Here we go! After a much anticipated wait, the Super Bowl LV has finally arrived, to be played at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, Florida 6:30pm, 7:30 AST.
The AFC Champions Kansas City Chiefs will face up against the NFC Champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This will be the first Super Bowl that a team will have the privilege of playing in their home stadium. (That team being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
This Super Bowl is driven by several narratives, the most intriguing being its title as, "The Battle of the GOAT (Brady) vs the Baby Goat (Mahomes)". The two have matched up against each other on 4 occasions splitting the results with 2 wins a piece. As per the norm in modern sport culture, we as sports fans can’t help but compare generations of athletes, especially during such highly-anticipated matches, and in this year’s Super Bowl, there is much being said about how the final results are going to affect both quarterbacks’ legacies. I’ll be discussing what’s on the line for these two players, as well as, my keys to winning the game for both teams, and ultimately my prediction for the game.
(*Spoiler Alert! I am a Patriots Fan and so it's obvious who I’ll be rooting for. So, please excuse me if I come across as biased. Oh well.)
Brady is playing in his tenth Super Bowl and ultimately a 7-3 record is going to look much better than a 6-4 one in what is arguably the most impressive resume accumulated by a professional American football player. Depending on how you look at it, losing this game can be an absolute disaster on Brady’s career. The silly blemishes people have painted on Lebron’s career for making it to the NBA finals 10 times, but only winning on 4 occasions are always exaggerated. Despite contesting in the finals 4 times more than his compatriot Michael Jordan (who has made 6 finals), Lebron's efforts are continuously undermined as he has lost 6 times, and Jordan has lost none.
The criticism can easily translate from the NBA into the NFL, as onlookers would view another Super Bowl loss as a major dent to Brady’s legacy, comparing him to Joe Montana, who went 4-0 in the Super Bowl. Brady has shown an incredible appetite to win and a goal extend his career until 45. Now being 42, he continues to play with a chip on his shoulder, as though he still has a lot to prove in his football career, and remarkably, as if he has never won before.
Mahomes, playing his 4th season, already has an impressive career; winning MVP whilst throwing for over 5,000 yards and snatching up the Super Bowl MVP alongside winning the last season's Super Bowl over the San Francisco 49ers 31-20. So far, Mahomes has already managed to achieve what some can only dream of during their entire football career. Being one of the most talented quarterbacks I have ever witnessed, I’ve found myself saying, “no bleeping way” watching Mahomes convert 3rd & 10s while managing to evade the defense’s pass rush and throw a deep ball to Tyreek Hill, or thread the needle and pick out Travis Kelce. The guy is superb.
I have more confidence in Patrick Mahomes going for it on a 3rd & 20 than I would with any other team on a normal 1st down possession. That being said Mahomes can lead his team to becoming the first team to win back to back Super Bowl in 16 years since, yup...you guessed it, 'The Patriots Dynasty' who won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005, quarterbacked by, yup, you guessed it again... Tom Brady.
Achieving such a feat can go a long way into solidifying Mahomes’ legacy as an All-Time Great, and definitely put him in the running of being the new GOAT quarterback.
Beating Brady and going 2-0 in Super Bowls?? This early on in his career??? I think anyone can make a compelling argument for him.
Chiefs: Pros & Cons
Pros:
Watching the Chiefs and Bills play in the AFC championship two weekends ago was absolutely laughable. The score was 14-9 Chiefs and I remember telling myself, "This one is over". Now, the Chiefs offence are playing like a well-oiled machine, hanging 38 points on a good Bills defence quite casually. Mahomes threw for 325 yards while Travis Kelce completed 13 receptions and 118 yards. This quarterback and tight-end relationship is going to be the focal point of the Chiefs’ offence on Sunday. I truly believe that Travis Kelce is unguardable. His size and strength provides problems for any secondary in the league. The only way to cover Kelce may be to double him, but then that opens up the "Pandora’s Box" of options for Mahomes. This would leave Tyreek Hill with more space to exploit with a deep ball threat, and also open up the running game for rookie running back, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire (who has had a fantastic start but has slowed down approaching the end of the regular season).
Trying to stop The Chiefs offensively is an effort made in futility by any defence. Tampa’s defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles, has had his hands full, as the Chiefs offence is a guaranteed 30 points from the get go.
Cons:
Tampa Bay’s pass rush has been playing exceedingly well this playoffs, but that's the thing, Patrick Mahomes does not feel any pressure. Mahomes led the NFL in escaping the blitz and he’s just going to have to maintain that for this game as Tampa’s pass rush ranked 5th in the NFL this past season.
The Chief's are also suffering key injuries to offensive linemen, Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, which can pose problems.
According to Pro Football Focus the Chiefs had the 10th worse defense against the run in the entire NFL.
Kansas City’s primary concern should be on the opposing side of the ball, their defense against the running game of Tampa can hold the key to winning this game.
Keys to winning the game: Buccaneers
To be blunt, Bruce Arians needs to hand over the keys of the offence to Tom Brady for the entirety of this game. I’m not the biggest fan of Arians’ offensive schemes, that being a pass first/deep ball offense. The Chiefs cornerbacks actually cover the wide receivers really well and have been playing outstanding. When the Patriots beat the Chiefs two years ago in the AFC championship they focused on the running game; Brady threw the ball to James White repeatedly, and Sony Michel had a career game with 29 carries and 113 yards getting 2 touchdowns in the process.
Arians’ offense in my view has also led to Brady’s uncharacteristic 12 interception season. Brady has struggled this year trying to play a new style. For me Brady has been to 9 Super Bowls previously and Arians, NIL. Just let Brady run the offence the way that he’s accustomed! I have heard and read a lot of people saying that this game is going to be a shoot out and I’m here to say that if Tampa even attempts to play toe-to-toe with the Chiefs, they will get slaughtered.
To reference the AFC championship game from a couple years ago again, the Patriots retained the ball for almost 44 minutes of the game. This is mainly due to the run-focused offence they maintained throughout the game. Brady kept the ball out of Mahomes’ hands who had possession of the football for just 20 minutes, in which the season MVP still managed to score a ridiculous 31 points in that time frame, forcing an overtime.
According to Sharp Football Analysis, Tampa experienced 64% success, 9.8 yards per attempt when throwing to the slot receiver in comparison to a 29% success, 3.0 yards per attempt when going wide the last time they played the Chiefs in week 12.
Brady historically also has a great relationship with his slot receivers. Look no further than one of his most reliable targets; Julian Edelman, who Brady played alongside for the Patriots. This just further identifies that in order to win this game the Bucs need to play to Brady’s strengths. He is the greatest manager of a football game ever. Let him control the pace and run the offence. I cannot implore this enough to Coach Arians.
Prediction That being said, I think we’re set up for a fantastic Super Bowl, with a fantastic narrative and two dynamic offences. I am a Brady homer which means I will be choosing with my heart. I think Tampa will win this game 34-31. Ultimately, I think that the quarterback that gets possession of the ball last will lead their team down on a game winning drive. Mahomes and Brady both have a clutch gene but Brady has done this so many times throughout the course of his career. My gut feeling is that he’ll win number 7, once again disproving the narrative that he’s “washed up” and yet again illustrating that he in fact, The Greatest Of All Time.
Amazing Stuff!