Brady Does It Again – Super Bowl LV Recap

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” – John-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, Les Guêpes 1848

Tom Brady’s reign of dominance over the NFL continues as he and the Buccaneers dominated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, to win Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay, Florida. This was the first time a team both played and won the Big Game in their home stadium, and it really wasn’t much of a contest.

Mostly due to the result of the AFC Championship game, this was the least interested I’ve been in a Super Bowl in a long time. As a result, I was wrong about a lot when it came to this matchup. I did manage to get a couple of things right though. 

The game was, in fact, not close. I figured the Chiefs had the better chance of winning by a wide margin, but the Bucs’ dedication to the run game did wonders for them throughout the playoffs and the SB was no different. Tampa ran for 145-yards and really focused on wearing down Kansas City’s defense. As a result, the Chiefs secondary was extra handsy. In the breakdown for the game, I pointed out the defensive holding that went uncalled in the Conference Championship games and the referees didn’t let the Chiefs get away with it again. It’s equal parts vindicating and frustrating because KC was doing all the same stuff to the Bills, but Buffalo didn’t get the respect of the officials. 

As it turned out, the plug-and-play offensive line strategy for the Chiefs was no match for the speedy and versatile pass rush of the Buccaneers. Kansas City lost their left tackle, Eric Fisher, to an Achilles tear in the AFC title game. Rather than elevating backup LT Martinas Rankin and dedicating help on the left side, the Chiefs opted to move RT Mike Remmers, over to the left side, move right guard Andrew Wylie to RT, and elevate third-stringer Stefen Wisniewski to the starting RG spot. With an O-line that was already down three starters, Andy Reid made a strange choice to go with three guys playing new positions in the biggest game of the year rather than just trusting their backup to do his job. I said the name of the game would be winning the line of scrimmage and the Chiefs got killed there all night long.  

The Patrick Mahomes apologists have been hard at work doing damage control to shape the narrative and preserve the young star’s brand, but the reality is he didn’t live up to the billing. He was under duress all game long, as a result of a compromised O-line, and he toughed out a beating while dealing with a turf toe injury that’s been bothering him for a while. That said, 26/49 for 270-yards and 2-INTs isn’t a good night. There were a number of scramble plays where Mahomes managed to fling the ball downfield and almost found a TD in traffic, but those were desperation plays. Only a dropped 3rd down conversion by Travis Kelce early in the 2nd quarter was a legit drop. It wound up being a costly drop because the ensuing punt would first be penalized and then botched, setting up the Bucs in KC territory for their second touchdown of the game. On the biggest stage in the sport, the Chiefs’ mighty offense was stifled all night long and managed only three field goals. 

There was one point in the game where the Chiefs’ hubris was on full display and wound up costing them dearly. Having just kicked a field goal and trailing 14-6, Kansas City kicked off to the Bucs with just over a minute remaining in the first half and with Tampa holding a single timeout. That’s more than enough time for Brady to engineer something to give his team a shot at a late field goal going into the half but, needing quite a bit of yardage, all the Chiefs had to do was keep the ball in front of them and tackle. They would be getting the ball to start the second half and had the opportunity to get right back in the game.  

Tampa seemed content to go to the half with the lead as they handed the ball to Leonard Fournette for no gain. Shockingly, the Chiefs called a timeout. Once that decision was made, there was no going back. Brady to Godwin for 8-yards, timeout but he Chiefs again. On 3rd & short, the Chiefs had shown their hand and committed to stopping the clock so they had to stack the box and try to shut down a short-yardage run. That’s where Brady had them at his mercy. Bashaud Breeland got fooled by Mike Evans and eventually tripped him on his route to draw the pass interference flag. Now the Bucs were in field goal range but still had their timeout and the Chiefs’ defense was bewildered. Brady hit Fournette underneath for a 15-yard gain to get down inside the KC 10-yard line and used their only timeout to stop the clock with 13-seconds left in the half. Kansas City then burned their final timeout with a dead clock just to get the right play in. It didn’t matter. Brady looked to Evans again in man coverage, this time getting Tyrann Mathieu to grab, and the pass interference penalty set Tampa Bay up at the 1-yard line. They had run the ball so well, the Chiefs couldn’t count out a short run and that freed up Brady to find Antonio Brown on a slick slant route for the TD to make it 21-6. It wasn’t quite the knockout blow, but the Chiefs were noticeably rocked and on wobbly legs the rest of the way. It was a masterful sequence by Brady and just another example of him always having his finger on the pulse of the game. 

I understand Reid believed in his offense and wanted to get them another shot before halftime and they had just had their best sustained drive but, even had his plan worked, the Chiefs would have had about 40-seconds, no timeouts, a struggling offense, and at least 65-yards to go in order to even just try a field goal. Realistically, in the best-case scenario, KC maybe comes away with a FG to make it 14-9. We saw what the worst-case scenario looked like and that decision to stop the clock did Brady a favor. I know Andy Reid had a lot on his mind but that might just go down as one of the biggest coaching mistakes in Super Bowl history.

I was correct in thinking the Damien Williams preseason opt-out would end up being costly in this matchup. Darrel Williams had become the go-to back throughout the playoffs but only managed 15-yards total on 4-touches and wound up having a couple of big drops. Le’Veon Bell was nowhere to be found but the Hyphen, Chiefs’ rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, was out there playing hard and getting some good chunks. Kansas City just abandoned the run before they even really gave it a shot and, by the time they figured out they should use the Hyphen, they were down by so much that they didn’t stick with it. Meanwhile, both Fournette and Ronald Jones II were averaging more than five yards-per-carry and making life very easy for Brady and the Bucs’ offense. 

In my eyes, Brady’s legacy had already been secured over the course of an exceptional career. Some people still needed convincing and his performance was razor-sharp, going 21/29 for 201-yards and 3-TDs. He showed he still has plenty of arm talent on his pair of TD passes to his long-time cohort, tight end, Rob Gronkowski. The win marked Brady’s seventh Super Bowl victory in 10 visits and gave him the head-to-head edge over his supposed successor. That’s a ridiculous level of sustained success in a sport where the average career lasts less than five years. Just for context, Brady has a better Super Bowl record (7-3) than all the other active “elite” quarterbacks…Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, and Patrick Mahomes…combined (6-3). It’s staggering and any professional in sports media that is still entertaining the idea that TB12 isn’t the G.O.A.T. needs to find a new line of work. At this point, Tom has earned the right to play for as long as he wants and we all just have to deal with it. 

Here’s to the offseason and the many changes we’ll see thanks to a newly reduced salary cap for the 2021 season.