It has taken 20 weeks of great (and sometimes not-so-great) football action, but we now know the participants of Super Bowl LV in Tampa. No surprise the Chiefs returned to the big game after ripping through the league this season. It's a little surprising the Buccaneers were able to break through in Green Bay. Maybe I shouldn't have picked both teams to lose.
Congrats to both squads and if you are a fan of one of these teams I wish you good luck. Actually that's a lie. I'm only wishing luck to the Chiefs. All these years I thought it was Belichick who made a deal with the devil, turns out it was Tom Brady all along. Sneaky bastard.
Just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Green Bay Packers 26
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Dammit Green Bay you did it. You forced me to have to put up with two weeks of over the top media hype for Tom Brady. Ugh. The outcome of this game shocked me. I don’t wager money on football (I try to learn from past mistakes), but if I did I would have put my money on Green Bay without hesitation.
The Bucs took the opening kickoff and promptly drove straight down the field for a touchdown, mainly on the arm of Tom Brady. Great start for Tampa, it was a better drive then they had all last game against the Saints. After that the teams traded punts and the 1st quarter ended with the Bucs ahead 7-0.
The Packers responded in the 2nd quarter when Aaron Rodgers hit Marques Valdez-Scantling with a 50-yard TD pass to tie the game. That didn’t last long as Tampa only needed four plays to score another TD of their own. Brady set up the score with a 52-yard pass to Chris Godwin and Leonard Fournette finished the drive with a 20-yard TD run.
The Packers next drive went deep into Tampa territory. Facing a 3rd and goal from the 6-yard line, Davante Adams dropped a pass in the endzone. Green Bay had to settle for a FG and cut the score to 14-10.
The Bucs punted back to the Packers and Green Bay had a chance to take the lead before halftime. Then disaster struck for both the offense and defense. First Aaron Rodgers was intercepted at midfield. Bucs CB Sean Murphy-Bunting clearly held the receiver, but the refs let it slide. The refs did that for most of the game. We’ll get back to that later.
Then the defense failed. Tampa got a 1st down at the Green Bay 39-yard line, but there was only 8 seconds left on the clock and the Bucs were out of timeouts. Bypassing a 56-yard FG attempt, Tampa took a crack at the endzone. With no timeouts it had to be an all or nothing play. Apparently the Packers defensive coaches didn’t tell their players that as they let Scotty Miller slip behind the safety and haul in a 39-yard TD pass from Brady. It was a terrible play by the defense that let the Bucs head into halftime with a 21-10 advantage.
The second half didn’t start any better for Green Bay. After taking the kickoff Aaron Jones fumbled the ball after catching a pass from Rodgers. Tampa recovered and returned the turnover to the 8-yard line of Green Bay. Brady only needed one play to find Cameron Brate in the endzone and the Bucs lead extended to 28-10.
It was desperation time for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers met the challenge. He put together an eight play drive that culminated with a 8-yard TD pass to Robert Tonyan. The deficit was cut to 28-17. Then Tom Brady started feeling generous. He was picked off by the Packers on the Green Bay 32-yard line. Rodgers stayed hot and led the Pack to another TD. The Packers went for two but failed when a pass was dropped. The Bucs lead was trimmed to 28-23 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The 4th quarter can be summed up like this: Tom Brady tried like hell to blow the game, but the Bucs defense bailed him out. He owes those guys a nice steak dinner. Brady threw interceptions on back-to-back possessions to start the 4th quarter. Golden opportunities for Green Bay, but Tampa forced the Pack to go three and out both times. The defense hounded Rodgers with pressure and sacks each time.
Brady finally pulled his head out of his ass long enough to lead the Bucs into FG range and Ryan Succop nailed the 46-yard kick to make the score 31-23 with a little less than five minutes remaining in the game. Time was running out for the Packers.
Rodgers finally evaded the pass rush long enough to drive his team into the red zone. The Packers had a 1st and goal at the Bucs 8-yard line, but three straight passes by Rodgers fell incomplete. With a little over two minutes left on the clock and trailing by eight points, common sense tells us the Packers would have to go for it on 4th down to try to save their season.
Apparently Packers head coach Matt Lafleur doesn’t have any common sense. He elected to kick a FG, which Mason Crosby punched through to make the score 31-26. This was one dumb decision. Why kick a FG and give Tampa a chance to bleed the clock instead of taking a shot at tying the game? Is it better to lose by 5 points instead of 8? Isn’t Aaron Rodgers the NFL’s king of pulling miracle plays out of nowhere? I have so many questions!
Anyway the Bucs took possession and only needed a few 1st downs to kill the clock. They got some help from the refs when the Packers were called for pass interference on a third down play that was Green Bay’s last chance to come back. Was there some minor interference? Yes. Had the referees allowed many such plays to go without throwing a flag all day? Yes again. I think the refs were influenced by a horrible acting job by Mike Evans, who fell down when he realized he wasn’t going to catch the pass. No way a little tug on his jersey made him fall down. It was a flop that would make LeBron proud. No matter, the call was made and Brady knelt down to kill the clock and sew up the win.
As I write this section Sunday night I can tell you now the media will give Tom Brady tons of credit for this win, but it was the defense that was the real heroes for Tampa Bay. Brady made some really good throws in the 1st half, but he fell apart in the second half with interceptions on three consecutive possessions. They were all bad throws as well. The Bucs defense saved his ass by only letting the Packers get 7 points from those turnovers.
