aim eight performs later.
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers did little with their first possession of the sport, going three-and-out. However the Saints made probably the most of theirs, due to a 54-yard punt return by Deonte Harris.
The Saints receiver escaped one hit simply after he caught the ball, then sprinted down the left sideline. The Buccaneers lastly tackled him at their 21-yard line.
Drew Brees introduced the Saints into the pink zone with a go to receiver Emmanuel Sanders for a seven-yard acquire. Tampa Bay was charged with a penalty for decreasing the helmet. However the Saints, who had the perfect pink zone offense within the league, needed to accept a discipline aim.
Brady-Brees. Brees-Brady. The names evoke N.F.L. historical past whichever approach you say them. When the 2 quarterbacks face off Sunday of their Divisional Spherical matchup, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and his Saints counterpart, Drew Brees, will set information even earlier than kickoff.
Brady, 43, and Brees, 42, will collectively change into the oldest opposing beginning quarterbacks in a sport at a mixed 85 years, 169 days outdated. Brady has the most touchdowns, with Brees second all-time, whereas Brees has the most passing yards, with Brady proper behind him.
The sure-shot Corridor of Fame quarterbacks are taking part in one another for the primary time within the postseason, with the winner heading to Inexperienced Bay to play the No. 1 seed Packers (13-3) within the N.F.C. Championship sport subsequent Sunday.
Brady, who led the Buccaneers to a 31-23 victory over the Washington Soccer Crew within the wild-card spherical, is out to show he can win a Tremendous Bowl title with a workforce moreover the New England Patriots. His first season with the Buccaneers (11-5) was uneven as Brady obtained accustomed to his new teammates, together with receivers Mike Evans, Scottie Miller and Chris Godwin.
The stakes are increased for Brees, who’s reportedly considering retirement when the New Orleans Saints (12-4) season ends. Extremely sturdy throughout 20-year profession, Brees has battled accidents the previous two seasons, together with damaged ribs that pressured him to take a seat out 4 video games in November and December.
Nonetheless, Brees and the Saints, who beat the Chicago Bears, 21-9, final week, gained their two head-to-head matchups with the Buccaneers this season. The Buccaneers looked disorganized in Week 1, and the Saints blew out Tampa Bay in Week 9. These video games apart, the groups have been evenly matched, with potent offenses and defenses that have been ranked within the high ten within the league.
The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ greatest participant, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was out with a concussion. The workforce had simply allowed touchdowns on consecutive drives. And Mahomes’s substitute, Chad Henne, had simply been intercepted in the long run zone, giving the Cleveland Browns an opportunity to thwart the Chiefs’ hopes of repeating as Tremendous Bowl champions.
In a matter of seconds on Sunday in Kansas Metropolis, Mo., the Chiefs went from reeling to hovering of their divisional spherical playoff sport. After a defensive stand, Kansas Metropolis escaped with a 22-17 victory over the upstart Browns as a result of Henne rushed for his longest acquire in additional than seven years.
His 13-yard scramble on third-and-14, which ended with a headfirst dive to attempt to get that further yard, allowed Kansas Metropolis to go for a fourth-down conversion on its 48-yard line, and his subsequent 5-yard completion to Tyreek Hill allowed the top-seeded Chiefs to expire the ultimate minute or so of clock. Kansas Metropolis superior to face the second-seeded Buffalo Payments in subsequent Sunday’s A.F.C. championship sport, additionally at Arrowhead Stadium.
“That’s all coronary heart,” security Tyrann Mathieu stated of Henne’s scramble. “These are the moments that raise groups.”
The Chiefs will change into the primary A.F.C. workforce to host three consecutive championship video games. The one different workforce to perform that feat, the Philadelphia Eagles from 2002 to 2004, was additionally coached by Andy Reid.
For Cleveland, it was one other crushing playoff loss for a metropolis that has endured a disproportionate share of them. However for Kansas Metropolis, the euphoria within the instant aftermath was tempered by the uncertainty surrounding the situation of Mahomes, who left within the third quarter after being yanked down by Browns linebacker Mack Wilson. Mahomes struggled to stand up with out help, and after being helped off the sphere and leaving for the locker room, he was dominated out with a concussion, probably jeopardizing his availability for subsequent week.
Afterward, Reid stated Mahomes was “doing nice” and had “handed all of the offers” he wanted to go.
Changing Mahomes with a 19-10 lead, Henne led the Chiefs to a discipline aim on that drive, however then watched because the Browns — powered by two fourth-down conversions — minimize the deficit to 22-17 on an 18-play drive capped by Kareem Hunt’s 3-yard landing run.
On the Chiefs’ ensuing possession, after a 15-yard penalty pushed the ball again to the Cleveland 38, Henne lofted a deep ball towards the tip zone, however hardly close to the closest receiver, Demarcus Robinson, and security Karl Joseph intercepted it. Unable to maneuver the ball, nevertheless, the Browns punted on fourth-and-9 from their 32 — and so they by no means obtained the ball again.
It was a triumphant second for Henne, who had thrown solely 9 passes over his three seasons with Kansas Metropolis till Week 17, with the Chiefs resting Mahomes and a number of other starters towards the Los Angeles Chargers. He performed the complete sport in that one. Mathieu, who had the Chiefs’ lone interception, praised his professionalism after Sunday’s sport, saying that Henne all the time prepares as if he’s going to be taking part in that week.
“There’s numerous nice gamers round me that made me really feel assured,” Henne stated.
