Page 22 - Florida Sentinel 2-12-21

Sports
Tom Brady Earned His Seventh Championship Through A Perfect Team Win
Tom Brady has officially won seven Super Bowls.
Seven. That’s more than any other player, or fran- chise, in NFL history. Brady earned that seventh ring on Sunday night, as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. Be- fore Brady signed with Tampa Bay 324 days ago, the Bucs hadn’t achieved a win- ning record since 2016. They hadn’t reached the playoffs since 2007. Now the fran- chise has two titles to its name, and a legacy of its own with the greatest quarterback of all time.
Seven is considered a number of completeness or perfection, so it’s fitting that Sunday was the Bucs’ most well-rounded performance of the year. It didn’t matter how special Patrick Mahomes was on Sunday evening. Tampa Bay did more than enough to win, getting contri- butions from every position group and executing a sound game plan put together by a
talented coaching staff.
Let’s start with Brady. After going three-and-out on the first drive of the game and stalling a second drive at the Tampa Bay 29-yard line, the 43-year-old threw two touchdown passes to tight end Rob Gronkowski, giv- ing Tampa Bay an early 14-3 lead. After another Chiefs field goal, the Bucs got the ball back again with 55 sec- onds left in the half. While they seemed comfortable to go into halftime with their
eight-point cushion, the Chiefs elected to call time- outs to perhaps get another possession before the break. Instead, Brady took advan- tage. The Bucs took an ag- gressive approach just as they did against the Packers in the NFC championship game. Brady flicked a deep sideline pass to Mike Evans that drew a pass interference call and pushed Tampa Bay just outside the red zone. Two plays and a penalty later, Brady tossed his third TD
pass of the half, finding An- tonio Brown from a yard out to take a 21-6 lead. The Bucs offense scored touch- downs on three of their final four possessions in the half— the lone drive that stalled re- sulted in a turnover on downs at Kansas City’s 1-yard line.
Tampa Bay carried its momentum into the second half. Leonard Fournette broke out for a 27-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to give the Bucs a 28-9 lead.
And they didn’t relent from there. Brady finished the game 21-of-29 for 201 yards and three scores, and he con- nected with six different re- ceivers on the night. He was sacked only once and was pressured on four of his 30 dropbacks, according to ESPN Stats and Info, the fewest number of sacks of his Super Bowl career. And as comfortable as he looked picking apart Kansas City’s secondary from behind cen- ter, his defense made the job all the more easier.
The Bucs defense took ad- vantage of the Chiefs’ most glaring weakness: the offen- sive line. After losing starting left tackle Eric Fisher to a torn Achilles in the AFC championship game, Kansas City shifted right tackle Mike Remmers to that spot. The domino effect pushed start- ing right guard Andrew Wylie to right tackle, and forced journeyman veteran Stefen Wisniewski into the lineup at right guard.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady holds up the Vince Lombardi trophy after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game. Brady and Rob Gronkowski (center) have captured three Super Bowl rings together.
Todd Bowles Created The Perfect Defensive Game Plan By Doing Everything He Doesn't Do
In Week 6 of the 2020 season, Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles put together the best single- game defensive game plan we’d seen this season. In a 38-10 win over the Packers, Bowles combined all kinds of odd fronts, creative blitzes, and tying pressure to cover- age in ways that forced per- haps the worst game of Aaron Rodgers’ career.
Bowles’ Week 6 plan was the best seen until the one he put together in Super Bowl LV. Because there should be no doubt that Bowles was a primary architect in the Buc- caneers’ 31-9 win over the Chiefs.
Yes, Patrick Mahomes was playing behind a makeshift offensive line, but the Chiefs have been making adjustments to that for a
Todd Bowles', (second from left), creativity played a huge part in Bucs' big win.
while now.
In this game, Bowles had
the fortitude to do what most teams were either unwilling or unable to do against Kansas City’s offense — to dictate terms from the begin- ning. Patrick Mahomes, who ripped Tampa Bay’s de- fense apart in Week 12 with
37 completions in 49 at- tempts for 462 yards, three touchdowns and no intercep- tions in a 27-24 Chiefs win, had no such luck this time around. This time around, Mahomes completed just 26 of 49 passes for 270 yards, no touchdowns, and two inter- ceptions.
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