Mina Kimes points to major Buccaneers issue ahead of facing Jayden Daniels and Commanders' electric offense in playoffs

On Sunday Night Football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Commanders will play in one of the best matchups of the NFL Wild Card Round. Both teams have strong offenses and had great regular seasons, and a win would make the 2024 season even more successful for them.

For one of these teams, though, the season will start and end against the same team. That's because they already met this season, in Week 1, when the Buccaneers got the better of the Commanders in a 37-20 victory. It was the first game of Jayden Daniels' career, and he wasn't great.

But for ESPN analyst Mina Kimes, this previous game doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Kimes warned Tampa Bay that they should be careful: Daniels improved massively since Week 1, and the Commanders will pose a real challenge:

"Tampa was lucky [that] they got them [Commanders] Week 1, right? Because, as the year went on, not only he [Jayden Daniels] started seeing the field better, he started attacking downfield. Part of the reason why his numbers against the blitz have been so good this year, is his willingness to push the ball downfield. This is a Buccaneers defense that has struggled against scrambling quarterbacks all year long. They went near the bottom of the NFL. They struggle in a lot of ways. They struggle in ways that I just think this version of Jayden Daniels is very well equipped to attack."

Buccaneers' playoff path: Possible opponents for Tampa Bay in the NFC postseason

Baker Mayfield's team will start the January run at home against the Commanders. Even though the visitors finished with a better record (12-5 to 10-7), the Buccaneers will still be the home team due to their condition of division winners, while Washington won their playoff berth through the wild cards.

If they defeat the Commanders, then could either face the Philadelphia Eagles (if they beat the Green Bay Packers) or the winner of the Vikings/Rams game, which will be defined on Monday Night Football. Tampa Bay entered the 2024 playoffs with the seed #3 in the NFC.