Needless to say, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are enjoying not only the 2021 Super Bowl victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs themselves, but certainly their spoils. Take a look at linebacker Devin White and you’ll immediately find evidence of that fact, having now gone from riding the Dream around Raymond James Stadium on his horse to grab a scalpel and surgically dissect the Chiefs a second time – this time verbally. Never measuring words, the All-Pro is sick of hearing how Kansas City was at a disadvantage because they weren’t attacked by injured Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.
To be clearer, White wants everyone to be able to use these excuses, tie them to a rocket and throw them in the sun, as he so eloquently made clear in a recent interview for FS1’s “Undisputed”. The 23-year-old hired coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and anyone else who helped plan Mahomes’ protection.
“We knew they would be an arrogant team, which they have every right to be,” White said, via an NFL reporter. Dov Kleiman. “They [were] the No. 1 offense in the entire National Football League. But the fact is, we knew they couldn’t block us. We knew that our first four would dominate them.
“So they did us a favor. They played well in our hands.”
As well? Well, White points out the Chiefs’ refusal to send any aid to the edges.
“We wouldn’t be that arrogant team like, ‘Hey, let’s face them at Cover One, let’s get rid of them,'” he said. “Our best players matched their best. We were going to make a collective victory in team defense, and that’s what we did. So at the end of the day, they shouldn’t even talk about not having their offensive tackles when they didn’t even help them.
“They put them on islands alone with the best pass rushers in the game. So it’s their fault.”
When looking at the film, White is telling the truth. Kansas City’s plan to pretend its backups could play this against the Bucs’ violent defensive front was doomed from the start. Mahomes was under siege most of the night and when he finally broke free at times, it was in vain, thanks to the franchise’s falling targets like tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill – with running back Darrel Williams entering the drop action too. Mahomes was fired three times and bullied much, much more than that indicated, having also been hit nine times in the game.
Shaq Barrett alone had one of these sacks and four of those QB hits, with Ndamukong Suh and others also joining the group to keep Mahomes out of the end zone both on the ground and in the air. He would end with 23 incompleteness and two interceptions on the day, and although he was able to collect 270 passing yards, White says they should not write to his mother about that number.
“They started to gain yards when we were already 21 points,” said White. “We already gave our younger brothers the controllers, and they started to give up small BS yards in the end. [for having] 133 yards, but a lot of that came at the end of the game, when it was over – we are sitting in the zone and playing light. The same for Tyreek Hill.
“… They gave him a lot of feet and made it look like he had a decent day. We know what happened, there were a lot of fingers marked out there.”