ATHLETES ASSERT Super Bowl LV Recap

Riley Payne, Reporter

On February 7, 2021 in Tampa, Florida, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs came into this game looking to repeat as world champions after another stellar year finishing with 14 regular season wins.

On the other hand, the Buccaneers had an impressive offseason by signing Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, and
Antonio Brown.

Throughout the NFL regular season, COVID-19 rescheduled games, prevented some players from playing on a weekly basis, and altered fan attendance. The Super Bowl’s attendance was around 25,000 this year.

The Chiefs offense looked normal at first, but the offense was nowhere to be seen for the majority of the game, and the Buccaneers
went on a 14-0 lead. The Chiefs settled for a late field goal cutting the lead down toeight with just a minute and a little to spare before half.

The Bucs started the following drive before converting to get a first down. A trilogy of pass interference and holding calls set up the Buccaneers at the goal line, and Tom Brady gave a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown.

With a 21-6 lead at the half, the Buccaneers couldn’t get too comfortable knowing Patrick Mahomes was on the other sideline.

The Chiefs got the ball to start the second half and put up a field goal to cut the lead down to 12. After the field goal, the Chiefs couldn’t move the ball for the rest of the game, while the Bucs were doing anything they wanted on offense.

The Buccaneers went on to score 10 in the 3rd, which resulted in them winning the Super Bowl 31-9.

The Super Bowl MVP was named quarterback Tom Brady, who solidified his spot as MVP after winning his 7th Super Bowl and being the first quarterback to win a Super Bowl in both conferences.

Although Brady had a great game, he wouldn’t have had so much success if it wasn’t for his defense shutting down Patrick Mahomes and his offense.

Mahomes was running for his life the whole game and made some spectacular throws while in bad situations, but he could never convert due to the high pressure of the Buccaneers.

Devin White, Lavonte David and Ndamukong Suh all made cases to be the MVP of the game for their performances on defense.

Looking into the future, Tom Brady has no plans on retiring yet, and this Buccaneers team feels like they can only get better. Additionally, Mahomes in his third year as a starter has made the Super Bowl twice, and it won’t be his last appearance in the Super Bowl either.