The Chiefs, after not taking part in for 2 weeks, didn’t overpower the Browns early a lot as play smarter. Mahomes, earlier than exiting, accomplished 21 of 30 passes for 255 yards and a landing, and he additionally ran for a rating. Kansas Metropolis scored on its first 4 possessions, together with a discipline aim within the waning seconds earlier than halftime that adopted a play that can dwell in Cleveland sports activities infamy.
It may not method the renown of the Fumble or the Drive, however Rashard Higgins’s fumbling the ball out of the tip zone price the Browns a possible landing. As he neared the aim line and prolonged the ball towards the correct pylon, Chiefs security Daniel Sorenson swooped in, and his hit jarred the ball free. As a substitute of scoring a landing that might have minimize the deficit to 16-9, pending the additional level, the Chiefs assumed possession on their 20. Deflating the Browns much more, Sorensen ought to have been penalized for his helmet-to-helmet hit, however officers missed it, and such a play isn’t reviewable.
That was of little solace to Browns followers, who’ve an extended historical past with unlucky postseason performs. The Chiefs did, too. Till Mahomes got here alongside. And, not less than on Sunday, till Henne got here alongside, too.
The Browns have an opportunity to take the lead over top-seeded Kansas Metropolis within the fourth quarter of a playoff sport at Arrowhead Stadium.
Repeat: The Browns have an opportunity to take the lead over top-seeded Kansas Metropolis within the fourth quarter of a playoff sport at Arrowhead Stadium.
Cleveland’s comeback from a 19-3 halftime deficit has coincided with the departure of Patrick Mahomes, whose substitute, Chad Henne threw a dreadful interception in the long run zone.
One play after a 15-yard crackback penalty on Chiefs tight finish Ricky Seals-Jones pushed the ball again to the Browns’ 38-yard line, Henne lofted a ball downfield within the basic neighborhood of Demarcus Robinson. Ready in the long run zone like an outfielder monitoring a fly ball, Browns security Karl Joseph settled underneath it and caught it for a touchback, giving Cleveland the ball at its 20-yard line with eight minutes left whereas trailing by 22-17.
With the Chiefs reeling after Patrick Mahomes’s harm, the Browns launched into their longest — and greatest — collection of the season, an 18-play masterpiece that ended with a 3-yard landing run by Kareem Hunt. Dashing for 38 yards on the drive, Nick Chubb and Hunt softened Kansas Metropolis’s protection and helped the Browns management the clock.
It was Chubb who first prolonged the possession, gaining 3 yards on fourth-and-1 from Cleveland’s 34-yard line, however tight finish Austin Hooper made the drive’s pivotal play. Reluctant to try a discipline aim trailing by 12 factors, Cleveland went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Chiefs’ 12. Mayfield flipped an ideal go to Hooper, who dived together with his arms prolonged to seize it, and three performs later Hunt scampered into the tip zone to chop Kansas Metropolis’s result in 22-17.
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Patrick Mahomes was dominated out of Sunday’s sport after sustaining a concussion within the third quarter. Mahomes needed to be helped off the sphere and brought into the Chiefs’ locker room after a success from Cleveland linebacker Mack Wilson left him dazed.
On third-and-1 from the Kansas Metropolis 48-yard line, Mahomes rolled proper on a velocity choice play and stored the ball. Coming in from Mahomes’s left, Wilson wrapped his left arm round Mahomes’s neck, dragging him to the bottom and inflicting Mahomes’s head to hit the bottom. Wilson then appeared to carry on to Mahomes as he rolled to the aspect.
Unable to stand up, Mahomes wanted teammates to regular him as he walked off the sphere. The veteran backup Chad Henne got here in to exchange him.
Henne had thrown solely 9 passes over his three seasons with Kansas Metropolis till Week 17, when the Chiefs rested Mahomes and a number of other starters towards the Los Angeles Chargers. Enjoying the complete sport, Henne accomplished 23 of 32 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. The Chiefs had hoped he wouldn’t obtain one other snap this season, however with Henne doubtless taking part in the remainder of the sport — and, maybe, past — they’re certain glad he obtained that have two weeks in the past.
The Browns scored their first landing of the sport after rediscovering their working assault. Nick Chubb totaled 41 yards on two consecutive performs. Kareem Hunt discovered creases. With that factor buzzing once more, the Browns’ offense opened up, and Mayfield related with Jarvis Landry for a 4-yard rating, reducing the deficit to 19-10.
Baker Mayfield entered Sunday having thrown just one interception since Week 7, a testomony to his consolation with Kevin Stefanski’s offense. However on the opening drive of the second half, Mayfield, flushed out of the pocket, didn’t see Tyrann Mathieu hovering in the course of the sphere and threw the ball proper into his palms. Mathieu returned the interception 17 yards, to the Cleveland 19, however the Chiefs did not capitalize, as Harrison Butker’s 33-yard discipline aim try clanged off the left upright.
As much as that time, Mayfield had been an inexpensive facsimile of the model of himself that shredded Pittsburgh’s protection final week — and Tennessee’s and Baltimore’s earlier than that. His stat line at halftime — 11 of 17 passes for 134 yards, completions to 6 gamers — was diminished by two drops by Nick Chubb and the demoralizing fumble by Rashard Higgins towards the tip of the primary half.
Within the first half, Mayfield had related with open receivers and stored the ball away from Kansas Metropolis’s aggressive secondary, which loves taking part in with a lead. According to Pro Football Focus, Mayfield was 3 for 3, for 74 yards, on throws that traveled not less than 20 yards.
What the Browns haven’t finished a lot of is get the ball to Kareem Hunt, who touched the ball solely as soon as — on an incomplete go that was negated by a defensive go interference name. Except the Browns’ struggling working sport can get untracked — six makes an attempt, 18 yards — any probabilities of a comeback relaxation with Mayfield.
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