ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Todd Bowles as a defensive coach does not want to see the wild-card playoff game between his Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Commanders turn into a high-scoring shootout. His quarterback wouldn’t mind.

“If you come out on the right side of it, yeah,” Baker Mayfield said.

The points could come fast and furious when Mayfield and the Buccaneers host standout rookie QB Jayden Daniels and the Commanders on Sunday night in a matchup of two of the NFL’s top-five scoring offenses. Tampa Bay won six of seven down the stretch to finish atop the NFC South, Washington won five in a row to get the conference’s sixth seed at 12-5 and these teams are facing off again a little more than four months since meeting to open the regular season.

The Bucs won that game 37-20. They’re 3-point favorites now, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and competitors on either side acknowledge much has changed since Week 1.

“It’s a full-circle moment,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. “You don’t usually get to play somebody at the start of a season, then the start of a second season. They absolutely got the best of us on that day, and so it’s a good measuring stick to see how much we’ve improved. They’re an excellent team and clearly on that day showed it.”

Tampa Bay (10-7) is in the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year, a streak that started with Tom Brady beginning his march to his seventh Super Bowl title by winning at Washington. Nearly everything has changed with these organizations since that Jan. 9, 2021, game, including that the home team was a full year away from being renamed the Commanders.

Mayfield is in his second season running the Buccaneers’ offense, which averaged nearly 32 points a game during the 6-1 run since the bye week to take the team from 4-6 to division champions again. Most of the celebration last week centered on Mike Evans reaching 1,000 yards for an 11th consecutive season to tie Jerry Rice’s record and trigger a $3 million contract bonus, not clinching a playoff spot.

“(We are) happy we won the division obviously, but that’s not like, ‘OK, we won the division,’” rookie center Graham Barton said. “Now it doesn’t matter. It’s, ‘Now we’re in the playoffs,’ and so we have to win each and every week.”

If the Bucs win, they would play at Philadelphia if the Eagles beat Green Bay or host the Los Angeles Rams or Minnesota if the Packers win.

The Commanders could go to Detroit, LA or Minnesota if they get past Tampa Bay, but with Daniels set for his NFL playoff debut at the site of his first professional game, the focus is one game at a time after he and Quinn helped Washington turn things around from going 4-13 last season.

“A lot of people are going to put a lot of emphasis on it because at this point it’s really win or go home,” Daniels said. “At the end of the day, you got to go out there and play ball.”

Evans vs. Lattimore

The rivalry between Evans and cornerback Marshon Lattimore was front and center whenever the Buccaneers played the New Orleans Saints since 2017, including a playoff matchup four years ago. It’s adding another chapter Sunday night now that Lattimore is with Washington and on track to play after missing time with a hamstring injury.

“There’s definitely matchups all over the field that make a difference in winning and losing,” Quinn said. “These are two elite competitors, and it’s honestly what makes coaching so much fun.”

Rookies in the spotlight

Daniels is a shoo-in to be AP Offensive Rookie of the year, but he’s not the only first-year player to watch in this game. Irving, Barton, receiver Jalen McMillan, safety Tykee Smith and reserve linebacker Chris Braswell have played big roles in Tampa Bay’s success.

“I like our draft class,” Bowles said. “I think they play very well. ... Just have to keep getting better.”

Daniels has focused on getting better each game, and that has worked. Before being pulled at halftime of the regular-season finale against Dallas with leg soreness that he and Quinn brushed off as no cause for concern, Daniels finished the season completing 72% of his passes for 955 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions, and the Commanders haven’t lost since Nov. 24.

“He can do it all, honestly,” Tampa Bay linebacker Yaya Diaby said. “He can throw the ball the right way, get active with his feet, so he does it all. For us, we just have to go in with a great game plan, and I feel like I know we will.”