LANDOVER, Md. — Tampa Bay brings out the best in Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who handed the Bucs their worst loss of the season.
The former Old Dominion star, who nearly beat the Bucs in the NFC wildcard game last season, finished the job Sunday.
Using ball-control offense and converting on third down, Heinicke outplayed Tom Brady, who threw two interceptions in a 29-19 loss to Washington.
It was the second straight loss for the Bucs, who fell to 6-3 while Washington improved to 3-6.
Heinicke went 26-of-32 passing for 256 yards and a touchdown.
The Bucs played perhaps their worst half of football in the season to start Sunday’s game at FedEx Field.
They dropped passes, Brady threw two interceptions, including one on a pass that bounced off Jaelon Darden. The Bucs committed head-scratching pre-snap penalties. False starts. Jumping offsides.
For only the fifth time since Brady arrived, the Bucs failed to score a touchdown in the first half.
They got a huge break when Washington safety William Jackson III committed a facemask penalty after a completion to Mike Evans on what would have been the final play of the first half.
Instead, it led to Ryan Succop’s second field goal, this one from 31 yards, to leave the Bucs trailing only 16-6 at halftime.
Everything the Bucs talked about — not beating themselves with penalties and starting fast on the road — apparently did not resonate once they got to the nation’s capital.
Brady was 11-of-20 for 104 yards and two interceptions in the first half. In fact, the 13-point lead was the biggest one for Washington this season.
Things went bad for the Bucs before the game ever started. Cornerback Richard Sherman, who was making his first start in weeks, injured his calf in pre-game warmups and couldn’t play.
Fortunately, the Bucs had one thing working for them — a devastating pass rush.
Linebacker Devin White atoned for his poor game at New Orleans two weeks ago by recording his first two sacks of the season.
The field position helped the Bucs cut the Washington lead to a field goal. Brady went 4-for-4 for 43 yards on that drive, capped by the touchdown reception by Cameron Brate, his first of the season. Bucs cut Washington lead to 16-13 at 8:46 in the third quarter.
But Washington responded. Heinicke led a 71-yard drive in eight plays to make it a two-score game again with 4:21 remaining in the third quarter. The biggest play was an 18-yard completion from Heinicke to rookie tight end John Bates on third down.
Once again, it was a penalty that hurt Bucs. Dee Delaney, who had to be the emergency starter for Sherman, interfered with Cam Sims in the end zone. That set up Antonio Gibson’s 1-yard scoring run.
Just like that, it was a two-score game again.
Lavonte David’s forced a fumble by receiver Dax Milne and Antoine Winfield Jr. recovered. That led to the longest play of the game for the Bucs — a 40-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Mike Evans. Unfortunately, Succop missed the extra point to leave the Bucs trailing 23-19 with 10:55 to play.
But Heinicke and Washington melted almost all the remaining time off the clock with a 19-play drive — longest in the NFL this season. The Bucs used all of their timeouts and Washington put the game away on Gibson’s 1-yard TD run with 29 seconds remaining.
