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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.
The Buccaneers secured the third-overall seed in the 2024 NFC playoff field in Week 18 when they defeated the 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 were the Commanders after their win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Tampa Bay is heading into its fifth straight postseason, having won Super Bowl LV as a Wild Card team in 2020 and then captured four straight NFC South titles.
An old feud will reignite
There's an old feud that will be on full display on Sunday, when superstar wide receiver Mike Evans will battle it out against cornerback Marshon Lattimore. The rivalry goes back to 2017, the first time both players got into it and they have never looked back ever since.
During that first game against each other, Evans pushed Lattimore (then with the New Orleans Saints) in the back after the rookie defensive player pushed Jameis Winston, the Bucs' starting quarterback that season. Several Buccaneers had to separate Evans and Lattimore.
Three years later, on September 2020, they faced each other again with a similar result: Evans grabbed around the shoulder and neck of Lattimore after a play and then walked away. The cornerback pushed the wideout in the back, causing him to stumble before whipping around and smacking the helmet right of Lattimore's head.
Two years later, on September 2022, Evans blocked Lattimore far away from a play. Both players became choppy and Lattimore shoved Evans after he turned around, in which Evans came back and knocked Lattimore's helmet off and began bleeding underneath his left eye. The defensive player was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play.
Bucs and Commanders played against each other earlier this year
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.