by Ryan Mercier
In Week 4 of the 2014 NFL season, Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs blew out Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 41-14 on Monday Night Football. This game spurned some of the earliest chatter of the Patriots dynasty being over and the beginning of the end for Brady who, at the time, was 37. At this point, Brady had not won a Super Bowl since 2004 and lost his last two appearances to the New York Giants.
Since then, the Patriots went to four more Super Bowls and won three. Following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers domination of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday 31-9, Brady has been to five and won four since that Monday night when America decided he was done.
The story and talking points deservedly lean toward the greatest QB of all-time. However, everyone who watched Super Bowl LV knows it was a complete team effort by the Bucs. On offense, Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, and the O-line shined. The quarterback was named MVP of the game as per usual but the defense was the most impressive unit on the field.
Patrick Mahomes is an unstoppable offensive force by himself alone and the Chiefs have elite weapons in Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to boot. What the team didn’t have on Super Bowl Sunday, though, was a healthy offensive line.
Mahomes and the Chiefs had never lost a game by double digits and Tampa Bay held the Chiefs to nine total points. Absurd. Last year’s Super Bowl MVP barely reached 100 yards passing by the end of the third quarter. Perhaps most importantly and throwing out stats, the Bucs made Patrick Mahomes run around like a chicken with its head cut off all night long.
Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaq Barrett, Devin White, Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield Jr., and an even longer cast of characters all deserve credit for Tampa Bay’s victory on the defensive side. If a whole unit could win the Super Bowl MVP, they would have won hands down.
Along with Brady and the defense, a case could be made the coordinators for the Buccaneers were just as valuable to earn the franchise’s second NFL championship. Byron Leftwich commanded an offense of incredible balance with 195 yards passing and 145 yards rushing. Todd Bowles took advantage of the Chiefs’ weak line and was the man in charge of dealing out Patrick Mahomes’ worst game ever as a starting QB.
It takes a full team to win a Super Bowl, no doubt. Football, though, is nothing without the story. There’s absolutely nothing left on the list for Tom Brady to do. He left Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots and won a championship right away in his first year with a new team. The story begins and ends with the 43-year old 7-time Super Bowl champion, 5-time Super Bowl MVP.
Struggling Actor Sports 