The Super Bowl clash is officially set, as Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are scheduled to face off in Tampa in less than two weeks. Interestingly, the Buccaneers will become the first team to play the Super Bowl at their stadium, and the Bucs ‘defense will need the advantage of playing at home if they want to stop this Chiefs’ explosive attack. Patrick Mahomes and Co. accumulated 439 yards of total attack against Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game, when they reached a 38-24 victory. The Buccaneers were in a much tougher championship game against the Green Bay Packers, but managed to escape the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field with a 31-26 victory.
This will be the first Super Bowl to feature the last two Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. The Chiefs and Buccaneers actually met in Tampa on Week 12, and Kansas City left Florida with a 27-24 victory. The Chiefs jumped to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, but slowly allowed Tom Brady and the Bucs to return to the game. The Buccaneers scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth period, but that was not enough to achieve a return victory. Still, this was the Buccaneers’ last defeat, as they had seven consecutive wins to make the league game. Will Super Bowl LV follow a script similar to your showdown earlier this season? Which players can we expect to excel at the biggest stages? Below, we’ll look at five initial Super Bowl predictions.
1. Tyreek Hill goes over 100 yards in reception, wins Super Bowl MVP
Hill proved that he is one of the best NFL recipients in recent seasons – and certainly the fastest – but the extensive Pro Bowl tournament has played at a different level lately. In the Chiefs’ divisional round match against the Cleveland Browns, he took eight passes for 110 yards and then exploded for 172 yards in nine receptions in the conference championship game. His 172 receiving yards were the maximum in a playoff game in the history of the Chiefs, and marked his third consecutive post-season game with over 100 receiving yards. At the Chiefs’ Week 12 meeting with the Buccaneers, Hill played what was the best game of his career. He left for 269 yards and three hits in 13 hits in the air, and no one at Tampa Bay High School was able to contain him. With the way he has been playing in the postseason, coupled with the fact that he set the Buccaneers on fire earlier this year, go ahead and grab Over on Hill’s receiving yard support.
2. Mahomes is fired four times
Mahomes has only been fired four or more times in his career, but that could happen in the Super Bowl. His left tackle Eric Fisher suffered an Achilles tendon rupture in the AFC Championship game and the other tackle Mitchell Schwartz is already in reserve due to a back injury. When Fisher left the game, Mike Remmers moved from the right tackle to the left and Andrew Wylie moved to the right tackle, so this could be a lineup that the Chiefs follow in the Super Bowl LV.
The Buccaneers’ defensive front dominated the Packers on the scrimmage line, and Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for five sacks on Aaron Rodgers. You have to imagine that the Bucs’ defensive game plan will include putting pressure on Mahomes, especially now that he doesn’t have a couple of major attackers on the line. Mahomes was fired twice against the Buccaneers earlier this year, and that could double this time.
3. Rob Gronkowski receives a touchdown pass
Gronk’s decision to come out of retirement and play Brady in Tampa worked really well, didn’t it? In 16 games of the regular season, he managed 45 passes for 623 yards and seven touchdowns, but managed only two passes for 43 yards in three postseason games. Interestingly, Gronk presented the season’s highest numbers against the Chiefs in Week 12, receiving six passes for 106 yards. This will be Super Bowl No. 6 that Brady and Gronk played together, and the tight end star had some success in the big game. He picked up six of the seven 87-yard targets against the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl LII, and also recorded nine 116-yard receptions and two touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl LII. My prediction is that Brady looks at him when the Buccaneers are in the red zone, and he scores a touchdown on what could be his final NFL game.
4. The crucial turnover in the second half closes the deal
As in the first meeting between the Bucs and Chiefs, the Super Bowl LV will be a closed case. The Chiefs are unlikely to jump to a 17-0 lead this time, and it will depend on which team can beat the other in the second half, when each possession is precious. Brady allowed the Packers to return to the game with three interceptions in the second half on Sunday, and the Chiefs showed the potential to take control of the games in the last two quarters. In the Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs beat the 49ers by 21 to 10 after both teams scored just 10 points in the first half. I can see Brady launching a third or fourth quarter interception that completely changes the momentum in favor of Kansas City.
5. Bosses repeat themselves as champions
It would be a great story if Brady won the Super Bowl in his first season with the Buccaneers, but the magical race ends here. It is so difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but the Chiefs seem made for it. The defense has played very well and the attack is almost unstoppable. We know Mahomes is special, but Hill and tight end Travis Kelce are playing some of their best football. They just became the first pair to have two games of more than 100 receiving yards in a single postseason! Mahomes builds what is already an impressive career in the NFL by winning the “GOAT” in the Super Bowl LV.