Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is probably the craziest hot take in the world. Tom Brady played almost a flawless game and you think any competent QB could take his place

There were a few times he should have made the shorter pass but Mahomes kept going for the home run pass. Mahomes is a sick talent but he can still get better at reading the field and coverage which I think he admitted to in an interview.

 

I think he was taking a lot of the shorter stuff early, and they were ending up in 3rd/4th downs and then not converting - moving the ball, but getting stuck kicking FGs. Later in the game, I think he realized their best opportunity to score TDs was getting big chunks and breaking something. When they did move down the field, it was generally on those longer plays.

 

and the penalties at the absolute worst time, very uncharacteristic.

 

No QB can be good without time to throw. TB was generating pressure without needing to blitz. And their LB's (especially David) were able to cover Kelce who is the usual safety valve when the pressure is there.

That's not just the recipe to beat the Chiefs, that's the recipe to beat any team. Which is why building an O-line and having some skilled TE's is usually a baseline recipe for any elite offense.

 

My thoughts on the SB:

• Missing your starting offensive tackles is bad, the Bucs had the perfect defense, and I thought Mahomes looked like he got re-concussed in the second half on that sandwich tackle.
• The Chiefs had 3 terrible drops. Our family knew it was over when Mahomes made that unbelievable escaping, falling down throw and drilled the receiver in the facemask before he dropped it at the goal line.
• Brady is the greatest and can still win more, which is unbelievable. My biggest regret is not buying Tom Brady rookies over the last 10 years, even though they were already "over priced".
• I like The Weeknd, and I have to give him props for not lip syncing even though the audio suffered for it. I actually enjoyed the halftime show.
• The penalties against the Chiefs hurt in the first half...and were also NOT the reason they lost. The ticky tack call that prevented the INT was the worst. The PI in the end zone on the uncatchable ball was the second worse. The PI on Evans was deserved. The initial contact was by accident, but then the DB pulled him down as he went down and you can't claim that Evans can't lay out for that ball and have a chance. That gets called 95% of the time. Other than that, the penalties were basically correctly called and since the Chiefs got so outplayed, I don't think you can make the statement that it ultimately mattered.
• Tom Brady apparently has already contacted Tyrann Mathieu and apologized, which is easy when you're the GOAT and just won your 7th SB.

 

I haven't seen happy feet like that since Peyton Manning was losing to Tom Brady every year. Wait. Whoa!

 

Thanks for the concern, but I can decide for myself what “a little too worked up” is. And yeah I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that people are genuinely criticizing Antoine Winfield Jr. for throwing up a peace sign to Tyreek Hill. Pot meet kettle.

It’s a professional sport. It’s the super bowl. Emotions are crazy. Dude was flat out disrespected in the last matchup, and he played great and let Hill have it. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

Yeah Andy Dalton for sure....

I remember when Jared Goff’s defense played nearly identically well as Bucs did last night and he torched NE for 3 whole points. Nice try.

 

This reply didn't do much to make me think you aren't still too worked up about this, lol.

 

It's a team sport. Brady or MJ or any great player are part of their teams. When you talk about leadership, you have to recognize that it's built over the course, on and off court. Same thing as trust, you can't hide it in the vault and take it out at the most important moment. At age of 42, going to one of the worst teams, TB ended up with that trophy. That alone, serves the guy a remarkable special place in the history. Yes, there are hardworking defensive teams, and coaches. But all those building blocs didn't flourish until that guy came along, as well as other veterans.

No offense, but it's always ridiculous to claim that you can plug-in another great player/coach into another team to replace a true leader who helped build something special there, and come out with same result. That player, is part of, and a special part of that team.

When your offense is led by someone very special, and you can always count on them to score, your defense will be more focused and confident, without second-guessing the outcome. Your defense can also plan on needed rest. When your OL knows if you protect him well, he will reward you with great result, you just go out and make it look that your opponent is too soft. Leadership is about to make people around you firmly believe, if I give 110% to do my part well, there will be guaranteed great result for all of us.

You can give credit to the team all you want to, and it's well deserved. But don't try too hard to take credit away from that special player.

 

And in the playoffs? What defense played better than the Bucs this postseason? Did the Bucs not just set season and league wide records in this Super Bowl?

Brady was great, but the Bucs D was Shaq in this postseason run. Especially in the SB.

