NFL: Vintage Tom Brady provides more Superbowl magic as he wins first with Tampa Bay Buccaneers and seventh overall
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31–9 Kansas City Chiefs.
Nobody said it was easy, but for 43 year-old Tom Brady, he certainly made it look that way, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers proved too strong for the Kansas City Chiefs, who froze on the big stage.
This was Tampa Bay’s second appearance in a Superbowl. Their first came back in 2003, when they claimed victory on their debut, blowing out the then Oakland Raiders 48-21. Brad Johnson was their quarterback back then.
Coming into the grand finale, Brady was eyeing up yet more success, having already won six Superbowls with the New England Patriots, but it was the Chiefs who struck first with Harrison Butker’s 49-yard field goal.
Tom Brady then rolled back the years, as he found his former Patriots team-mate, Robert Gronkowski in the endzone, not once, but twice. Tampa Bay meant business and more importantly, they had a 14–3 lead.
Butker kicked another field-goal, but Brady continued to prove irresistibly brilliant and threw a simple pass on first and goal to former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, as the Buccaneers showed their clinical edge to make it 21–6 at half-time.
Brady was in cruise control and the Buccaneers were well on top at the half. They could have even scored more in the first-half, hadn’t it been from some heroic defending from the Kansas City Chiefs defence on fourth-and-goal.
The Chiefs came out with purpose in the second-half and Clyde Edwards-Helaire was Starting to look lively and had two excellent runs to start off the half, which combined for 35-yards, but the superb Tampa Bay Defence continued to pressure and stifle a frustrated Mahomes.
The Chiefs had to settle for another field-goal, to reduce the score to 21–9, and Tampa Bay continued to do the simple things effectively, which is key when playing a team with an offensive prowess like the Chiefs and they increased their lead in the third quarter, with Leonard Fournette’s rushing touchdown.
The former Jacksonville Jaguars running back was explosive and direct, as he proved too quick and agile for the Chiefs defence to score off a 27-yard run, making it 28–9.
The former Texas Tech product Mahomes continued to struggle. The 25 year-old is usually so composed in the pocket, but he got exposed hugely by this sensational Tampa Bay Buccaneers defence, not helped by the fact he was without the reliable offensive tackle, Eric Fisher, who was ruled out this game after tearing his achilles in their AFC Championship victory over the Buffalo Bills, at Arrowhead.
Ryan Succop would then kick an impressive 52-yard field-goal and the Buccaneers were out of sight. Mahomes did his best to get the Chiefs back into this contest, but this wasn’t his day.
This day belonged to Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was a special moment, and the former Michigan product also claimed a record fifth Superbowl MVP, after throwing for 201 yards, completing 21 of his 29 passing attempts and tossing three touchdowns.
This was Brady at his exquisite best, and who’s to say he won’t be back next year? Some people have criticised Brady in the past and said he was a ‘one-trick pony,’ following his other six Victories coming with the Patriots, but this goes to show how much of a complete quarterback Brady is and at this rate, he will go down as the best quarterback to have ever played in the NFL. There is no doubting that.
