Brady and his bunch
Tom Brady has a new team, in a new town. The destination is the same: another Super Bowl. At home, too.
The man with six NFL titles will become the first quarterback to play a Super Bowl on his team’s home field. He owes the Tampa Bay defence that sacked Aaron Rodgers five times, and a curious late call on fourth-and-goal by the Packers as Brady and the Bucs beat top-seeded Green Bay 31-26 for the NFC title yesterday.
‘‘It’s great to get another road win and now we got a home game, and who would have ever thought a home Super Bowl for us,’’ Brady said. ‘‘But we did it.
‘‘I thought the defence was spectacular. They’ve done that all year.’’
The Bucs (14-5) will face the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat the Buffalo Bills 38-24 for the AFC title, at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Feburary 8. A host team in the Super Bowl has never happened in 54 previous games.
‘‘We’re coming home,’’ said Bucs coach Bruce Arians, whose first NFL coaching job was as an assistant in 1989 with Kansas City, and won two league Coach of the Year awards, with Indianapolis in 2012, Arizona in 2014. He will make his first trip to the Super Bowl as a head coach. ‘‘We’re coming home to win.’’
Brady is back in his first year at Tampa Bay after reaching this stage nine times with the New England Patriots. He went 20 of 36 for 286 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions as Tampa Bay squandered most of an 18-point lead. Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for five sacks to help the Bucs hang on for their franchise-record eighth consecutive road victory.
It’s quite a step up for a team that had one winning record in the last nine seasons.
‘‘Tom is the GOAT (greatest of all time),’’ said Bucs receiver Scotty Miller, who caught a 39-yard touchdown pass with 1 second left until halftime. ‘‘Last year, we ended 7-9. This year, we’re going to the Super Bowl. He’s the biggest reason.’’
The Bucs snapped Green Bay’s seven-game winning streak. They were aided by a strange decision from Packers coach Matt LaFleur with just over two minutes remaining in a 31-23 game.
After three straight incompletions had the Packers facing fourth-and-goal from the 8, the Packers elected to kick a field goal to get within five.
‘‘Anytime it doesn’t work out you always regret it, right?’’ LaFleur said. ‘‘It was just circumstance of having three shots and coming away with no yards. And knowing that you not only need the touchdown but you’d need the two-point. The way I was looking at it is we essentially had four timeouts with the two-minute warning, we knew we needed to get a stop.’’
Tampa Bay then ran out the clock on the Packers (14-4).
‘‘I understand the thinking — above two minutes with all of our timeouts — but it wasn’t my decision,’’ Rodgers said.
The Packers lost in the NFC championship game for the fourth time in the last seven seasons. Green Bay hasn’t reached the Super Bowl since its 2010 championship season.
Rodgers went 33 of 48 for 346 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, but fell to 1-4 in conference championship games as a starting quarterback. The Packers had the NFL’s best red-zone offence this season, but they twice settled for field goals after having a firstand-goal yesterday.