Super Bowl LV Preview

Tomorrow night in Tampa Florida we will witness the greatest quarterback matchup in Super Bowl history. When all is said and done, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes will go down as two of the greatest QB's in NFL history. This game has all the makings of an instant classic and will forever affect the legacies of both quarterbacks.

You have the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs led by Patrick Mahomes facing off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by that GOAT Tom Brady. Both QB’s have absolutely loaded rosters, weapons left and right. Mahomes has one of the best receivers in the game in Tyreek Hill, while Brady has a deep receiving corps led by Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Mahomes has the best TE in the NFL right now, Travis Kelce, while Brady has the best TE in NFL history, Rob Gronkowski. Both have a stable of good backs behind them and solid offensive lines in front of them, although the Chiefs are dealing with some injuries on the o-line which could be a major factor in deciding this game. But the big question is, will Brady’s weapons be up for the challenge? If you ask me, Evans and Godwin are soft as puppy shit. I would normally be confident in Rob Gronkowski in a big game but he’s not the same guy he once was and he was nearly invisible in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago. On the other side you have a group of weapons who have performed in big game after the big game over the last few years in Kansas City. There is no doubt in my mind the weapons on KC will make big plays in this game but I have my doubts about the Buccaneers. Can Brady elevate his weapons enough to match that of the Chiefs?

I expect both these QB’s to be exceptional and offense to be the story of this game. But how about the defenses? Which defense will make that one play to either win the game or get their QB that one extra possession that will make the difference in this game? On one sideline you have that bozo head coach Bruce Arians with his moronic defensive coordinator Todd Bowles who “do what they do” and seemingly refuse to focus their defensive game plan on stopping one or two specific players. What does that get you? Tyreek Hill going off for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns when they played earlier this year. They also allowed Travis Kelce to have 8 catches in that game. I don’t know about you but if I were designing a defensive game plan to stop the Chiefs, Hill and Kelce would be top priority. Do you have faith that Bowles will adjust this time around? Did the Buccaneers learn anything from their previous matchup? The injuries on the Chiefs offensive line could mean big games for Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett. On the other sideline you have one of the best coaches in football, Andy Reid and his defensive coordinator and Massachusetts native Steve Spagnuolo who famously put together the game plan that slowed down Tom Brady and the 2007 Patriots offense in Super Bowl XLII as the Giants defensive coordinator. Spagnuolo knows how to attack Tom Brady, you pressure him up the middle. If Chris Jones can get pressure up the middle, it could be a long night for Brady and the Buccaneers offense. Can Spagnuolo beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl again? In their regular season matchup earlier this year, Brady struggled in the first half but seemed to figure out the defense a little bit in the second half, scoring 14 points in the fourth to make it a game but it was too little too late. Can Brady and the offense carry that momentum into this game?

I believe the Buccaneers can get up early in this game. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes tend to sleepwalk through the first quarter of games, especially big game ironically, while the Buccaneers with Brady tend to come out booming to start games. With that being said, let’s keep in mind that Brady has routinely struggled in first quarters of Super Bowls for his entire career. I think Brady could get his first, first quarter Super Bowl touchdown in this game, only took his 10 tries. But I expect Mahomes to get going in short order and once Mahomes gets going, he’s hard to keep up with, but we’ve seen Brady keep up with Mahomes on a couple different occasions including the previous biggest matchup between these two QB’s in the 2018 AFC championship game. It might not seem it early on but this game will ultimately become a back and forth battle and there is no doubt in my mind that it's going to come down to the wire and whichever QB has the ball in his hand last will likely win the game.

How can you pick against Tom Brady in a big game? That’s what I said last week against the Packers and that’s what I’ve been saying for 20 years. There isn’t a QB dead or alive that I would take over Tom Brady in a big game. The only problem this time around though, is you could arguably say the same thing about the opposing QB. That’s what makes this game so fascinating and so hard to predict. While I think Mahomes is tremendous and as I said, you could argue he’s nearing Brady stature when it comes to winning big games, him already being anointed as the greatest QB ever seems a little premature. As is the idea of the Chiefs already being on the level of the Patriots dynasty. Tom Brady has a chance to slam the door shut on all of that Sunday night. If he can win his seventh Super Bowl and once again put six rings between him and Mahomes while also preventing the Chiefs from becoming the first back to back champion since Brady and the Patriots did it back in 2003-2004 it will put to bed all this talk about Mahomes and the Chiefs somehow supplanting Brady and the Patriots dynasty. Although, if Patrick Mahomes can win this game, his second Super Bowl in only his forth year and beat Tom Brady while doing it, he will put himself in prime position to potentially one day reach Brady’s level. And lastly, let’s not forget about that other little thing Brady is trying to accomplish tomorrow night. As much as he might not need it for his legacy, Tom Brady is looking to win his first Super Bowl without Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. If he is able to win tomorrow night he will definitively prove once and for all that he is more than a system QB and can win on his own. He will become just the third QB to win a Super Bowl with multiple teams and truly separate himself as the GOAT.

Again, Patrick Mahomes is great, he’s going to win multiple Super Bowl championships and probably go down as the second or third best QB in NFL history. But tomorrow night in Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady will once again show out on the biggest stage, single handedly carry this dysfunctional Tampa Bay Buccaneers team to a Super Bowl championship, win his seventh ring and forever end any discussion as to who is the greatest QB and greatest NFL player of all time.

Buccaneers 37-34