TAMPA, Florida (AP) – Tom Brady has made buccaneers, fans and their city believe since 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 good friend Antonio Brown, and the Buccaneers led Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City 31-9 to their home field in Super Bowl 55 on Sunday.
“You get here and you want to do the job, and we did it,” Brady said. “It simply came to our notice then. I’m so proud of the boys. ”
Despite moving to a new team and a conference during a pandemic, Brady did not slow down at the age of 43.
GOAT won the fifth Super Bowl MVP award and extended his Super Bowl title record in his 10th appearance, nine with New England. Brady broke his own record for the oldest player to win a Super Bowl and joined Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the only defenders to win one with multiple franchises.
“I think they’re all special,” Brady said. “I do not make comparisons. The experience with this group of boys is amazing. ”
Amazingly, it was easier than any of his previous Super Bowl victories, which averaged a five-point margin. Muhammad lost by two figures for the first time in his four-year career.
The Buccaneers (15-5) took their second NFL title and the first in 18 years as the first team to play the big game at home, capping an unusual and challenging season played by the new coronavirus. They won three routine wild card games to reach the Super Bowl and joined the NHL Lightning as the 2020 season champion. 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 champions of the Brady Patriots in 2003-04.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I thought we would go in and play these guys the same way we played in teams and it didn’t happen. I give them credit for that. ”
The NFL completed its season of 269 games on time, without any cancellations, a remarkable achievement that required nearly 1 million COVID-19 tests for players and team staff.
Because of the virus, only 25,000 masked fans attended, including about 7,500 vaccinated health workers who were given free tickets by the NFL. About 30,000 cardboard cutouts made the stadium look full.
A streaker dressed in a pink pink man escaped security and slipped into the final area with 5:03 of the game. Kansas City’s strong offensive has never gone so far against Tampa’s fierce defense.
“Obviously I didn’t play the way I wanted to play,” Mahomes said. “What else can you say? All you can do is leave everything you have on the field. I feel like the boys did that. … They beat us pretty well, the worst we’ve beaten in a long time. ”
Bruce Arians he became the oldest coach at the age of 68 to win the Super Bowl. His mother, Kay Arians, 95, was a personal witness. Brady, Gronk and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles helped the Aryans get that Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“It really belongs to the coaching staff and our players. I didn’t do anything bad, “Arians said after being handed the trophy.
Bowles devised a master plan to frustrate Muhammad and close the Chiefs, the complete opposite of Kansas City’s 27-24 victory in Tampa in Week 12, when the Chiefs jumped 17-0 in the first quarter. Tyreek Hill had 269 receiving yards and three TDs in that. He was held at 73 meters on seven catches on Sunday.
“Coach Bowles is a brain,” said Bucs defender Sean Murphy-Bunting.
After the Chiefs won 3-0 in advance, it was all Brady and Bucs.
Brady made his first career with an 8-meter TD pass to Gronkowski for 7-3, with 37 seconds left in the first quarter. Brady’s nine Super Bowl teams from New England scored just three points in total in the first quarter. Gronkowski, who retired to play with his friend, caught his 13th post-season TDs from Brady. They had been linked to Jerry Rice and Joe Montana at age 12.
“Coming here and being a Super Bowl champion is surreal, man,” said Gronkowski, who has retired from playing with Brady. “We have so many superstars in this team, but nobody’s head was too big. Whoever received the ball received the ball. That was so great to be on this team. There was no one who was selfish on this team. No one is selfish in the organization. It just so happened that I was the one receiving the touchdown tickets. ”
Despite playing at home, the buccaneers were not allowed to fire cannons on their famous pirate ship after touchdowns and large pieces. They did so shortly after the clock expired, when red, white and black confetti fell to the ground.
Fans still enjoyed the rumble of Gronk’s lightning peak after his first score.
Tampa missed the opportunity to increase the lead when Brady’s 2-meter pass to offensive lineman Joe Haeg was taken out of the hands in the end zone. Ronald Jones was stopped for consecutive transports as the Aryans clung to his “No Risk, No Biscuit” philosophy and took fourth place.
But the bosses did not gain any momentum from the stop. Instead, they made one costly mistake after another.
First of all, Travis Kelce, extremely close to All-Pro, gave up a pass that would have been a great gain in third place. Then punter Tommy Townsend pulled out a 29-yarder after a penalty forced him to hit again. Bucs started in Kansas City 38 instead of 27.
A pending call on defender Charvarius Ward has denied an interception by All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu. Kansas City’s defense took place, but an offside penalty during Ryan Succop’s successful goal gave the Buccaneers a first down. Sarah Thomas, the first official woman in a Super Bowl, threw that flag.
Brady fired a shot at Gronkowski for a 17-yard TD and a 14-3 lead. Gronk hesitated before throwing the ball, waiting to make sure another flag in the game was against the negligent bosses.
Mahomes led the offense for a 34-yard field goal by Harrison Butker, which reduced it to 14-6, but Kansas City’s defense fell apart in the final minute of the first half – allowing 42 yards on two interference penalties. One against Mathieu in the final zone set Brady’s TD pass to Brown for a 21-6 lead at the break.
Brady was the one who convinced his new team to give Brown a chance after the former All-Pro, with problems, gave up the suspension. TD’s throw to Brown was the 50th of the season, including 10 in the postseason.
Mathieu executed an unsportsmanlike penalty after passing TD because he entered with Brady while running on the sidelines.
Leonard Fournette, like Brown in addition to the season, ran 27 feet untouched to extend Tampa’s lead to 28-9. Arians punched after that score and pointed to offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who made the call.
Succop’s 52-meter goal increased the lead to 31-9.
Last year, Muhammad rallied the Chiefs from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against San Francisco and earned MVP honors in leading Kansas City to its first NFL championship in half a century. But Tampa’s passing race didn’t give him a chance.
Shaq Barrett he had one of three sacks on Muhammad, who spent most of the game trying to get rid of Jason Pierre-Paul, William Gholston and a relentless group.
“There was nothing stopping us from winning this game,” Barrett said. “I knew we would keep up the pressure. Coach Bowles had a wonderful game plan. I had the boys up there to work and I made it work, baby. ”
After 20 seasons in New England, Brady signed a $ 50 million two-year deal with Tampa in March. The Buccaneers had not reached the playoffs since 2007 and had not won a post-season game since the 2002 season of the title.
There were a lot of red-clad fans who did a tomahawk quota for part of the first half until the Bucs managed to get lost. Then, the fans of his hometown chanted “Let’s go happy”.
Prior to the launch, Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet’s laureate, recited a poem honoring three people chosen as honorary captains for the game and all front-line teachers, military veterans and health workers.
Brady avenged his loss against the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, who held the same position for the Giants when New York stifled the Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, preventing New England from having a perfect season.
The warmer weather suited Brady perfectly. He has passed Michael Jordan in the championships and does not seem ready to slow down. He has already said he could play in 45 years.
“I’ll be back,” Brady said, smiling.
There was never any doubt that he would go 8th next season.
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