 

Jared Goff's defense had one player that played on the Bucs d-line on Sunday and in combination with Donald they were a force. But outside of that you can't even compare the talent the Bucs have on defense to what the Rams had in that SB. I might go Rams corners over the Bucs corners but that's it. Linebackers? The Bucs have one under the radar future HOF(Lavonte) and one potential HOF(Devin) at ILB. The Bucs had/have an awesome duo in the interior of their line much like the Rams had. Edge rushers? No comparison. Shaq is a young beast and we know about JPP.
Jared Goff was also playing against a Patriots defense featuring the likes of Malcolm Brown at DT, Stephon Gilmore- aka last years DPOY- at CB along w/the rest of a very capable Pats secondary. Then we get to ILB where the Pats had Van Noy and Hightower. Do not even dare compare the Patriots defense that Goff faced to the Chiefs defense that Brady played on Sunday. There is literally no starter on that Chiefs defense that would start on the Bucs team or on that 2019 Pats defense other than Tyrann and perhaps Chris Jones(for the Pats because he definitely wouldn't see the field over Suh or Vea regardless of which technique(1 or 3) he played in).
Nice try tho.

 

I think stats wise/performance wise it's not ridiculous to claim that. But in terms of the confidence, will to win and just overall leadership. The unquantifiable qualities, for sure you are right. But let's not act as if the Bucs defense weren't playing at a high level before Tom Brady. Their offense also had a qb who was throwing for a ton of touchdowns....but also a ton of interceptions. Arians realized he needed a QB who could lead the team better but also take care of the ball and he went with Brady, but Brady isn't the only QB in the league that can do those things. There are other special QBs in the league(just not 43 year old qbs so in that regard he is special in reference to his age. w/r to talent for a qb at the moment, no he isn't).

Either way, The Bucs don't get to the Super Bowl without what Brady imparted on the rest of the players, specifically the offense, in terms of the confidence, expectation and will to win. In terms of actual play.....

 

He didn't turn the ball over and threw for three touchdowns. It was great. It's what Arians system (or really any system requires lol. Score and don't turn the ball over). There have been other QBs of good-great defenses who performed quite similarly. Easiest example is Flacco for the Ravens vs the 49ers and Flaccos defense didn't even play as well as the Bucs did but then the Bucs were playing against backup O-linemen and the Ravens offense was playing another beastly defense in the 49ers.

I don't think reading the field and the coverage was the problem in this game. It's a little difficult to get past your first read when you don't even have 2.00 seconds to scan the field because your o-line turn into sieves as soon as the ball is snapped. You can make the argument he should have looked for more underneath passes given the Bucs in Cover 2 as they set up to take away the deep threat in Tyreek and Mecole...but that's more on Andy Reid and Bienemy. As Baldinger mentioned, Mahomes was let down by his receivers...and as Kurt Warner mentioned later, Mahomes was also let down by his genius head coach/playcaller and his offensive coordinator. They made NO adjustments in the second half. No worthwhile adjusments whereby Todd Bowles was in his friggin bag both halves.
As bad as the O-line was, there were things Reid and Bienemy could have done/called to ease the pressure on Mahomes, keep the Bucs honest and eventually open things up for Tyreek and Mecole. But the Chiefs were like the Pats in 07. Stubborn and arrogant. Kept thinking what they normally do and get away with doing would work. It didn't. No adjusments and the end result was there.

 

Im not comparing talent. I’m comparing the results. The fact of the matter is that “shitty 1 player rams defense” held the patriots to 13 points. Goff? Yeah he was terrific. A whole 3 points.

But okay Belichik, half the league or more would have won the Super Bowl on that team. Do you actually hear yourself, and did you watch the Bucs all year or tuned in for 1 game? They have a super fast, talented defense, but they were exposed at times in the secondary. They weren’t shutting every team down every game, especially thru the air. They played terrific at times and down the stretch though.

Bottom line, it’s pretty clear you’re just looking at stats and not impressed. Only 200 yards. Garbage.

Moving on.

 

Including Andy Dalton and Jared Goff as specific examples.

Lord pass me the peace pipe.

 

KC took away Evans and Godwin, so Brady went to Gronk and the ground game.
Also the Antonio Brown touchdown looked like it was well practiced with the fake moves.