Epic QB matchup turned out to be no contest
It was billed as the Greatest of All Time against the Greatest of Today. Tom Brady versus Patrick Mahomes promised to be epic. It promised the two finest quarterbacks from different generations vying for the NFL championship at the end of the league’s — and perhaps the planet’s — most-challenging year.
And with Super Bowl 55 now over, there remains no doubt to whom the synonyms for preeminence and highest standing among quarterback royalty belongs.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31.
Kansas City Chiefs 9.
Tom Brady, 43 years and 188 days old, remains on the quarterback throne.
Indeed, that throne seemingly carries his name now. Because the present, like the past two decades, continues to belong to him.
Mahomes, dynamic as he is and a Super Bowl champion a year ago when he helped defeat Brady’s onetime backup, found no similar magic against the king. If he is ever to be in Brady’s company when NFL history is written, it’ll be because of what he does in the future rather than what he did with this opportunity.
Brady completed 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He was selected this game’s MVP.
It is his fifth Super Bowl MVP award when he was the only one to ever be that
the best team from early on.
They were relentless on defense. They were opportunistic on offense. And they were poised.
In short, they played like the New England Patriots of the past two decades.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer because of his unmatched success.
But this year proved just how much of that success was owed to the now 43-year-old quarterback out of Michigan.
Danny Amendola made waves in Boston last week when he correctly pointed out: “When you see the ‘Patriot Way’ in the dictionary, it’s gonna have Tom Brady’s name next to it. None of those coaches threw any passes. None of those coaches caught any passes. None of those coaches made any tackles. They got guys in the right position because they watched a lot of film and they spent all their time at the facility.
“But Tom Brady is the ‘Patriot Way,’ and that’s the reason why Tom Brady’s in the Super Bowl right now and the Patriots aren’t.”
The Patriots fell apart this year when Brady left in free agency.
The Buccaneers, meanwhile, went from a 7-9 team to world champions. They’ve won 75 percent of their games with Brady under center after winning 17 games total the previous three years.
“My father had an expression, if you want to know the road ahead, ask the person who’s been there,” Buccaneers chairman Joel Glazer said. “We found that person. Ten Super Bowl appearances, seven victories. Tom Brady.”
Brady was a worthy game MVP, completing 21-of-29 passes for 201 yards and three scores.
But before we go any further, let’s get this on the record:
He had a ton of help Sunday, like he’s had in his six previous titles.
Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles called a masterful game, holding all-world quarterback Patrick Mahomes to arguably his worst game as a pro.
Before Sunday, Mahomes had never lost by double digits. The Chiefs’ offense ranked second in yards per play (6.4) and fifth in scoring offense (29.6) during the regular season.
But without three of their five best offensive linemen — Kelechi Osemele, Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher — the Chiefs couldn’t do anything offensively.
Mahomes, playing on a gimpy foot, completed just 26-of-49 passes for 270 yards, two interceptions and zero touchdowns.
The Buccaneers’ defensive front set the tone.
Tampa Bay might have won Sunday even if Brady was pedestrian.
But he was far from that. Brady at 43 was as
good as he was at 33 in the first half, completing 80 percent of his passes, averaging 7 yards an attempt and connecting on three touchdown passes — two to Rob Gronkowski, and the third to Antonio Brown just before the break.
That combination — 80 percent completions and three passing TDs in a half — had never occurred before in the 55-year history of this game.
The Chiefs not only were bad on offense, they were sloppy in all three phases. A series of special teams gaffes, including when Antonio Hamilton lined up offsides on a fourth-and-5 field-goal attempt, basically gifted Tampa Bay four points.
The Chiefs committed eight penalties for 95 yards in the first half alone — a Super Bowl record.
While Tampa Bay’s front four didn’t get to Mahomes in the first half, it hurried him three times and two of Devin White’s five tackles were for loss. Mahomes averaged a mere 3.5 yards per pass before intermission.
The second half was more of the same. A potential classic fizzled out quickly.
And Brady, again, ended the evening with the Lombardi Trophy in his grasp.
Afterwards, he refused to play the comparison game. But he did level a warning to the rest of the league that should be taken seriously:
“We’re coming back.”