(Tampa) Matthew Stafford had 366 passing yards and two touchdown passes and Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal as the final seconds ticked away helped the Los Angeles Rams beat the defending Super Bowl champions , the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, down 30-27 on Sunday in the second round of the playoffs.
Posted at 6:30 p.m.
Updated at 7:15 p.m.
The Buccaneers, who trailed 27-3 in the second half, pulled off a comeback led by Tom Brady. The Rams committed three turnovers during that streak. Leonard Fournette’s nine-yard major on fourth down with 42 seconds left in the game brought both teams back to square one. The seven-time Super Bowl trophy champion didn’t get a chance to complete the job.
Stafford led the Rams into the opposing end zone with passes for 20 and 44 yards to the season’s most prolific receiver, Cooper Kupp, to set up Gay’s game-winning field goal.
PHOTO MARK LOMOGLIO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tom Brady (12)
The Rams quarterback, who had never won a playoff game before his victory over the Arizona Cardinals the previous week, completed 28 of 38 passes and none of them were intercepted. The 13-year veteran scored a one-yard touchdown for the Rams (14-5), who will face the 49ers of San Francisco in the National Conference final on Sunday.
Brady found takers on 30 of 54 passes for 329 yards. The Buccaneers quarterback threw a touchdown pass and an interception, was the victim of three sacks and lost a fumble.
The Buccaneers (14-5), who went down for the third time in two seasons against the Rams, tried to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots in 2004, then trailing by Brady.