Tampa Bay Finds a Way To Win, Washington Finds a Potential Quarterback

Look, it was just one game. It would be unfair to make any sort of long-term decision based off one game. With that being said, Taylor Heinicke earned the right to compete for Washington's starting quarterback job in 2021.

The former St. Louis BattleHawk of the XFL put on a gutsy performance in a close loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. He made plays with his arm and his legs while battling through a shoulder injury.

On the night, Heinicke finished with 352 total yards (306 passing, 46 rushing) and two total touchdowns. He did have an interception as well, but the 27-year-old left it all out on a field that he wasn't even supposed to be on.

Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen and Alex Smith all make sense to some degree. But before Saturday night, Heinicke didn't .. but we sure understand now.

On the other side, Tampa Bay came out with a 31-23 victory to move on. And once again, Tom Brady showed us how it's done. Despite being 43 years old, the six-time Super Bowl champ was effective. He threw for 381 yards and two scores while averaging 9.5 yards per attempt.

The weapons around Brady certainly did their part, but this is a Brady that the Buccaneers can win with. He impressed during the regular season -- at least for the most part -- but Playoff Brady is a different Brady.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.