COLUMN: Buccaneers demolish Chiefs, Tom Brady gets seventh ring

The Buccaneers had the first ever home SuperBowl and they delivered, with a Lombardi Trophy. The Buccaneers win their second SuperBowl in franchise history and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady wins his seventh SuperBowl; more than any other team in the NFL. Even though all the press is on Tom Brady getting his seventh SuperBowl ring, the real MVP of this game is the Buccaneers defense. They didn’t allow the number one offense in the NFL to get a touchdown, and they made former MVP and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes look human. Mahomes threw for 270 yards, at a 53% clip and two interceptions. The Buccaneers defense were also able to sack Mahomes three times and pressure him on almost every play.

The game started off pretty well for the Chiefs, they forced a three and out on defense and then a few drives later they drove down the field and took a 3-0 lead. That turned out to be the only lead of the game for the Chiefs. The Buccaneers responded almost instantly with an eight play 75 yard touchdown drive from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. Then the next Buccaneers drive the Chiefs got a huge goal line stop that looked to switch the momentum for KC, but they were unable to take advantage of the opportunity and they were forced to punt the ball. The Buccaneers then went on a 14-3 run to end the half and push the lead to 21-6. The 15 point deficit at halftime is the biggest deficit Patrick Mahomes has faced at the half as a starting quarterback in the postseason. 

I know a lot of people including me remember what the Chiefs did to the 49ers last year in SuperBowl 54, coming back from double digits in the fourth quarter, however that didn’t happen. The Chiefs needed a touchdown drive to start the second half and they didn’t get it. For the third time in this SuperBowl Harrison Butker kicked a field goal for the Chiefs. This happened to be the Chiefs last points of the game. The second half was much more of the Leonard Fournette show than the Tom Brady show, with Fournette getting most of his 86 yards in the second half, and the only touchdown of the second half. The Chiefs were able to get in the red zone a few different times in the second half but an interception and a turnover on downs stopped the Chiefs from converting. The Buccaneers ran out the clock in the fourth quarter, and the knelt on the ball and won the SuperBowl.

The Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo once said the key to stopping Tom Brady in the SuperBowl is to hit him every play, “you don’t have to sack him but hit him.” Well defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers Todd Bowles used the “Uno” reverse card and stole Steve Spagnuolo’s game plan. He decided to hit Patrick Mahomes on every play. Mahomes with a banged up offensive line was pressured and hit every play and he started to get antsy and he started to look at the offensive line instead of looking for the open man. Patrick Mahomes was pressured so much that he ran a SuperBowl record of 497 yards trying to evade the Buccaneer defenders. Like I said earlier the Buccaneers defense made Mahomes look human. Sure the MVP went to Brady because he’s the quarterback and he just won his seventh SuperBowl but, the real reason they won was because of the stout defense from the Buccaneers.