Well, Whatdya Know . . . Tom Brady Won a Super Bowl
Whether you like TOM BRADY or not, Super Bowl 55 was appropriately hyped. It was the first time in history that the last two quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl were facing off against each other. It was also a possible coronation: An aging legend passing the torch to an heir apparent.
But, NO . . . it was like Groundhog Day again, with Brady seeing his shadow . . . potentially signaling six more years of Brady dominance. (I don’t like it either.)
Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers easily defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. Chiefs quarterback PATRICK MAHOMES wasn’t able to get anything going against the Bucs defense.
If it weren’t for the uniforms . . . and the absence of Bill Belichick . . . it was basically a Patriots game: Down to Brady starting off the game by throwing a pair of touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski.
The Chiefs really started to unravel one minute before halftime, when they let the Bucs march down the field and score their third touchdown. That put the score at 21-6 . . . and the Chiefs were never able to close the gap.
The second half was an unwelcome blend of BLAND and BORING . . . with the Chiefs forced to wave the white flag in the third quarter. No one scored in the fourth, and Kansas City didn’t get into the endzone all game.
In fact, the only exciting moment was a fan who ran onto the field. And radio listeners were treated to an exciting play-by-play by Kevin Harlan. Clearly, he was dying to call something interesting. (Here’s the call, and video.)
AUDIO: A fan ran onto the field at #SuperBowl @Kevinharlan & @kurt13warner had the call.
It was great. pic.twitter.com/sKAQqrIpfb
— Westwood One Sports (@westwood1sports) February 8, 2021
(No one likes to give attention to the morons who rush the field, BUT when they manage to gain more yardage than the actual team . . . well . . .)
Brady finished with 201 yards, completing 21 of his 29 passes. He had three touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Mahomes had 270 yards on 26-of-49 passing, with no touchdowns and two picks.
Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP for the fifth time. This was his seventh Super Bowl win in 10 tries, and he now has more titles than any one FRANCHISE. The Patriots and the Steelers each have six titles.
Brady also now has the second-most championship MVPs in the history of the four major sports. He trails only Michael Jordan, who has six.
By the way, Brady will turn 44 in August, but he’s already said that he’s coming back. As has Gronkowski. And if you think he’s a long-shot to repeat at this stage in his career . . . that’s fair . . . but I wouldn’t bet against him.
10 Interesting Facts and Stats from Super Bowl 55
After last night’s BLAND game, we ventured out into the Internet in search of some trivia and interesting facts on Super Bowl 55. Here’s what we came up with:
1. This is my favorite stat from last night’s game: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes ran for an incredible 497 YARDS . . . while SCRAMBLING.
The Buccaneers pass rush forced Mahomes to bail out of the pocket and run everywhere . . . just not, you know, FORWARD. The 497 yards he traveled before throwing or being sacked is the most scramble yards by any quarterback since at least 2016. (Here is Mahomes vs. Brady scrambling.)
For the record, Mahomes had 33 positive yards rushing from the line of scrimmage.
2. It’s really weird to see Mahomes on the wrong end of a blow-out. It’s historic, too. The last time Mahomes started and lost a game by more than one score was November 19th, 2016 when he was in college at Texas Tech . . . and he lost 66-10 to Iowa State.
3. Tom Brady has been there. Teams trailing by double-digits at halftime in the Super Bowl are 1-25 all-time . . . with the lone win being the Brady and the Patriots, who were down 18 points against the Falcons in Super Bowl 51.
4. But Brady doesn’t usually get off to a good start in the Super Bowl. In fact, yesterday’s game was the FIRST TIME in 10 Super Bowls that Brady scored a touchdown in the first quarter.
It was also the first time in those 10 Super Bowls that Brady’s team has held a lead in the first quarter.
5. Brady is the FIRST player in NFL history to win multiple titles after turning 40.
And in the history of the four major American sports, he’s the FIFTH to do it . . . behind Chris Chelios, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Enos Slaughter, and baseball player Jack Quinn, who you might remember from those exciting Philadelphia Athletics teams of the late-1920s. (???)
6. The Bucs defense owned the Chiefs offensive line. Mahomes was pressured more in this game than any quarterback in Super Bowl history (29 times), passing the record of 25 by Jim Kelly in Super Bowl 26.
Brady faced his fewest pressures (4) in any Super Bowl of his career.
7. The Bucs are the first team with four 30-point games in a postseason . . . and they’re the first team to beat three Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks in a postseason (Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees).
8. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians became the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl. He’s 68. The old record was held by Bill Belichick, who was 66 when the Patriots won Super Bowl 53 in 2019.
Speaking of the Patriots, their Twitter account congratulated Brady on his win . . . and added, quote, “And Gronk, be careful with that trophy . . .”
9. Brady became the only quarterback to win a ring in each of THREE decades. Only two other quarterbacks have won in two decades: Peyton and Eli Manning.
Brady also joined Peyton as the only starting quarterback to win Super Bowls with two teams.
10. Before Brady signed with Tampa Bay 324 days ago, the Bucs hadn’t had a winning record since 2016, and they hadn’t reached the playoffs since 2007. In fact, their last postseason win came on January 26th 2003, when the Bucs beat the Oakland Raiders to win Super Bowl 37.
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