What a great Super Bowl Sunday, despite the game being lopsided. Of course I wanted to see a good game as I said in my preview. I wanted the 45-42 barn burner. That’s not what we were blessed with though. We were blessed with something else. Another chapter in the GOAT’s story. Whether you love Tom Brady or hate Tom Brady, you will never EVER see another career like this. Before I talk more about Brady, I want to break down all my thoughts on the event. That is what the Super Bowl is. It is not minimized to just a game. No, this is an entire ordeal.
There were plenty of great things that happened…the game itself, some great commercials, a solid halftime performance and a infamous moment with a brilliant call by Kevin Harlan (another GOAT).
The Result of the Game Itself
I’d be lying if I said I expected a 31-9 whomping of the Chiefs. Most people would probably agree. It goes back to the tried and true formula of the NFL, don’t bet against Brady. For most people, the way the game played out likely tuned out the interest. The final ratings and viewership indicate just that. The game attracted an estimated 96.4 million viewers, the lowest since 2007. That being said, the NFL still shits on anything else on television. It also shits on everything in sports.
For example, the most viewed World Series Game of all time is Game 7 in 1986 between the Red Sox and Mets which netted between 55-60 million. The highest rated NBA Finals Game ever is 1998 Game 6 between the Bulls and Jazz with nearly 36 million viewers.
Is it a course for concern? No probably not. TV ratings have been down since the pandemic anyway. I am sure the result of the game didn’t help, but it isn’t anything to get crazy about.
How The Hell Did This Result Happen?
Prior to the game, I gave 5 takeaways on what each team needed to do in order to win. Honestly, it was easy to come up with those 5 things for the Bucs. It was tougher for the Chiefs because going in, I thought they were the better team…until they weren’t. Before going any further, here were the takeaways for each…
For Bucs to Win
- Minimize the Blitz (Check)
- Play the Short Game (Check)
- Use Extra Pass Protection (Check)
- Spy Hill (Check)
- No Lead is Safe (Check)
For Chiefs to WIn
- Short Passing (Fail)
- Stop the Run (Fail)
- Let Arians Bury Himself (I won’t say fail)
- Spread the Field (Fail)
- Capitalize Redzone (Some what Fail, only got there once and kicked a FG)
The Bucs did everything they should have done, meanwhile the Chiefs did none of it. The biggest x factor of the game was the Chiefs not having their starting tackles, period. The Chiefs still tried to be the Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Bucs did what made the Patriots so successful, change the script.
The Bucs played polar opposite of how they called their plays offensively and defensively for most of the season. They smelled the blood in the water and attacked. The Chiefs don’t have a very good defense. It has many holes and more often than not, that guy Patrick Mahomes can overcome those holes. But, not that day.
Bucs D v Chiefs O
One of the most interesting stats about Mahomes is now 16 of 24 career interceptions come from 7 or 8 man coverage, meaning no blitz. You would think that would work in his favor considering the Bucs had one of the most blitz heavy defenses under Todd Bowles. What did they do? They said fuck the blitz. They sent 5 or more on just 5 plays throughout the game. More often than not, they basically played what resembled a 2-4-5 with Vita Vea and Ndamakong Suh playing spread in the middle. Meanwhile, Jason Pierre Paul and Shaq Barrett played the majority of the game standing up on the edge. That scheme sent Patrick Mahomes running for his damn life being pressured 29 fucking times. Mahomes literally ran 497 yards trying to avoid sacks. Using a four man rush allowed them to spy Tyreek Hill and not get beat over the top as they did over and over again in their first matchup.
The Chiefs never responded and kept trying to get the ball downfield instead of spreading those guys out and utilizing the short game throwing only 15 of the 49 passes within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. When a pass rush is getting after someone (even as great as Mahomes), you’re not doing yourself any favors.
Chiefs D v Bucs O
For all the talk of Brady’s age, he sure looked great for a QB who led the league with 9.6 air yards per attempt cracking 40 TDs and being one of the best with the deep ball yet again. That’s what Arians does, he wants to aggressively push the ball downfield.
In the Super Bowl, he flipped the script. Brady threw 7 passes beyond 10 yards of the LOS. He was 3/7 on those passes with a TD. That wasn’t the only major change to the script. 19% of Brady’s passes in the regular came off play action. In the Super Bowl, the Bucs used play action on 43% of their passes. They played the short game. They established the run and put the Chiefs defense on their heels. They let Brady do what he’s done for so many big games before, let the defense bury itself and take advantage of their mistakes.
Takeaways / Moments / Thoughts of the Game
Brady to Gronk – Seeing these connect not once, but twice in the endzone was fucking awesome.
Brady v Honeybadger – No telling what the hell was said, but Brady clearly channeled his inner Chauncey Gardner Johnson here. Tyrann Mathieu flew off the rails. He was rattled. I love both of them as players. It was weird seeing Honeybadger get that fired up considering he usually can handle his emotions on the field.
Peace Hill – One of the most savage moments was when rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. gave Tyreek Hill a taste of his own medicine. After breaking up a pass on fourth down, Winfield made sure to return the favor from earlier this season throwing up the deuce to Hill. If there is a time for a 15 year unsportsmanlike conduct to be worth it, this was it. Absolute savage.
Mahomes – That poor dude was running for his damn life and still making some impressive plays that led to nothing. I wanted him to complete that heave when he was vertical to the ground soooooo bad. Even though it was incomplete, that was a throw that should have never made it there. I was listening to pre-game all day naturally. It may have been Kurt Warner who said he just can make unnatural throws that no one else can. His arm strength and accuracy is absolutely stupid. There two throws highlight that.
The Weeknd – A Solid Halftime Show
Every year, we see people just absolutely shit on halftime shows because it has become the cool thing to do. I’ll admit it was tough to hear at times, but I loved his performance. I wouldn’t put it near my top 5. But, respectably, I will throw it in the top 10.
He poured 7 million of his own dollars into it. I loved the presentation from the backdrop to the costumes. The mirror sequence during I Can’t Feel My Face was eerie and creepy in a good way similar to Blinding Lights. For all the anticipation I had heading into this year’s, it lived up for me.
The Best Commercials
Much like the halftime show, it has become commonplace to say how bad the commercials have gotten. Once again, every year I find some I like and others I don’t. Just like I have since I started watching the Super Bowl. Here were my favorites (click titles for links)…
- Cheetos – It wasn’t Me Shaggy, Ashton KOOOTCHER and Mila Kunis
- Door Dash – Daveed Diggs and Sesame Street
- DR FUCKING SQUATCH – MY SOAP!
- T-Mobile – Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani
- Uber Eats – Wayne’s World and Cardi B
The Streaker and the Call By Kevin Harlan
Some genius decided to run on the field and win money in a mankini. Good for him. I literally texted my friends and said how bullshit it was that we didn’t have Kevin Harlan for this moment. Luckily, we did. Here is the call. It was every bit as great as expected because Kevin Harlan is the GOAT of play by play.
Kevin Harlan is a national treasure. PULL UP YOUR PANTS! TAKE OFF THE BRA! AND BE A MAN!
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