Buccaneers’ Tom Brady and Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes battle at Super Bowl LV
GOAT vs. the Kid! Tom Brady connects with longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski on two touchdown passes as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take a 28-9 lead over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV
- The reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs are battling the NFC champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a quarterback matchup of old (43-year-old Tom Brady) vs. young (25-year-old Patrick Mahomes)
- Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, capping an eight-play, 31-yard drive with a 49-yard field goal
- Brady responded with a 75-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard scoring pass to his longtime friend Rob Gronkowski, who came out of retirement before the season to reunite with his ex-Patriots teammate in Tampa
- A crucial defensive holding penalty by Kansas City kept a Tampa Bay driving going in the second quarter, which allowed Brady and Gronkowski to connect again, this time on a 17-yard touchdown pass
- Brady ended the first half with a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, whom he also played with in New England
- Brady, who has a record six Super Bowl wins, will hope to avoid tying former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly with his fourth Super Bowl loss. The former Patriots star signed a two-year, $50 million deal with the Bucs in March
- Mahomes is coming off another impressive season and is the reigning Super Bowl MVP from Super Bowl LIV
- The Chiefs are without outside linebackers coach Britt Reid, who was involved in a car crash last week in Missouri that left a five-year-old girl in a coma. Reid is the son of Kansas City head coach Andy Reid
- Line judge Sarah Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl on Sunday
- Brady was seen exchanging words with Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu but the two were separated
- Tampa Bay pushed its lead to 28-9 in the third quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by running back Leonard Fournette, a former first-round pick who signed with the Bucs after being cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are holding a 28-6 lead over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV after longtime New England Patriots teammates Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski connected on a pair of first half touchdowns.
The Chiefs had cut the Bucs’ lead to 14-6 in the second quarter, but Brady ended the half by capping a five-play, 51-yard, one-minute drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, whom he also played with in New England.
Unless Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs do something to change the Bucs’ momentum, Brady will have have his record-extending seventh Super Bowl victory and his first since leaving the Patriots and signing a two-year, $50 million contract with Tampa Bay back in March.
A loss, however, would also be a record for Brady, who would tie former Buffalo Bills star Jim Kelly with four Super Bowl defeats – the most for a quarterback.
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After some early struggles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady found Rob Gronkowski on a pair of touchdowns
Rob Gronkowski now has five career touchdown receptions after hauling in a pair from Brady in the first half on Sunday
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Rob Gronkowski reacts as he scores his second touchdown in the first half of Super Bowl LV
Patrick Mahomes absorbs a hit from Buccaneers outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett during the first half of Super Bowl LV
After several tumultuous seasons in Pittsburgh followed by brief, equally tumultuous stints in Oakland and New England, Antonio Brown has found a home in Tampa, where he caught one-yard touchdown pass from Bucs QB Tom Brady on Sunday
Buccaneers QB Tom Brady has words with Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu in the first half of Super Bowl LV
Tampa Bay pushed its lead to 28-9 in the third quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by running back Leonard Fournette, a former first-round pick who signed with the Bucs after being cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars
The highly anticipated quarterback matchup between Brady and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes began as an early defensive battle until the Chiefs took a 3-0 lead in the opening frame. After Brady’s Bucs accumulated only 16 yards on their first two drives, Mahomes engineered an eight-play, 31-yard drive that culminated with Harrison Butker’s 49-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Brady responded with a 75-yard drive that ended with the eight-yard scoring pass Gronkowski, who came out of retirement before the 2020 season to reunite with his longtime teammate in Tampa. The catch marked Gronkowski’s fourth touchdown catch from Brady, who is appearing his 10th Super Bowl on Sunday.
The Chiefs nearly surrendered another touchdown, but managed a goal-line stand to begin the second quarter.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, a crucial defensive holding penalty negated a Brady interception and allowed him and Gronkowski to connect again, this time on a 17-yard touchdown pass.
The Chiefs’ Butker has three field goals for the game, the longest of which he kicked from 52 yards away.
The Buccaneers pushed their lead to 28-9 in the third quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by running back Leonard Fournette, a former first-round pick who signed with the Bucs after being cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church perform the national anthem before Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium
Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church perform the national anthem while the Air Force perform a fly over before Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium
After Brady’s Bucs accumulated only 16 yards on their first two drives, Mahomes engineered an eight-play, 31-yard drive that culminated with Harrison Butker’s 49-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead (pictured)
The defending champion Chiefs do have some reason for optimism on Sunday.
Kansas City wide receiver Sammy Watkins was cleared to play Sunday night after missing the past three games with a calf injury. That gives Mahomes another trusted target to go along with the likes of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman, and tight end Travis Kelce.
Brady, meanwhile, has both wide receiver Antonio Brown and tight end Cameron Brate to throw to after they were among the Buccaneers’ inactives this week.
Brown sat out Tampa Bay’s NFC championship game win over Green Bay because of a knee injury. Brate had been dealing with a back issue that ailed him earlier in the week.
The Buccaneers will also have safeties Jordan Whitehead (shoulder) and Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle) in the secondary after both were listed as questionable.
Tampa Bay running back LeSean McCoy will also be available to play after he was inactive last year for Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory.
Inactive for the Chiefs are: running back Darwin Thompson, tight end Ricky Seals-Jones, backup quarterback Matt Moore, defensive end Tim Ward, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders and cornerbacks Bopete Keyes and Chris Lammons.
For the Buccaneers, running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, wide receiver Justin Watson, quarterbacks Ryan Griffin and Drew Stanton, tight end Antony Auclair, and defensive linemen Khalil Davis and Jeremiah Ledbetter are inactive.
Rob Gronkowski #87 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spikes the ball after an eight-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter
The Chiefs had a crucial goal-line stand in the second quarter, which prevented the Buccaneers from taking an 11-point lead
Line judge Sarah Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes walks on the field during warm up hours before the AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs play the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa
The mere fact that there is a Super Bowl this season is no small feat given everything the league and country has been through with the ongoing pandemic.
It took nearly 1 million COVID tests, thousands of Zoom meetings, a dozen or so rescheduled games and an untold amount of flexibility for the NFL to not miss a single of its 269 regular-season and postseason games in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.
Game No. 269, the Super Bowl, is fascinating for the quarterback matchup of young (Mahomes) vs. old (Brady); but also for the 22,000 socially distanced fans in attendance as the NFL becomes the last of the country’s four major professional sports leagues to declare a champion amid the pandemic.
The NFL and society, in general, are hoping America’s biggest sports celebration won’t turn into the mother of superspreader events, either at the stadium or at the inevitable thousands of high-fiving, chip-dipping, hug-it-out Super Bowl parties planned across the land.
With the reality that the most important results of the Super Bowl — the spike, or lack of spike, in COVID numbers — wouldn’t be known until well after the final score was posted and most of the $4.3 billion in expected wagers are settled, the NFL still scored points by merely making it to the finish line without any major disruptions.
‘The fact that every team played the correct number of games. and that most people did not get sick, is a real testament to their perseverance in making it happen,’ said Dennis Deninger, who teaches a Super Bowl and Society class for Syracuse’s sports management department.
The resiliency of the players and the league stood out as a bright note this winter, as the coronavirus ravaged the United States and the world. The NFL’s ability to keep the show moving — albeit imperfectly — reinforced the sport’s strong footing in American culture. It also generated debate about whether the country and the league have their priorities straight, given that resources devoted to playing football could have conceivably been expended elsewhere.
Chiefs and Bucs fans celebrate in the end zone alongside the pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa
President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden are seen on a scoreboard screen delivering a message before the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday
Around 22,000 socially distanced fans will be at the first (and hopefully last) Super Bowl of the pandemic era
General view of the pirate ship before Super Bowl LV between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium
A vaccinated doctor from Florida who didn’t give her name holds up a sign outside of Raymond James Stadium on Sunday
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t wearing their home uniforms, but the NFC Champions are playing at their home stadium
An attendee sits in the stands before Super Bowl LV between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday
‘In some ways, you say, it doesn’t feel right to be talking about sports and thinking about sports in the middle of a pandemic,’ said Ketra Armstrong, the director at University of Michigan’s Center for Race and Ethnicity in Sport. ‘But when you think the role sports can play for the psyche of the country, and you understand the level people are going to to deliver sports, you can appreciate’ the effort the NFL made to make the season happen.
And, in fact, the NFL’s efforts benefitted more than simply the league’s own interests. Using as a backbone of its research the approximately 957,000 tests it conducted on more than 7,500 players and employees, the NFL collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control to publish a paper describing testing protocols, mitigation strategies and contact-tracing measures that could also be useful in ‘high-density environments’ such as schools and long-term care facilities.
