The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl LV Champs after a dominating 31-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was a great game as the Bucs and their defense handled the Chiefs and their offense, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Seeing the Chiefs and Pat Mahomes get hammered was a delight, and it was fun rooting for Tom Brady. This game will long be remembered for Brady getting his 7th Super Bowl ring, the Bucs defense, and Mahomes proving he is actually human after all. Here are my thoughts one the game.
1) The Bucs defense was awesome in this game. They harassed Pat Mahomes, pressured him 29 times, sacked him 3 times, forced 2 ints, and made him have the worst game of his life. Their pass rush and defensive line destroyed the Chiefs depleted offensive line. They got there with four rushers all game long and just made Mahomes' life miserable. Give Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles credit. He had a great game plan and did a phenomenal job executing this game plan. Devin White and Shaq Barrett were all over the field and they snuffed out everything the Chiefs were trying to do.
2) Tom Brady wins his 7th Super Bowl and he was really good and efficient all game long. He won the Super Bowl MVP and he deserved it. He finished 21-29 for 201 yards, 3 TDs and no INT. He did what he had to do and the Chiefs had no answer at times for him. He is the greatest QB of all time and there is no debate.
3) Give Bruce Arians and his staff credit. The Bucs and their coaching staff completely outcoached Andy Reid and his staff. This was a complete drubbing in that department. This was not Reid's finest hour.
4) To me this game was over during the following sequence. Up 14-6 right before the half, TB got the ball back with 1:01 left on their own 29 yard line. The Chiefs took two timeouts and it killed them. It gave Brady time and the Bucs moved the ball. A big pass interference call moved the Bucs to the Chiefs 24 yard line. Then, Tyrann Mathieu, who had a bad game, got called for a pass interference in the end zone. Brady hit Antonio Brown for a 1 yard TD and that made it 21-6 with just seconds to go in the half. After halftime, the Chiefs put a drive together but had to settle for a field goal to make it 21-9. On the next drive, Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a big pass down the middle and then Leonard Fournette burst through for a 27 yard TD run to make it 28-9. That is when you felt like the Chiefs were done, and the Bucs were going to win this game.
5) Pat Mahomes played the worst game of his NFL career, but his offensive line just couldn't protect him. Mahomes was running for his life the whole game, and he looked skittish out there and just was out of sorts. I'm sure the turf toe injury didn't help either. It proved that Mahomes can't do it all by himself. He had a rough day and got the crap kicked out of him by the Bucs. It was also the worst defeat of his NFL career, and the most humbling.
6) You could just tell in the first half that this game was just not going to go the Chiefs way. They had an amazing throw by Mahomes that went off Tyreek Hill's facemask that would have been a TD, so they settled for a field goal. They had numerous pass interference calls, a defensive holding call that negated a Mathieu interception, and an offside that negated a Bucs field goal. If there is no penalty for offside, then the Bucs lead 10-6. Instead, the penalty gave the Bucs a first down and Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown and that made it 14-6. Everything just fell apart for them in this game. Even Hill and Travis Kelce had big drops in the game. It just wasn't their night.
7) Gronk played great. He scored two touchdowns and it felt like him and Brady were just going to take the game over as old Patriots and steer the Bucs to victory. His second TD was a play where he broke off his route to the corner of the endzone and turned backed in, and Brady connected with him for a wide open TD. Their combination was huge in this game.
8) This game was fun to watch for me personally. I loved watching the Chiefs get killed. It has never happened so far in Mahomes' career, but it happened on Sunday. The Chiefs have beat up on the Broncos and the rest of the AFC for three years now, so for them to get embarrassed in the Super Bowl and watch them lose in a bid to repeat was just enjoyable for me. The image of the Chiefs and their fans sitting through an embarrassing blowout in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl will warm my mind all offseason.
9) Are the Chiefs and Pat Mahomes going anywhere? No. Are they still the favorite to get back to the Super Bowl next year? Yes. The Chiefs will be back. I know that, but it was really sweet to see get them thwarted in their attempt to win back-to-back Super Bowls. Maybe this loss derails their dynasty plans a little bit. Sometimes losses like this can have a lingering effect. Russel Wilson hasn't been back to a Super Bowl since his third loss. Aaron Rodgers hasn't been back to a Super Bowl in 10 years. You just never know for sure if you will get back and win one.
10) Tom Brady signed with the Bucs in the beginning of the free agency period in March, and I thought that it was going to translate into a playoff season for the Bucs and maybe one playoff victory. I am surprised that he got the Bucs to the Super Bowl and won it. It is a remarkable story and amazing how in one year, Brady took this team to this level. Just incredible at 43 years old and after spending his whole career with the Patriots. I wonder how Bill Belichick felt about that after watching Brady win Super Bowl MVP honors.
11) The NFL got through Super Bowl LV and they played their entire 2020 season. This will always be remembered as the Covid season. Yes, there were some hiccups along the way. The Broncos got screwed and played without a QB against the Saints. The Browns had to play a playoff game without their head coach. Teams had to move games to Monday afternoons, Tuesdays, and even Wednesdays. Teams missed some key players at times, and their bye weeks got moved around. In the end, the NFL was able to play their 16 games for each team in 17 weeks and all of their playoff games on schedule. The playoffs weren't compromised by missing any key players due to Covid and the Super Bowl was played on schedule. Give the NFL credit. No one thought they would be able to play this season on time. Dr. Fauci said in June that there was no way they would be able to play an entire season outside of a bubble, but they did. It was an amazing accomplishment considering the circumstances. Although the Broncos had a shitty season, at least there was NFL football to look forward to each week. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a normal NFL season come the fall of 2021 and getting this pandemic behind us.
12) Now, that the season is over, I am looking forward to taking some time away and then I'll be back at some point with preview of the Broncos offseason before free agency starts. If there is any news regarding the Broncos, I will comment on it. Until then......Go Broncos!
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