Bucs Defeat Saints 30-20

Tom Brady extended his playoff career in what was a heated battle against longtime friend and Saints QB Drew Brees. 

This match-up would see two future Hall of Famers suit up for the final game against each other for an NFC Divisional Round playoff game.

Brees has had the upper hand versus Brady throughout his career. He’s 5-2 in seven career match-ups against Brady, including a 2-0 mark versus the Bucs in the 2020 regular season.

This contest saw his Tampa Bay teammates defeat the Saints in a game played at New Orleans Superdome in what was a divisional playoff that saw them advance to the NFC championship with a 30-20 win.

The win will see them play Aaron Rogers and his Green Bay Packers Sunday January 24th with the kick-off set for 12:05 PM with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl February 7th in Tampa Bay.

The game features Tom Brady in his career best 14th Championship title game in his career, nine (9) with the New England Patriots as well as 6 super bowl titles. 

He is now taking his new team Tampa Bay to the cold confines of Lambeau field in Green Bay next weekend for yet another shot in hopes of getting back to the 55th Super Bowl and the 51st in the modern-era championship game.

This game was promoted as a game between two of the greatest QB passers in the history of the National Football League that involved passing yards and TD’s and by all indication will go down as one of the most watched playoff games in NFL history.

The Saints opened the scoring on two stalled drives in the red zone by the Tampa Bay defense kicking a pair of field goals by Will Lutz giving the Saints a 6-0 lead hitting them from 23 and 42 yards respectively.

It took awhile but Tampa Bay finally got on the scoreboard with a FG that saw Ryan Succop connect with his first from 40 yards out cutting the Saints lead to 6-3.  

Tampa took the lead on TD pass as Brady sent one from 3 yards to Mike Evans in the second quarter giving a 10-6 lead.

The Saints re-took the lead on a flea flicker pass that saw Brees deliver a 56 yard pass to Tre”Quan Smith to retake the lead that saw Will Lutz make the convert giving the Saints a 13-10 lead. 

Tampa’s Ryan Succop nailed a 37-yard kick through the uprights tying the game at 13 as the teams went to the locker rooms ending the first half.

The Saints re-claimed the lead on a TD pass that saw Brees again connect to Tre”Quan Smith from 16 yards out, followed by a convert from Lutz convert putting them up 20-13. 

It never took Brady long to rebound and return the favor following a long drive for the Bucs that saw him hit Leonard Fournette from 6 yards out followed by another successful convert with Succop getting the game even again at twenty.

As if one wasn’t enough Ryan Succop found the distance and hit the uprights from 36 yards giving Tampa a 23-20 lead early in the fourth quarter. 

Tampa managed to put the game away in the fourth quarter as Drew Brees threw his third inception of the game, taken away by the Bucs with 2:44 left in regulation time.

Tom Brady on the ensuing drive after the pick drove the Buccaneers down to the Saints one yard line and carried it over, breaking the plane with 2:11 left giving Tampa Bay a 30-20 lead on a Succop convert. 

Tampa Bay got the ball back with under two minutes left and ran out the clock that saw the Saints and Tampa players congratulate each other. 

Both Brady and Brees met at center field and had words of their own for an extended period of time each showing professionalism and respect for each other.

Tampa’s Tom Brady finished completing 18 of 33 attempts for 199 yards including two TD’s, while Drew Brees of the Saints was 19 of 34 and held to 134 yards and one TD pass and unfortunately was picked off three times.

This marked the only time in the NFL that Drew Brees and Tom Brady have ever met in a postseason game in their careers.

The last time they faced each other was in 1999 when they played in a college game on the site listed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/01/14/drew-brees-tom-brady-age-stats-meme/

https://www.theringer.com/nfl-playoffs/2021/1/13/22228227/drew-brees-tom-brady-forever-quarterbacks

For a complete review of this historic game and the legends of Drew Brees of the and Tom Brady go to the www.nfl.com  for game stats and interviews.