Easy victory for the Buccaneers against the Eagles

(Tampa) Tom Brady had 271 passing yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-15 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the playoffs.

The defending Super Bowl champions quickly set the tempo.

Brady orchestrated two long drives leading to touchdowns in the first quarter, en route to a 17-0 lead at the half.

A seven-game Super Bowl winner, Brady added two-yard touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski and 36 yards to Mike Evans. The 44-year-old improved his playoff record to 35-11. That includes 85 touchdown passes.

Jalen Hurts was intercepted twice in his playoff debut. Brady completed 29 of 37 passes.

“We have to keep going the same way,” Brady said. A little bit everyone has to go big games. We controlled the ball well, and both the defense and the special teams did very well. »

Brady spotted Gronkowski late alone in the middle of the end zone to make it 24-0 midway through the third quarter. Evans caught a long touchdown pass just two minutes later.

The Eagles didn’t score until the final quarter, via a 34-yard run from Boston Scott and a 16-yard reception from Kenneth Gainwell.,

Giovani Bernard and Ke’Shawn Vaughn broke into the pay zone with two and one yard runs in the first quarter.

Ryan Succop completed a 34-yard field goal for the Bucs, who play at home again next weekend.

In the first quarter, Tampa Bay put up 25 plays, compared to eight for the opponent. They led 137-17 in yards and 11-1 in first downs.

Little changed after that, especially since the Bucs defense relied on the return of Lavonte David, Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul.

Philadelphia managed an encouraging climb, but it ended with an interception by Mike Edwards, in the end zone.

Hurts had 258 passing yards for the Eagles, who had won four of their last five games.

“I could have played better, for sure,” said Hurts, a 2020 second-round pick.

Coach Nick Sirianni felt the blame should not lie with one man.

“Jalen didn’t have his best game, but you could say the same about a lot of players,” said Sirianni, a rookie coach.

“That also applies to us as a coaching staff. About Jalen, it does not prevent that he has made progress throughout the season. »

49ers snatch Cowboys

Deebo Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers began their playoff journey after a frantic endgame against the Dallas Cowboys.

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys will have to wait for a long run in the playoffs.

Receiver Samuel carried the ball 26 yards for a touchdown on the play following an interception by Prescott and the 49ers survived a late push by the Cowboys on Sunday to win 23-17.

The Cowboys had one last chance with 32 seconds left when they found themselves at the 49ers 41-yard line. Prescott sped into midfield and slipped, hoping then to get a final play when 14 seconds were left on the clock.

However, from the line of 24, the Cowboys failed to put the ball in play before the last seconds ticked away. After a short delay, referee Alex Kemp announced that the game was well and truly over.

Head coach Mike McCarthy implied that the Cowboys were slowed by a collision between Prescott and official Ramon George and that a referee on the sidelines assured him that the game would be reviewed.

“The information I got on the sidelines was that he was going to review the game,” McCarthy said. That they were going to add time to the game. And then, a few moments later, they left the field. »

The 49ers overcame an intercepted pass from Jimmy Garoppolo as they led by 13 points in the fourth quarter. Prescott netted the middle finger and cut the 49ers lead to a touchdown, with a chance to take the lead with a conversion.

However, on a fourth down, Prescott made a pass just out of Cedrick Wilson’s reach which allowed the 49ers to regain possession with less than two minutes to go. The 49ers failed to complete the full time and cleared the ball – which led to a dramatic end to the game.

The 49ers (11-7) will play Green Bay in the second round of the playoffs, with the goal of another appearance in the National Conference Finals.

“It lasted a whole day, really,” Garoppolo said of the game’s final streak. It’s been a fierce fight in a crazy atmosphere here. I mean, the fans were so intense. It was everything we thought the party was going to be. It was fun. »

The Cowboys’ streak (12-6) without appearance in the National Conference Final will lengthen to 27^and year.

Prescott completed 23 of 43 passes for 254 passing yards. Garoppolo, whose future with the 49ers is uncertain after the season, found takers on 16 of 25 passes for 172 yards through the air.

Mahomes and the Chiefs crush the Steelers

Patrick Mahomes had 404 yards through the air and five touchdown passes, Travis Kelce threw and caught a touchdown pass and the Kansas City Chiefs sent the Pittsburgh Steelers on vacation and Ben Roethlisberger closer to retirement thanks to a 42-21 win on Sunday.

Byron Pringle caught a touchdown pass from Mahomes and Kelce in the win. Jerick McKinnon and Tyreek Hill also shone with majors for the Chiefs (13-5) who are in search of a third title of the American Conference.

The Chiefs scored on six straight offensive appearances and wiped out Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers offense en route to the second round playoff game. They will host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The Bills also had a smooth run into the second round as they easily defeated the New England Patriots 47-17 on Saturday. The Bills faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Association Finals last year.

Roethlisberger admitted this week that the Steelers (9-8-1) are “not a good football team,” but they haven’t performed well by their usual standards. The 39-year-old quarterback completed 29 of 44 passes for 215 passing yards. He completed two inconsequential touchdown passes late in the game to potentially seal the end of his career in which he appeared in six Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowls.