He’ll also be doing it with a team full of more castoffs than his last five years in Foxborough put together.
This will be the first time in the Super Bowl era that a team will be playing in their home stadium. Minnesota had the chance two years ago, but fell short in the NFC Championship game. The Bucs will certainly be the underdog and the away team, based on Kansas City’s 14-2 record, compared to Tampa’s 11-5 mark.
The Bucs were 7-3 and fighting with the New Orleans Saints for control of the NFC South, before back-to-back losses against the Los Angeles Rams and the Chiefs. Then they finished with four straight wins over teams long since removed from playoff contention (Minnesota, Detroit and two over Atlanta) to earn the final NFC playoff spot. Say what you will about the Chiefs being a non-call helmet-to-helmet fumble at the goalline against the Cleveland Browns in the Divisional Round, championship teams get those calls.
The Buccaneers likely will not get those calls on Sunday...Brady will.
The idea that Kansas City is only a three-point favorite less than a week out tells you everything you need to know of just how this game is going to go down. The Chiefs won their title convincingly last year over the 49ers, but should realistically run Tampa off the field, saving the fourth quarter as a victory lap.
Brady has lost three times on the main stage, with each margin being less than one score (Philadelphia by 8 in SB52, the Giants by 4 in SB46 and by 3 in SB42). He should hopefully have his first blowout loss this time around.
If the Buccaneers miraculously win, there will be just as much speculation as when Brady won his first title over the Rams in SB36. The Rams were heavily favored, with a far superior offense, which is comparable to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs this time around.
The Bucs do have a top-10 defense in most categories like yards given up, total opposition scoring and penalties against. A fine season, unless you’re matched up with the most explosive offense in football the last two seasons. The Chiefs were down 10 early to the Bills in the AFC title game, leading many (including me) to think their defense was good enough to slow down Mahomes and his weapons.
Then the Chiefs woke up and hung 38 in the final three quarters.
If your tinfoil hat is on, you can think that Brady led a team named the Patriots to victory just months after the September 11 attacks, when the NFL changed the Super Bowl logo to an American flag (instead of a cajun theme with the game being played in New Orleans). Remember the National Anthem performer was also changed to the Boston Pops Orchestra leading into the game.
Just remember that the Bucs wore the same uniforms when they won SB37 the year after Brady’s first...which some people think was the league making up for Jon Gruden getting screwed in the “Tuck Rule” game by Brady the year before when he was coaching the Raiders.
I don’t think Andy Reid and Mahomes would be owed any favors by the league if Brady wins Sunday. Then again, there are some of us, no names please, who might think of some sort of reward if the Chiefs lay an ass-whipping down to end the season.
-JC24