By: Tyler Stark
Image courtesy of Chicago Tribune.
He’s done it again! Tom Brady captured Super Bowl number 7 last night as his Buccaneers defeated The Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. The postseason run that Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had this season is nothing short of spectacular.
During this run Tampa Bay beat the ferocious Washington Football Team defense led by Chase Young, they beat their divisional rivals in the mighty New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers led by MVP Aaron Rodgers, and they capped it all off with an incredible upset against Patrick Mahomes and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. This might just be the greatest postseason run in the history of the NFL!
Coming into this game all the talk was on the incredible quarterback matchup. The 43 year old Tom Brady who was making his tenth Super Bowl appearance, and Patrick Mahones trying to win his second straight Super Bowl. It was universally understood that these two quarterbacks would have to play perfect football to get their team the victory.
On the first drive of the game the Buccaneers went three and out and gave the ball to Mahomes and the Chiefs. Mahomes and company had a decent first possession which resulted in a 49 yard field goal by Harrison Butker which put Kansas City up 3-0. The third possession for Tampa saw Tom Brady complete s big 16 yard pass to receiver Antonio Brown. The drive concluded with Brady finding Rob Gronkowski for an eight yard touchdown. That put the Buccaneers up 7-3.
The touchdown also made Gronkowski and Brady the duo with the most touchdowns in postseason history. In the second quarter with 6:05 to go, Brady hit Gronkowski again, this time for a 17 yard touchdown pass that put Tampa up 14-3.
Unfortunately, for Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, the Buccaneers defense, which had been tremendous all half, limited them to another Harrison Butker field goal. With 1:01 to go in the half the score was 14-6 in favor of the Buccaneers.
With just seconds to go in the half Brady threw a pass to Receiver Mike Evens in the end zone which fell incomplete, but there was a flag called on safety Tyrann Mathieu. Chiefs fans, along with Mathieu had a massive issue with the call because they felt the ball was un-catchable and did not warrant a flag.
The penalty put the ball at the one yard line and Brady found Antonio Brown for a touchdown. After the touchdown Tyran Mathieu was visibly angry. He got in Brady’s face after the touchdown and let him know how angry he was.
At halftime, to the shock of pretty much everyone, the score was 21-6 in favor of the Buccaneers. From Tampa Bay’s perspective the game could not have been going any better. Brady threw three touchdowns and was playing lights out.
The most impressive aspect though was the defense of Tampa Bay. They shut down Mahomes as well as his favorite targets Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce.
The best thing Tampa did was destroy Kansas City’s offensive line who were missing their two best players Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, and dominated with their defensive line led by Shaquil Barrett. Kansas City’s linemen could not hold a block to save their lives!
It was clear that Kansas City had to do something soon. Unfortunately, though that did not happen. The Chiefs got held once again to a field goal which made the score 21-9 with 11:26 to go in the third quarter. The Buccaneers once again scored on their next drive, this time it was a touchdown run by Leonard Fournette 28 yards into the end zone!
That was really all she wrote after that touchdown. The Chiefs did not score another point and the Buccaneers got two more field goals. The final score was 31-9. You really can’t say enough about how well the Buccaneers played.
Tom Brady won MVP and played amazing, and the defense did an incredible job of making Mahomes uncomfortable and shutting his receivers down. It was a great win and it just goes to show how much of an impact Tom Brady makes when he’s on your team. The craziest thing is this was just his first year there, I can’t wait to see what they do next season, maybe we’ll see a Super Bowl number eight next year!
On the other side, Patrick Mahomes played his heart out. Between himself, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce, they definitely will have a top offense for years to come. There is no doubt in my mind that this team will regroup in the offseason and have a great season next year!
Tyler Stark
Tyler Stark ('24) is in his freshmen year, and this is his first year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Tyler hopes to work for Sports Illustrated in the future. you can contact him by email with: tyler.st3800@vusd.us