TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New owners. New general manager. New coach. New franchise quarterback. That’s the formula — with an emphasis on the QB — that Washington rode to playoff success after nearly two decades of futility. Jayden Daniels ran for a critical first down to set up Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal that clanged off the right upright and went through as time expired, and the Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 in an NFC wild-card game Sunday night for the franchise’s first playoff win in 6,945 days. Daniels, playing with a bandage beneath his right eye after his face was bloodied, became the third rookie quarterback in three years to win a playoff game. The Commanders (13-5) will face the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions (15-2) in the divisional round.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dallas Goedert fired one stiff arm to a Packers defender, smacked him again and then — in a sports city known for its Broad Street Bullies — dispatched one final shot to the face on his way to end zone. Goedert refused to be stopped — and neither were the Philadelphia Eagles in game in which they welcomed back Jalen Hurts and had the book on Green Bay. Hurts tossed two touchdown passes in his first game since a late-season concussion, Goedert threw those three stiff-arms on a rugged TD catch and the Eagles rode their NFL-best defense to a 22-10 wild-card playoff win Sunday night. Hurts threw for a modest 131 yards, but played with no hesitation in his return from a three-week layoff after a concussion in December. He started strong — six straight completions to open the game — and held off the Packers with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Goedert in the third quarter that will be forever stamped on the franchise’s postseason highlight reel as he pushed around Carrington Valentine on his way for the score.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — JuJu Watkins and the rest of the Southern California women’s basketball team had a couple of special visitors in the locker room Sunday night. Cherie Nelson, who held the program’s scoring record for many years with a 50-point game, was among several Trojan alumni at Galen Center. She brought her 98-year-old mother, whose house in nearby Altadena was destroyed in the wildfires last week. “She told us she’d been reading about how well we’ve been doing and wanted to come and meet JuJu and meet the team and then her mom lost her home,” Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Dealing with that, it was probably up in the air if they were going to come and her mom said, ‘No, I want to go see the USC women’s team play.’” They were part of a high-energy crowd of 5,881 that included actor Vivica A. Fox and several children at one of the first sporting events held in Los Angeles since the the wildfires began on Tuesday. The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers are set to resume their schedules on Monday night after having games postponed Saturday.
PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker scored 30 points, Kevin Durant added 27 and the Phoenix Suns rallied in the final minutes to beat the Charlotte Hornets 120-113 on Sunday night. The Suns have won three straight and four of five. Charlotte has lost 10 of 11. The Hornets — who were trying to beat the Suns for the second time in a week — pushed to a 98-93 lead after the third quarter and led for much of the fourth. Durant hit a stepback jumper to give the Suns a 111-110 advantage with just over three minutes left. Durant found rookie Oso Ighodaro for a dunk to take a 115-113 lead. Royce O’Neale hit a 3-pointer for an 118-113 advantage with 41.5 seconds left. Charlotte hadn’t played since Tuesday night when it beat the Suns 115-104 at home. The Hornets were supposed to play the Lakers on Thursday and the Clippers on Saturday, but those games were postponed because of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
NFL PLAYOFFS
AFC WILD CARD ROUND
No. 4 Houston 32, LA Chargers 12
No. 3 Baltimore 28, No. 6 Pittsburgh 14
No. 2 Buffalo 31, No. 7 Denver 7
AFC DIVISIONAL ROUND
No. 4 Houston at No. 1 Kansas City
Saturday, Jan. 18, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN/ABC
No. 3 Baltimore at No. 2 Buffalo
Sunday, Jan. 19, 5:30 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+
NFC WILD CARD ROUND
No. 6 Washington 23, No. 3 Tampa Bay 20
No. 2 Philadelphia 22, No. 7 Green Bay 10
No. 4 LA Rams vs. No. 5 Minnesota, Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN
NFC DIVISIONAL ROUND
No. 6 Washington at No. 1 Detroit
Saturday, Jan. 18, 7 p.m. on Fox
LA Rams/Minnesota at No. 2 Philadelphia
Sunday, Jan. 19, 2 p.m. on NBC