Tampa Bay @ Washington
Team Totals: Bucs 26.5, Washington 18.5
Tampa Bay visits Washington as the Wild Card Round’s second-largest favorite quarterbacked by white-hot Tom Brady, who since the Bucs’ Week 13 bye is 94-of-136 passing (69%) for 1,333 yards (9.8 YPA) and a 12:1 TD-to-INT ratio. Yet Brady’s Week 18 matchup is concerning; his QB rating nosedives from 115.1 (eighth among 42 qualifiers) in clean pockets to 54.5 (28th) when pressured, while Washington has generated the NFL’s sixth-highest pressure rate (26%) and permitted the league’s sixth-fewest fantasy QB points. Mike Evans’ (knee) suspect health further adds uncertainty to Brady’s projection. … The Bucs deployed a two-man backfield in last Sunday’s win over Atlanta with Ronald Jones out-snapping (54%) and out-touching (12) Leonard Fournette (45%, 7). As Week 17 represented Jones’ first game back from a two-week absence – and RoJo outplayed Fournette on a per-touch basis – Jones stands a chance of playing an enhanced Wild Card Round role in running back-friendly script with Tampa Bay favored by nearly two scores.