By Lourence Alturino
Photo from Ashley Landis/Associated Press
The 101st NFL season headlined with a worldwide pandemic is sadly over. In the final game of the insane season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers killed the Kanas City Chiefs with a score of 31-9. Tom Brady made history and got his 7th Super Bowl ring and gave the Bucs their 2nd in franchise history. Now let’s discuss what went wrong for the Chiefs and everything that went right for Tampa Bay.
The Kansas City Collapse
All in all, everything went wrong for the Chiefs. First off, I will say this, the loss is not at all entirely on Patrick Mahomes. Yes, he had a rough game, but once again it is not completely all his fault. The biggest weakness and reason for the break down was the weak offensive line. The loss of Eric Fisher was clear as day. Mahomes was pressured 29 out of his 56 drop-backs. Once the ball was snapped, the pass rush was already in his face and chasing him out of the pocket. With the weak protection, Mahomes passed for 270 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 INTs. The defense also tore apart throughout the game. Kansas City generated basically no pass rush with only 1 sack in the first half. The defense got no turnovers the entire game. The final reason for their demise was the penalties. Controversial or not, the AFC Champs generated 11 penalties throughout the whole game. The Chiefs could not get into the end zone, had terrible protection, the defense fell apart, and generated a lot of penalties, which all ruined the game for the 2019-20 champions.
The Tampa Bay Triumph
What a flawless performance on all aspects from the NFC Champs. Byron Leftwich (TB’s Offensive Coordinator) and Todd Bowles (TB’s Defensive Coordinator) had excellent playcalling on both sides. Leftwich designed a masterful blueprint with screen plays, run plays, and had a great play action plan. The Bucs picked apart the linebackers when they dropped back in coverage, Fournette would explode through the gaps and gain big yardage. The crazy thing with the offense was Mike Evans and Chris Godwin didn’t have good games like I predicted. The biggest target was Brady’s forever number 1 target, Rob Gronkowski. Rob had 6 catches, 67 yards, 2 TDs for the game. Tom Brady himself had a great game with 201 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 picks. Not only was the offense firing on all cylinders, the defense had a thunderous performance. If a whole group could be given an award, you have to give it to the Buccaneers’ pass rush. As I predicted, the elite pressure would cause Mahomes problems and they caused him a whole lot of problems. The defensive front had 3 sacks and had Mahomes running for his life having to make the hardest throws of his life. Like I said before, Todd Bowles had a beautiful game plan. For example, Bowles had 6 in the box, White and David would drop back into coverage, a corner would blitz, and the rest of the secondary would play zone and lock up the sidelines. An impeccable showing from the NFC Champs gave them the right to hold up the Lombardi trophy.
The MVPs and LVPs
The obvious LVP for the entire game was the Chiefs pass protection. They let their star QB get pressured on 51.7% of his drop-backs. More than half of his dropbacks, he was forced to run around and throw very awkward and unique passes. According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, the KC franchise QB ran for 497 yards before throwing the ball. If I was a part of the Chiefs’ front office, I would be giving left tackle Eric Fisher some great money once he hits the market. Fisher is definitely very significant to this team.
If there had to be an actual MVP for Kansas City, I would give it to Travis Kelce. Patrick did play his heart out, but Travis was the only one on the team, who had a “good” game. Kelce did have a bad drop on a 3rd down, but he also had 10 catches for 133 yards. I also think we know who the best tight end in football is now (P.S. it is not Travis Kelce).
The most underrated aspect of the game was actually the Tampa Bay run game. Leftwich beautifully drew up ways for Leonard Fournette (a.k.a Playoff Lenny) to run for 16 carries, 89 yards, and a touchdown. Even the backup, Ronald Jones, had himself 12 carries for 61 yards.
The ultimate MVP of Super Bowl 55 is Todd Bowles. His proficient game plan is one that every team will try and follow for the near future. The defense absolutely shut down one of the most consistent offenses of the past few years. Bowles simply outcoached the amazing Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy. Yes a “TB” won the MVP award, but in my opinion, the wrong “TB”
Closing Thoughts
The GOAT conversation is pretty much over. If he didn’t already prove it, Tom Brady is the greatest football player to ever touch the pigskin. Tom Brady now has 7 rings, which is not only the most by any player, but he has more rings than all of the NFL teams. The teams with the most rings are the Patriots and Steelers with 6. As for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, it’s always very hard to make it back to the big game, especially after a loss. Who knows? We can be here in February 2022 and these two teams could very well be in SoFi Stadium running it back for that Lombardi trophy.
Comentarios