NEW ORLEANS — This could be it for Drew Brees, who looks ready for the gold watch. But retirement isn’t on the mind of Tom Brady, who continues to seek his seventh Super Bowl ring.
The story line of Sunday’s NFC division playoff game was two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks with a combined age of 85. But it was four relative kids who made the biggest plays.
Sean Murphy-Bunting, Devin White and Mike Edwards intercepted Brees, and Antoine Winfield Jr. forced a fumble. Brady cashed two of them in with touchdown passes and added a 1-yard scoring run in the Bucs 30-20 win over the Saints.
The victory advanced the Bucs to their fourth NFC Championship game in franchise history. They will play the Packers next week at Lambeau Field.
Brady, 43, had never lost three games to the same team in a season and he wasn’t about to start Sunday. It was White’s interception of Brees with 7:08 remaining in the game that sent the Bucs to Green Bay. That set up Brady’s 1-yard touchdown run.
The 22-year-old White, who was all over the field with a fumble recovery and the pick, had missed two previous games on the COVID-19 list.
Brees, who turned 42 Friday, is expected to retire and take a job with NBC. If so, the Bucs threw his retirement party at the Superdome. In fact, one of the Saints’ two scoring passes came on a trick play from ex-Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston.
Murphy-Bunting’s interception and Winfield’s forced fumble after a reception by Saints tight end Jared Cook made life easy for Brady. He quickly turned them into scoring passes to Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette.
