TAMPA, Fla. – There hasn’t been much build-up to Super Bowl LV, but who needs that?
Chiefs-Bucs stands alone, along with its chief protagonists, Bucs ageless quarterback Tom Brady, The GOAT, vs. The Kid, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is out to claim Brady’s belt and become the first QB to win consecutive Super Bowls since … Brady in 2003-04.
The Bucs have won seven straight, including three road playoff wins. The Chiefs have won 25 of their last 27 games. Mahomes is the last QB to beat Brady in late November. Brady is the last QB to beat Mahomes in a playoff game, the 2018 AFC championship.
Having fun yet?
There will be stars all o0ver Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, wherever you look, on both sides of the ball. And somewhere in there is a way for the Bucs to win their second world championship, their first since the 2002 Bucs of Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, and Alstott.
And they can do it again. They’ve won those seven straight games since losing to Kansas City when Mahomes and friends raced to a 17-0 lead. They eventually took their foot off the gas and Brady and Bucs made it close, one possession away. Keep that in mind.
Here are a few winning Bucs LV tickets:
Is. Dr. Fauci a football fan? I don’t care if they have to lock him in his hotel room, wrap him in cellophane or turn him into the Goat in the Plastic Bubble, keep Brady COVID-free or it all goes down the tubes for the Bucs.
He can’t come within 500 feet of his parents, who have both tested positive and dealt with the virus, or even someone with a scratchy throat,
Eat clock. Mahomes is an unstoppable force, an improvisational talent, the NFL’s Michael Jordan. The only way to keep him from producing is to limit his possessions.
In their last meeting, Kansas City had the ball for 38 minutes compared to the 22 minutes for the Bucs. That can’t happen again. They need to eat up clock by using Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette to burn time, if not yards. It will also help open up the field for Brady and his lethal group of receivers. In the Bucs’ playoff win at New Orleans, they ran it 35 times and threw it 33 times.
That’s the ticket here. They lose if it turns into a freak show, trying to match Mahomes score for score.
Protect the meal ticket. Keeping Brady upright during the game will fall to a Bucs offensive line that has improved as the season has gone on. It will matter more than ever in LV.
The Bucs have no shot if they can’t keep the Chiefs defense out of the backfield and Brady’s face. Front and center on their enemies list will surely be Kansas City’s Chris Jones, who is the league’s best interior defensive lineman on this side of Aaron Donald and a yapper who will get in Brady’s space.
The offensive Bucs guards, Ali Marpe and Aaron Stennie, who has started only a handful of games, will be up against it, and the game might ride on their success. If you see Brady on the ground early and glaring at his linemen, it’s going to be a long night.
Pressure, but patience. Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles’ first instinct will be to blitz Mahomes, especially against the Kansas City offensive line beset by injuries.
The Bucs pounced on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the NFC title game, with Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul getting give sacks between them.
Only problem: Mahomes is practically blitz-proof. His throws, while back-pedaling, are better than most QBs stepping into one, and his improvisational skills are unmatched, from shovel passes to pop passes to sidearm tosses, to no-look magic.
Kansas City’s assortment of gadget plays punish overzealous defenses. So, bring Barrett and JPP at your own risk. Discipline will be the key. Focus on Mahomes’ targets.
Pick your poison. There’s a reason why the Chiefs led the league in offense and net passing yards.
The Bucs saw it firsthand in their loss to Kansas City, when Mahomes threw for more than 400 yards. His chief targets are fly guy Tyreek Hill, the fastest man in the NFL, who in the Chiefs’ November win over the Bucs had 13 catches for 269 yards and three touchdowns, 201 of those yards and two of those touchdowns in the first quarter. One-high safety, two-high safety, nothing can stop him.
If the Bucs want to slow down KC, their best bet might be trying to stop tight end Travis Kelce, who had eight catches against the Bucs in November. The guy kills it on third and long, too, which is how the Chiefs grind you down. Linebacker Devin White, who has been spectacular in the playoffs, might draw Kelce, with maybe help from safety Antoine Winfield. If Hill scores on one 70-yarder, but the Bucs limit Kelce, that might be a good day’s work for the Bucs D.
Play it cool, BA. Last, but not least, is the Bucs head coach. Bruce Arians waited a long time to head coach in a Super Bowl, practically his whole professional life.
You can only hope the big stage and bright lights don’t get to him, that he doesn’t see it as a pitched battle against Chiefs coach Andy Reid and try to show who’s the real offensive guru here.
He needs to crank it down, low, keep a minimum of no risk it, no biscuit. The Bucs need to play within themselves as they did in the playoff win at New Orleans.
That Brady to Scotty Miller miracle TD at Green Bay can’t go to their heads. Just do their jobs, be calculating with Brady’s deep shots, and hope to contain Hill and or Kelce while allowing that Mahomes will be Mahomes.
That’s the way to beat Kansas City, 34-30.
Or to lose to them, 38-31.
Are we having fun yet?