TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Tom Brady made the Buccaneers, their fans, and their city believe from the moment he arrived in Tampa Bay.
With the help of old friend Rob Gronkowski and a fierce defense, Brady and the Buccaneers are Super Bowl champions.
Brady threw two touchdown passes to Gronkowski and one to close friend Antonio Brown, and the Buccaneers sent Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City 31-9 to their home field in Super Bowl 55 on Sunday.
“You’re coming this far and you want to get the job done and we’ve done it,” Brady said. ‘We just believed. I am so proud of the boys. “
Despite moving south to a new team and conference during a pandemic, Brady didn’t slow down at the age of 43.
The GOAT earned its fifth Super Bowl MVP award and set the record for his Super Bowl titles in his 10th appearance, nine with New England. Brady broke his own mark for the oldest player to win a Super Bowl and joined Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the only quarterback to win one with multiple franchises.
“I think they are all special,” said Brady. ‘I don’t make comparisons. It’s great to experience it with this group of guys. “
Astonishingly, it was easier than any of his previous Super Bowl wins, reaching an average five-point margin. Mahomes lost double digits for the first time in his four-year career.
The Buccaneers (15-5) took their second NFL title and for the first time in 18 years became the first team to play the big game at home, ending an unusual and challenging season played by the new coronavirus. They won three road games as a wildcard to reach the Super Bowl and joined the NHL’s Lightning as the 2020 season champions. The Rays also went to the World Series but lost to the Dodgers.
Mahomes and the Chiefs (16-3) failed to become the first repeat champion since Brady’s Patriots in 2003-04.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “I thought we were going to come in and play these guys, just like we played teams, and it didn’t happen that way. I give them credit for that. “
The NFL completed the season of 269 games on time with no cancellation whatsoever, a remarkable achievement requiring nearly 1 million COVID-19 tests for players and team personnel.
Because of the virus, only 25,000 fans wearing masks attended, including about 7,500 vaccinated health workers who received free tickets from the NFL. About 30,000 cardboard cutouts made the stadium look full.
A streaker wearing a bright pink onesie escaped security and slid to the end zone with 5:03 left in the game. Kansas City’s powerful attack never got this far against Tampa’s fierce defenses.
“Obviously I wasn’t playing the way I wanted to play,” said Mahomes. What more can you say? All you can do is leave everything you have on the field. I feel like the boys did. … They hit us quite a bit, the worst I’ve gotten in a long time. “
Bruce Arians became the oldest coach at the age of 68 to win the Super Bowl. His mother, 95-year-old Kay Arians, personally witnessed it. Brady, Gronk, and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles helped Arians get that Vince Lombardi trophy.
“This really belongs to the coaching staff and our players. I didn’t do anything, ”Arians said after receiving the trophy.
Bowles devised a masterful plan to frustrate Mahomes and shut down the Chiefs, the opposite of Kansas City’s 27-24 victory in Tampa in week 12, when the Chiefs jumped to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. Tyreek Hill had received 269 yards and three TDs in that one. He was held at 73 yards on seven catches Sunday.
“Coach Bowles is a mastermind,” said Bucs cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.
After the Chiefs took an early 3-0 lead, it was all Brady and the Bucs.
Brady achieved a career-first with an 8-yard TD pass to Gronkowski for a 7-3 lead with 37 seconds to go in the first quarter. Brady’s nine Super Bowl teams in New England produced just three points total in the first quarter. Gronkowski, who came out of retirement to play with his buddy, caught his 13th and 14th postseason TDs from Brady. They were tied up with Jerry Rice and Joe Montana at the age of 12.
“To get here and be a Super Bowl champion, it’s unreal, man,” said Gronkowski, who came out of retirement to play with Brady. “We have so many superstars in this team, but no one had too big a head. Whoever got the ball got the ball. That’s the great thing about this team. There was no one who was selfish on this team. No one in the organization is selfish. This time I happened to get the touchdown passes. “
Despite playing at home, the Buccaneers were not allowed to fire the cannons from their famous pirate ship after touchdowns and major plays. They did it shortly after the clock ran out when red, white and black confetti fell onto the field.
Fans still enjoyed the thump of Gronk’s thunderous peak after his first score.
Tampa missed an opportunity to extend its lead when Brady’s 2-yard pass to offensive lineman Joe Haeg was knocked out of his hands in the end zone. Ronald Jones fell short on consecutive carries as Arians stuck to his “No risk it, no biscuit” philosophy and finished fourth.
But the Chiefs failed to gain momentum from the stop. Instead, they made one costly mistake after another.
First, All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce dropped a pass that would have been a big win on the third down. Then punt Tommy Townsend threw a 29-year-old shaft after a penalty forced him to kick again. The Bucs started at Kansas City’s 38 instead of their 27.
A call on hold for Charvarius Ward in the corner nullified an interception by All-Pro security Tyrann Mathieu. The Kansas City defense held, but an offside penalty during Ryan Succop’s successful field goal gave the Buccaneers their first defeat. Sarah Thomas, the first female official in a Super Bowl, threw that flag.
Brady fired a blow at Gronkowski for a TD of 17 yards and a 14-3 lead. Gronk hesitated before poking the ball, waiting to make sure another flag on the play was against the sloppy Chiefs.
Mahomes drove the offense for a 34-yard field goal by Harrison Butker that cut it to 14-6, but the Kansas City defense fell apart in the last minute of the first half – allowing 42 yards on two pass interference penalties. A against Mathieu in the end zone saw Brady’s TD pass to Brown for a rest of 6-21.
It was Brady who convinced his new team to give Brown a chance after the troubled former All-Pro came out of suspension. His TD-toss to Brown was his 50th of the season, including 10 postseason.
Mathieu took an unsportsmanlike penalty kick after the TD pass for getting in with Brady while running to the sidelines.
Leonard Fournette, like Brown an in-season addition, ran 27 yards untouched to extend Tampa’s lead to 28-9. Arians pumped his fist after that score and pointed to offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who made the call.
Succop’s 52-yard field goal increased the lead to 31-9.
Last year, Mahomes rallied the Chiefs from a 10-point backlog in the fourth quarter against San Francisco and earned MVP honors by leading Kansas City to its first NFL Championship in half a century. But Tampa’s pass rush didn’t give him a chance in this one.
Shaq Barrett had one of three sacks on Mahomes, who spent most of the game trying to escape from Jason Pierre-Paul, William Gholston and a ruthless group.
“There was nothing to stop us from winning this match,” said Barrett. ‘I knew we would keep the pressure high. Coach Bowles had a great game plan. We had the guys up there to make it work and we made it work, baby. “
After 20 seasons in New England, Brady signed a two-year $ 50 million deal with Tampa in March. The Buccaneers hadn’t made it to the playoffs since 2007 and hadn’t won any games since the 2002 title season.
There were plenty of red-clad Chiefs fans doing the tomahawk chop for part of the first half until the Bucs turned it into a defeat. Then it was the hometown fans who sang “Let’s Go Bucs.”
To kick off, 22-year-old poet laureate Amanda Gorman recited a poem honoring three people who had been chosen as honorary captains for the game and all the teachers, military veterans and primary health workers.
Brady avenged his loss against Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who held the same position for the Giants when New York suppressed the Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, preventing New England from having a perfect season.
The warmer climate suited Brady perfectly. He passed Michael Jordan in championships and it looks like he’s not ready to slow down. He already said he might play over the age of 45.
“I’ll be back,” Brady said with a smile.
There was no doubt that he will go for number 8 next season.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL