Javier Trejo Garay anticipates what awaits us in the game to define the NFL champion between Kansas City and Tampa Bay
Dear friends of ESPN, We have one last game ahead of us to lower the curtain of the 2020 season and that one is the most important one.
You say that through first time a team plays a Super Bowl at home, It is not new. Nothing else has been discussed in recent hours.
But let me emphasize the irony of that Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the brand new champion of the National Conference, played three games this postseason as a visitor and wanted “the lottery” that the main game would be played at home, at Raymond James Stadium.
If you allow me to emphasize that Bucs they will be locally “local”.
As many of you know, the Super Bowl “hometown” changes every year. One year it is up to the US Champion and the next to the National Champion to serve as the administrative venue. This can be a minor thing for the Buccaneers because they will play that game at home anyway, but the advantage in this case is that they can choose the uniform color they will play with.
More ironically, the team placed N ° 5 on the National, how they get the Bucs in the regular season, they will receive a team that finished better, 14-2 of the Kansas City Chiefs.
On the other hand, Tampa Bay He comes from beating N ° 2 and N ° 1 in the National Conference in consecutive weeks, New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, now going for the American’s number.
How about the Chiefs beating the Buffalo Bills is by no means a surprise. KC finished with the best record of his Conference, he is the current champion and has played Conference Championship Games for three years, which gives him experience in addition to his indisputable talent.
In fact, we should place them as favorites by Sunday, February 7, although I wouldn’t be too sure of betting against the Bucs.
The most recent antecedent
Tampa Bay and Kansas City they met in week 12. In that game, Patrick Mahomes had one of his formidable afternoons, finishing with 462 yards through the air and three touchdown passes.
Tom Brady finished with 345 yards, three touchdown passes, but two interceptions.
Ni Bucs ni Chiefs they exceeded 90 meters on the ground.
Despite the fact that the statistics dominated Chiefs, they only won 27 to 24.
No party is like another. Let’s not expect the same for February 7, mainly because Tampa Bay by the way, he has improved a lot in the second half of the season, finishing with seven consecutive wins, including the postseason.
Do you know which team was your last loss? Effective against Chiefs in that week 12.
That if Tom Brady suffered with three interceptions in the game against the Packers, the defense that stopped Aaron Rodgers, it’s true. But it is also true that TB12 will play its 10th Super Bowl.
I honestly don’t know if this generation will ever see anything like this.
Another good story is precisely the duel between Brady vs Mahomes, one 43 years old and the other 25. Or the duel that follows in the wings between two beautiful head coaches like Andy Reid from Los Chiefs y Bruce Arians de Tampa Bay, for me both in the Top 5 of NFL coaches.
Reid has the upper hand by having played more postseason games and coaching the championship team.
Tampa finished with the best career defense in the regular season, suggesting, as we saw in week 12, that responsibility will fall on the arm of the wonderful Mahomes, the quarterback with the greatest repertoire of passes and skill in the game. competition.
On the Tampa side, Brady showed that he still has “a lot in the tank” and while he had a chiaroscuro afternoon in the Green Bay win, his experience, leadership and ability would continue to weigh, if not many now. like it or not. .
Another factor in favor of that of Tampa Bay is that they have a healthier running attack and Kansas City it was a more forgiving grass-level team.
Tampa’s defense with extraordinary and aggressive elements such as Jason Pierre-Paul, Ndamukong Suh, Shaquil Barrett or Devin White will test the possibilities of an attack that is as explosive as Mahomes’s, but also has perhaps the best tight ending in Travis Kelce. , Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Clyde Edwards-Helaire. I mean, the matchup that I think will be in this combination.
Finally, if you’ll allow me one more irony or coincidence, it’s those three teams from Tampa Bay counting the Buccaneers they reached the finals in their respective competitions.
Tampa Bay Lightning was champion in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Rays lost the MLB World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Can these Bucs match the Lightning or will they share a result with the Rays?