Five takeaways from Washington’s playoff win over Tampa Bay

The Washington Commanders picked up another dramatic victory on Sunday by eliminating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road, 23-20. Here are five takeaways from the franchise’s first playoff victory since the 2005 season.

1. Another clutch performance from Jayden Daniels.

Not that anyone should be surprised now, but Daniels came through with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

Daniels completed 68.6 percent of his passes for 268 yards, contributing to the third-best QBR of Wild Card Weekend (only Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen were better), but he was perfect on the Commanders’ final two drives that gave them the advantage. He accounted for 61 of their final 74 yards, completing all six pass attempts for 57 yards and a touchdown.

But it’s not just the stats that show how impressive Daniels was in the final 12 minutes of regulation; this is how he kept the offense on the field by answering the call with several decisive plays. On a third-and-6, he connected with Dyami Brown on a 21-yard gain that moved the Commanders to the Buccaneers 45-yard line with about three minutes remaining; on a third-and-2 with 55 seconds left, he dove for the conversion, forcing the Buccaneers to burn their final timeout.

There was no margin for error for the Commanders, especially with Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and the Buccaneers’ third-down offense on the other sideline. This didn’t bother Daniels, even though not everyone shared his comfort level.

“I think if he had his heart rate monitor and mine on, they wouldn’t be the same during the game,” head coach Dan Quinn said. “He stays pretty consistently good, and sometimes I’m like the duck… if you just saw the feet go underwater, that’s good. But he’s really… exceptional.”

Daniels’ first playoff victory put him in rare company. He joined Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, Andrew Luck, CJ Stroud and Andy Dalton as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for at least 250 yards in their first career playoff start.