TAMPA, Fla. - As the game clock expired, Tom Brady raised his arms in triumph along the sideline, whirled and tossed a football into the stands.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their jubilant 44-year-old quarterback took the first step on what they hope will be a journey back to the Super Bowl, dominating the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-15, in an NFC wild-card victory Sunday.
"It only gets tougher from here," said Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl winner who's trying to help the second-seeded Bucs become the first team to repeat as NFL champions since he led the New England Patriots to back-to-back titles in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Tampa Bay set the tempo from the start, with Brady leading a pair of long touchdown drives in the opening quarter and building the lead to 17-0 by halftime. The three-time league MVP finished off the seventh-seeded Eagles with touchdown passes of 2 yards to Rob Gronkowski and 36 yards to Mike Evans, improving his dazzling playoff record to 35-11 in a record 46 postseason starts. Brady is 5-0 in the playoffs since joining the Bucs in 2020 after 20 seasons with the Patriots.
The defense did its part, too, intercepting Jalen Hurts twice in the second-year Philadelphia quarterback's playoff debut.
"We did some good things," Brady said. "I think we're just going to have to keep doing what we did today. Everyone's got to touch it, make some explosive plays. Did a good job possessing it, the defense played great, so it was a great team win. Special teams played awesome - one of the best days we had on special teams all year."
Next up is another home game in the divisional round, against the winner of Monday night's matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams that will wrap up the three-day wild-card weekend.
Brady was 29-of-37 without an interception while extending his postseason record for touchdown passes to 85, but the Bucs had matters well in hand before the reigning Super Bowl MVP found Gronkowski wide open in the middle of the end zone to make it 24-0 midway through the third quarter. Evans punctuated his touchdown catch for a 31-0 lead with a front flip over the goal line.
Brady targeted Evans 10 times, completing nine of the throws for 117 yards.
"I don't ever take it for granted," Evans said of Brady's leadership. "When he came to this team, I knew he was going to change the franchise. He's done that and then some. He makes sure we're always ready to play. He makes sure that we know what we're doing, and he makes sure that we give it our all. That's all you can ask for from a leader."
AP photo by Mark LoMoglio / Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans catches the ball in front of Philadelphia Eagles safety Rodney McLeod during Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff game in Tampa, Fla.The Eagles scored on Boston Scott's 34-yard run and Hurts' 16-yard pass to Kenneth Gainwell, both in the fourth quarter. A 2-point conversion trimmed Philadelphia's deficit to 16 with 4:45 remaining, but that was as close as it would get.
"We didn't play good enough today, I didn't play good enough today," said Hurts, who was wearing a protective boot on his left foot after the game.
"This game does not define us, does not define who we are. We know all the different things that we've overcome. I know as a football team we'll be back," added Hurts, who at 23 is the youngest quarterback to start a playoff game for the Eagles. "We'll be back. This is a feeling that will kind of simmer in our hearts, simmer for us all."
Giovani Bernard scored on a 2-yard run and Ke'Shawn Vaughn, a second-year pro filling in for injured running backs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones, covered the final yard of a 70-yard drive that put the Bucs up 14-0.
Brady led the NFL in passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions this season, but Tampa Bay gained the upper hand in this one by running the ball and keeping it away from Hurts and the league's leading rushing attack. The Bucs ran 25 plays to Philadelphia's eight in the first quarter, outgaining the Eagles 137 yards to 17 and compiling an 11-1 edge in first downs.
It didn't get much better after that for the visitors, with a Tampa Bay defense fortified by the return of injured linebackers Shaquil Barrett Lavonte David and Jason Pierre-Paul turning away Hurts' most promising drive of the opening half with Mike Edwards' interception in the end zone.
The Eagles won four of their last five games in the regular season to make the playoffs, but the turning point in their year came when running the ball became a focal point of the offense during the second half of a 28-22 home loss to the Bucs.
The Eagles ran for at least 130 yards in their next nine games, including seven in a row with more than 175. Hurt led the team with 784 yards and 10 touchdowns rushing, becoming the eighth quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 3,000 yards and run for more than 750.
Hurts finished his playoff debut 23-of-43 passing for 258 yards. He ran for a team-high 39 yards on eight carries, with the Eagles rushing for 95 overall - well below their season average of 159.7 per game.
"I didn't sense for a moment that the moment was too big for them. I just think we made some mistakes," first-year Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "We just didn't make some plays. We didn't coach good enough at the end of the day."