For the third consecutive year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin their playoff journey on the prime time stage, as they will host the Washington Commanders at Raymond James on Sunday, January 12. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast by NBC.
The Buccaneers secured the third-overall seed in the 2024 NFC playoff field in Week 18 when they defeated the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks later in the afternoon. That gave them a home game against the sixth seed, which was Washington after their win over Dallas on Sunday.
The Buccaneers are heading into their fifth straight postseason, having won Super Bowl LV as a Wild Card team in 2020 and then captured four straight NFC South titles. They were the fourth seed in each of the previous two playoff fields, losing to Dallas in 2022 and beating Philadelphia in 2023 in the Wild Card round. This is the first time since the playoff field was expanded to seven teams in each conference that the Buccaneers have been the third seed.
The Buccaneers and Commanders started the 2024 season on the same field, with Tampa Bay defeating Washington, 37-20, at Raymond James Stadium in Week One. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for four touchdowns, two to Mike Evans, while Washington's rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels, ran for two touchdowns.
This will be the fourth time that Tampa Bay and Washington have met in the postseason. The Buccaneers engineered a comeback 14-13 win at Raymond James Stadium in the Divisional Round of the 1999 playoffs to advance to the NFC Championship Game. In 2005, Washington won 17-10 in Tampa in the Wild Card round over the division-winning Buccaneers. The 2020 Buccaneers began their Super Bowl LV championship run at Washington with a 31-23 victory over the NFC East champions.
