Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl LV champions after completing a win that exceeded expectations and made all kinds of history on Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. By dominating the Kansas City Chiefs by 31-9, the Bucs won their second Super Bowl and became the first team to win a Super Bowl at their stadium. Quarterback Tom Brady secured his seventh Lombardi Trophy, two more than any player in NFL history and one more than any entire NFL franchise has ever achieved.
Brady’s 43-year-old performance was almost perfect, and the stifling pressure of Todd Bowles’ defense was a perfect complement to the attack effort. The future professional football Hall of Fame quarterback completed 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair for his longtime favorite tight end Rob Gronkowski and another for wide receiver Antonio Brown. He calmly distributed the ball to his group of passers-by and had a special success in the middle. Brady and Gronk now have 14 postseason scoring connections in their legendary careers.
The Bucs forced the Chiefs into their worst offensive performance of the Patrick Mahomes era as Tampa Bay’s defensive front completely controlled the scrimmage line in all four quarters. Mahomes has been under siege all night, alternately throwing the ball to the ground and having to hide and escape the relentless pressure. Mahomes took three bags and threw two interceptions on inclined passes. Even these numbers reveal the degree to which the Bucs have made their lives miserable. He ended the night with 270-yard passes, much of it in trash time, while being held without a touchdown for the second time in 56 games since taking over as KC holder in 2018. It was also the first loss of two digits of Mahomes’ career.
Tampa’s defensive defenders and linebackers also deserve their applause after recovering from a disastrous performance in Week 12 against the same Kansas City. After setting the Bucs on fire for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the first clash, the Chiefs’ explosive WR Tyreek Hill recorded only seven hits for 73 yards, causing a relatively low impact. Travis Kelce was a little more productive, but it didn’t matter that much. Hill and the rest of the wideouts have been completely removed from the game.
The frustrations were notable on both sides of the ball for KC, who committed 10 penalties for 100 yards in the game, with many mistakes in key situations that cost the Chiefs on the scoreboard.
Brady, for his part, was fortunate to be well protected throughout the game, a testament to the offensive line that the Buccaneers built in front of him. This group also paved the way for Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones to combine for 150 yards running on 28 loads, including Fournette’s 27-yard touchdown race that opened the game forever in the third quarter.
In the end, the Bucs got it right with the idea of what they could become with Brady in charge. Both sides saw the living legend as a catalyst that would take Tampa Bay to a championship, and they ended up getting it right. In the strangest NFL season of all time, the greatest player in the league has found a way to win again.
Why the privateers won
While Brady took home the Super Bowl MVP for the fifth time in his career, the Tampa Bay coordinators were masterful.
Byron Leftwich’s offensive game plan was masterful, and he had some particularly fun designs on screens and played in the red zone. The Bucs chose Kansas City linebackers on the roof and in the racing game, taking Fournette repeatedly to the second level, where he could work against oversized and underage defenders. Gronk, Fournette and Cameron Brate, meanwhile, combined for 13 receptions for 139 yards – almost two-thirds of Brady’s total.
If an MVP can be awarded to an entire unit, the Tampa Bay defensive front deserves it. Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh and Steve McClendon had a resounding performance and they would have to share it with Bowles, who consistently put them in a position of success. This group kept Mahomes boxed in his pocket and unbalanced for most of the night. The Chiefs had to resort to a multitude of screens and short passes designed to prevent the passing race from trapping their ears. Even those moves did not work very well, however, and Mahomes continued to be hit and had to run for his life during the game.
Why the bosses lost
Penalties, drop and offensive line. The Chiefs accumulated an incredible 95 penalty yards on eight mistakes during the first half – a Super Bowl record. Hill made a possible touchdown. Kelce fired a clear shot first. Darrel Williams abandoned a fourth-down conversion. Mecole Hardman had at least two passes sailing right over his head because he wasn’t looking for them.
In reality, however, the story was that Mahomes simply did not have his usual time to aim at his receivers on the field or improvise without having to panic at the sight of the race. With Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz tackling out due to injuries, Mike Remmers and Andrew Wylie were overloaded and overloaded at the perimeter where they simply couldn’t handle JPP and Barrett. With Wylie kicked out, Stefen Wisniewski joined the starting team alongside Nick Allegretti and Austin Reiter in the middle, and this trio fought Vea and Suh for much of the night as well.
Just as the Packers’ offensive line was dominated by the Bucs’ front in the NFC championship game, so did the Chiefs’ offensive line in the Super Bowl.
Game play
It must be the first touchdown in the game – a record that also happened to be perfectly designed by Leftwich and Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians. Brady’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Gronk near the end of the first quarter was a beautiful thing.
This was the 13th touchdown that Brady and Gronk scored in the playoffs, making them the most prolific post-season passing pair in NFL history. (They added a 14th touchdown at the end of the first half.) It was also somehow the touchdown pass for Brady’s first quarter of the Super Bowl career, which is unbelievable.
The design of this piece was perfect. In fact, it looked like something out of the Chiefs manual. Tampa Bay showed an RPO tilt to Mike Evans, who made Bashaud Breeland bite from the inside. But the piece was not designed to go to Evans. Gronk leaked out of formation, right where Evans came from. Evans’ tilted route served as a choice, preventing Daniel Sorenson from reaching Gronk outside. All Brady had to do was turn to Gronk, and the big tight end entered the end zone for an easy score and another peak.
Where the game turned
Near the end of the first half, it looked like the Chiefs were working to get back in the game. With 14-3 to lose, they registered the ball on the field, traveling 61 yards in 10 moves before stopping inside the red zone. Although the field goal was a disappointing result, it reduced the deficit to 14-6 and, with the Chiefs catching the ball in the second half, they seemed to be in a good position.
But then Brady and the Bucs started to work. Crucially, the Chiefs requested a timeout with the Bucs facing the third and two with 44 seconds remaining in the first half, only to see Tampa Bay convert in the next move. Then, the defensive defenders of Kansas City committed two penalties for passing pass in shots to Mike Evans (the second was a controversial decision), configuring the Bucs with first and goal from the 1-yard line. That’s when Brady found Brown working against Tyrann Mathieu, and the two connected for Brady’s third touchdown in the game. Suddenly, the advantage was 21-6 and the Bucs never looked back.