Brady, Bucs exact revenge on Brees' Saints to advance to NFC championship

Tom Brady's best game in three tries against New Orleans kept the Buccaneers moving on in the NFL playoffs, and has Saints quarterback Drew Brees headed home — perhaps for good.

Brady and the Bucs' offence turned three Saints turnovers, including two interceptions of Brees, into touchdowns, and Tampa Bay beat New Orleans 30-20 in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs Sunday night.

Two of those touchdowns came on short passes to Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette. And after Brees was intercepted by linebacker Devin White in the middle of the fourth quarter, Brady drove the Bucs to the 1, from where he scored himself to all but ensure his 14th trip to a conference championship game — his first in the NFC.

That game will take place in Green Bay next week, where the 43-year-old Brady will try to advance to his 10th Super Bowl in a showdown with Packers All-Pro QB Aaron Rodgers.

'Two road playoff wins is pretty sweet'

"We worked hard to get to this point. Two road playoff wins is pretty sweet," Brady said. "We've got to go beat a great football team we know pretty well. Aaron's playing incredible."

Meanwhile, the Brees era in New Orleans could be over after 15 seasons.

The game may have been the last in the Superdome for the 42-year-old Brees, who is under contract for one more year but has not discussed any plans to play beyond this season, and has sometimes hinted at his impending retirement.

While just 3,750 tickets were distributed in the 73,000-seat Superdome to comply with local COVID-19 restrictions, the fans made themselves heard with an eruption of cheers when Brees took the field for New Orleans' first offensive series.

If it was his last game, it won't be one he'll want to remember. The NFL's all-time leader in completions and yards passing was 19 of 34 for 134 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

Brady finished 18 of 33 for 199 yards in what often resembled more of a defensive struggle. Unlike his previous two meetings with the Saints — both losses — he was not intercepted and largely avoided pressure, taking only one sack.

"Really just locking in and playing a lot better than we did the first two times we played them," he said. "We had a bunch of turnovers last time. This time they turned it over and that's usually the story of football games."

After Brees' third interception on a tipped pass late in the fourth quarter, the Bucs were able to close out the game with Brady, in his first season with Tampa Bay after 20 with New England, taking a knee.

The Saints led 6-3 when Brees, while trying to flee pressure, underthrew Michael Thomas and was intercepted by Sean Murphy-Bunting, who raced 36 yards along the sideline to the Saints 3. Brady hit Evans one play later to put the Buccaneers up 10-6.

The Saints answered, helped by a drive-extending third-down defensive holding call on Murphy-Bunting. New Orleans drove to its 44 before unleashing a trick play.

Kamara took a direct snap and gave the ball to receiver Emmanuel Sanders on a reverse Sanders lateraled back to Jameis Winston. The reserve QB launched an accurate pass down the middle to Tre'Quan Smith for a 56-yard score.

Ryan Succop's 37-yard field goal capped an up-tempo Bucs drive powered by Fournette's 40 yards from scrimmage, tying the score at 13 to end the half.

Brees' 16-yard pass to Smith put the Saints ahead 20-13, and New Orleans appeared primed to build on that lead when Brees completed a third-down pass to Jared Cook across the 50. Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. stripped Cook from behind and White snagged the loose ball as it bounced to him, returning it 18 yards to the New Orleans 40.

Five plays later, Brady hit Fournette over the middle for a 6-yard score.

Succop's 36-yard field goal made it 23-20 before White's interception of a pass intended for Kamara gave the Buccaneers the ball at the New Orleans 20.

Kansas City narrowly beats Cleveland

Kansas City had lost Patrick Mahomes to a concussion and were in danger of losing the game.

Then their defence and Chad Henne — their defence and Chad Henne?! — kept their Super Bowl hopes alive with a 22-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns that advanced them to the AFC championship game.

With their star quarterback reduced to a spectator, the oft-forgotten bunch opposite Mahomes' high-powered offence forced the Browns to punt in the waning minutes Sunday. Then, his 35-year-old backup showed some moxie with a long third-down scramble and fourth-down completion to Tyreek Hill — when audacious Andy Reid decided to go for it — with just over a minute left, giving Kansas City a first down and allowing them to run out the clock.

"That's why we love Big Red. He's always on time," Kansas City safety Tyrann Mathieu said of the decision to go for the fourth down. "We always knew he has one play on the table."

Mahomes hadn't played in 21 days, since Kansas City clinched the AFC's top seed in Week 16, but he hardly missed a beat before leaving midway through the third quarter. He finished 21 of 30 for 255 yards and touchdowns passing and running.

Harrison Butker added three field goals for Kansas City, who nearly blew a 19-3 lead but held on to become the first AFC team to host three consecutive conference championship games. They'll face the Buffalo Bills next Sunday.

Baker Mayfield threw for 204 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Browns, who were coming off their first playoff win since the 1994 season. But their inability to drive for the winning touchdown — they punted with 4:23 left in the game — kept them from winning two playoff games in a season for the first time since 1950.

Mahomes completed 11 of his first 12 passes and led Kansas City to back-to-back touchdowns to start the game. Mahomes ran for the first and let Travis Kelce turn a dump-off into a 20-yard catch for the other, making him the first player since Steve Young in 1995 with three straight playoff games with TDs on the ground and through the air.

In fact, Mahomes was so sharp passing in the first half that he even completed a celebratory heave to a lucky fan in the far reaches of Arrowhead Stadium's upper deck following his touchdown jaunt.

Mahomes hobbled

After the teams swapped field goals, with Butker breaking Kansas City's playoff record with a 50-yarder into the wind, the Browns marched for what could have been a momentum-swinging score heading into halftime. But just when wide receiver Rashard Higgins tried to stretch over the goal line for a touchdown, Kansas City's Daniel Sorensen arrived to deliver a hit, popping the ball loose and into the end zone for a touchback — the call stood after a video review.

Compounding the miscue for Cleveland? Kansas City had 1:32 left, plenty of time for Mahomes to get them within range of Butker's strong right leg. His chip-shot field goal gave Kansas City a 19-3 halftime lead.

The entire complexion of the game changed early in the third quarter, though.

First, the Browns held Kandas City when Mayfield threw an interception and Butker missed a field goal off the upright. Then, Mayfield led them briskly the other way, capping a 77-yard drive with a touchdown throw to Jarvis Landry. And finally, roughly 17,000 fans allowed into the stadium because of the pandemic were left sitting in stunned silence when Mahomes was tackled around the head with 7:27 left in the quarter and was left crumpled on the turf near midfield.

Mahomes, already hobbled by a foot injury, stumbled as he tried to get to his feet. He was eventually helped to the blue tent on the sideline, then ran to the locker room, where he was evaluated for a concussion.

The momentum finally turned, the Browns began to lean heavily on their vaunted run game, which had produced just 18 yards in the first half. Chubb converted on fourth down with a hard run, then Hunt followed another fourth-down conversion on the same drive by hitting the end zone against his former team to make it 22-17 with 11:07 to go.

It remained with Cleveland when Karl Joseph picked off Henne in the end zone a few minutes later, but Kansas City's defence stuff Nick Chubb on first down, forced an incompletion and ultimately made Cleveland punt it away.

The Browns never got another chance.