A key conclusion from the paper was that ‘although the protocols implemented by the NFL were resource-intensive’ — i.e., the league had plenty of money and manpower to implement a testing program few other organizations would dream of — many of the lessons learned were valuable.
‘The idea was to test frequently, to identify when you had a positive, and to isolate and trace closely if you did,’ commissioner Roger Goodell said, while taking a victory lap of sorts earlier in the week at his annual Super Bowl news conference. ‘We don’t think there was a safer place to be than at an NFL facility that year. We never doubted that for a second.’
Tampa Bay Buccaneers players run to the field as they are introduced before Super Bowl LV
Fans social distance as they watch a stage show before Sunday’s Super Bowl LV between the Chiefs and Buccaneers
All fans were required to wear masks, although this Kansas City Chiefs fan opted against the N95 model
Devin White #45 and Rob Gronkowski #87 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take the field before Super Bowl LV
A Chiefs fan behind cutouts of fans in Raymond James Stadium hours before the AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs play the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The season was far from perfect. Because of rescheduling, there were games played on every day of the week, including Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The Titans, Ravens, Browns and Steelers were among those that endured high-profile outbreaks that threatened not only their rosters but the league’s entire operation. In the season’s biggest debacle, the Broncos were forced to play a game with a wide receiver playing quarterback after everyone in the QB group got put under quarantine on late notice.
Goodell said all decisions were made in service of prioritizing safety over everything, including the NFL’s longstanding calling-card — competitive balance.
And yet, as Goodell pointed out, offense came at a record pace, and 70 percent of this season’s games were decided by eight points or less — reinforcing that, even in a pandemic, anyone can beat anyone on any given Sunday in the NFL.
As the playoffs wore on, some developments started feeling more normal, even if they didn’t always reflect well on the league.
There was the weeklong wait to see if Mahomes would play in the AFC championship game following his placement in the league’s much-debated ‘concussion protocol’ after his head slammed to the turf in the previous week’s win. Mahomes returned a week after the scary incident and led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl.
The two biggest off-field news items centered on a high-stakes quarterback carousel, with marquee signal-callers Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford swapping teams (Goff to the Lions and Stafford to the Rams) and DeShaun Watson of the Texans demanding a trade.
It likely won’t feel like a home game, due to crowd restrictions, the Bucs are the first team to play a Super Bowl on their field
Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Kansas City Chiefs – Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida, U.S. – February 7, 2021 Fans wearing protective face masks are surrounded by cut-out photographs of fans to maintain social distancing due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before the game
More troubling was the annual reminder of the NFL’s generally lackluster record in hiring minorities for coaching and front-office positions.
Buccaneers fans arrive at Super Bowl LV prior on Sunday, February 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes walks across the Super Bowl LV logo before Super Bowl LV against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium
One of the most consistent defensive lineman over the last decade, Tampa Bay’s Ndamukong Suh (right) warms up on Sunday
‘We had two minority coaches hired and it was not what we expected,’ the commissioner said of the seven head-coaching vacancies in the league this year. ‘And not what we expect going forward.’
It undermined progress made earlier in the season when Goodell, taking the temperature of a country agitated by increasing calls for social justice, conceded that the league should have paid more heed to Colin Kaepernick when he started his own form of protest by kneeling on the sidelines four seasons ago.
‘We know the NFL has failed miserably in many regards in being socially responsible, culturally responsible and showing it has a racial conscience,’ Armstrong said. ‘What you hope is that they can take advantage of this unique moment to maximize the power of sport. There’s a lot they can do. A lot more they should do.’
Clearly, though, the focus of this season was not on the NFL’s imperfections, but rather on the games themselves. With a few months to see what other sports did right and wrong, the NFL came up with a plan, revised it, revised it again, and got all its games in, albeit in front of mostly empty stadiums. Goodell said a total of 1.2 million people attended games that, in a normal season, would have been seen live by up to 17 million.
The capper to it all was a marquee matchup, to be played before a crowd of 22,000, featuring the two biggest names in football: Brady vs. Mahomes.
‘The NFL, and a lot of sports, served as examples for organizations in corporate America about how, if you put your mind to it, you can find ways to contain the virus, and continue doing what you do,’ Deninger said.