By William Hathaway
The legend of Tom Brady continued to grow, as the future Hall of Fame quarterback won his seventh Super Bowl title, while giving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise their second and first in 18 years.
The game took place in the Buccaneers home stadium of Raymond James Stadium, which was socially distanced and partially filled at 25,000 living fans, and over 30,000 cutouts. Tampa Bay defended its home ship in a dominating 31-9 over the now-former champion Kansas City Chiefs. Despite Brady leaving the New England Patriots, ironically, all four Tampa touchdowns were scored by former Pats – two TD catches from recently unretired TE Rob Gronkowski, one from WR Antonio Brown, and one on the ground from RB LeGarrette Blount. The extra points and one FG were provided by kicker Ryan Succop, who started his career with the Chiefs as “Mr. Irrelevant.” The title is bestowed upon any player selected last in the NFL Draft, in which Succop was pick #256 in the 2009 Draft.
For the fifth time in his career, Brady won the game’s Most Valuable Player award, despite throwing for just over 200 yards. The real MVP was the Bucs defense, who posted a record 29 pressures on Patrick Mahomes, who had to run nearly 500 yards with a turf toe injury away from rushers. The high scoring KC offense was held to just three Harrison Butker field goals. Tight End Travis Kelce was the only Chiefs player to have any success, recording over 100 yards receiving.
The Super Bowl LV (55) win gave Bucs head coach and Paterson native Bruce Arians the distinction of being the oldest coach to win the big game at 68, and gave former Jets head coach and Elizabeth native Todd Bowles his first as a coordinator. Meanwhile, former NY Giant Jason Pierre-Paul remains undefeated in post season play, as in his last playoff run, the Giants won Super Bowl XLI against Brady’s Patriots.
In other NFL news, the 2021 NFL Hall Of Fame class will include Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Drew Pearson, Alan Fanceca, John Lynch, former Raiders head coach Tom Flores, and former NFL scout Bill Nunn.
Finally, in sad news, former head coach Marty Schottenheimer has passed away at the age of 77.