As I write this section Sunday night I can tell you now the media will give Tom Brady tons of credit for this win, but it was the defense that was the real heroes for Tampa Bay. Brady made some really good throws in the 1st half, but he fell apart in the second half with interceptions on three consecutive possessions. They were all bad throws as well. The Bucs defense saved his ass by only letting the Packers get 7 points from those turnovers. Tampa’s only TD of the second half was an easy 8-yard drive also set up by the defense. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and his defenders are the guys that sent this team to the Super Bowl.
Kansas City Chiefs 38 Buffalo Bills 24
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I expected this game to be a shootout. The Chiefs complied by scoring touchdowns, while the Bills failed by settling for field goals. Buffalo made the final score look closer with some garbage time scores, but this was a total asskicking by the Chiefs.
As they seem to do quite often, Kansas City fell behind quickly in this game. Buffalo accepted the opening kickoff and drove the ball into KC territory. However the drive stalled at the 33-yard line and the Bills kicked a field goal to open up the scoring.
KC went three and out on their first possession and punted back to Buffalo. Buffalo moved the ball to midfield but ran out of gas. They punted to KC and kick returner Mecole Hardman promptly fumbled the punt away. The Bills recovered on the three-yard line and Josh Allen threw a TD pass to Dawson Knox. Kicker Tyler Bass missed the extra-point and Buffalo left the 1st quarter with a 9-0 lead.
It was all downhill for the Bills from there. KC took possession and proceeded to matriculate the ball down the field. Mainly connecting on short passes, Mahomes drove the Chiefs 80 yards on 14 plays for a TD. Mecole Hardman atoned for his earlier fumble by catching a three yard TD pass.
After a Buffalo punt, KC started to exploit the Bills defense for bigger chunks of yardage. A 50-yard run by Hardman set up the Chiefs deep into Buffalo territory. Four plays later Darrel Williams ran the ball into the endzone to give KC their first lead at 14-9. They never looked back.
The Chiefs would add another touchdown on their next possession and the Bills closed out the half by kicking a field goal after their drive stalled on the KC 4-yard line. You don’t beat the Chiefs by kicking field goals. At the half KC held a 21-12 lead.
The third quarter started with each team kicking field goals. Then the Chiefs put their foot back on the gas and put the game away for good. A 71-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill set up the Chiefs inside the Buffalo 10-yard line. Mahomes finished the drive by throwing a 1 yard TD pass to Travis Kelce and the Chiefs left the 3rd quarter with a 31-15 lead.
Entering the 4th quarter Buffalo needed to score in a hurry. Josh Allen took the team into the KC redzone, but tossed an interception. It was Allen’s first career postseason interception in four games and it couldn’t have possibly come at a worse time. The Chiefs took advantage of the turnover to drive straight down the field for another TD, putting them up 38-15 with seven minutes left in the game.
The Bills continued to fight back, but it was too little too late. Allen threw a TD pass to Isaiah McKenzie, but failed on the two-point conversion. The Bills recovered an onside kick and turned it into a field goal to cut their deficit to 38-24, but there was only three minutes left on the clock. The Chiefs recovered Buffalo’s second onside kick and proceeded to bleed out the clock to secure the win.
Buffalo scored the first nine points of the game and the last nine points of the game. Unfortunately for them the Chiefs pounded them 38-6 in between. The Bills running game was a mess, only gaining yards when Josh Allen took off with the ball. The offense lacked balance and that cost them, they had to settle for too many field goals. Buffalo took a big leap forward this season, but not big enough to reach the ultimate game.
In their first meeting earlier in the season, the Chiefs used their running game to defeat Buffalo. This time KC went back to what they do best, having Patrick Mahomes find his top targets to gut the defense. Tyreek Hill (9 receptions, 172 yards) and Travis Kelce (13 receptions, 118 yards, 2 TDs) made big plays all over the field. Patrick Mahomes had his “A” game on Sunday and when he is on the Chiefs are virtually unbeatable. They will certainly be the favorites in the Super Bowl.
Now we have to wait two weeks for our Super Bowl LV matchup of the Chiefs vs. the Buccaneers in Tampa. The Bucs will be the first team to play a Super Bowl game at their home stadium. I doubt it will be any type of advantage for the Bucs, the Super Bowl crowd is a corporate affair and who knows how many people they will let in the stadium.
The Bills head home after a great season that came just short of going to the big dance. Their future is bright, this is a team on the rise. The experience they gained in the playoffs will only help them in the future. They need to sort out their running attack and get some pass rushers to take the next step.
I don't think the future looks as good for the Packers. They'll always be dangerous with Aaron Rodgers under center, but he isn't getting any younger. The Packers made the NFC title game last year and instead of going all in, like Tampa Bay did, to build a championship team they decided to build for the future instead. That probably cost them a Super Bowl berth this season. Will it be any different this offseason? Somehow I doubt it. Green Bay isn't known for spending money on free-agents. They need a slot receiver, too much of their passing game revolves around Davante Adams. He's great, but he could use a little help. Green Bay could also use some pass rushers.
Thanks for reading and let me know in the comments below your thoughts on championship weekend. Don't be afraid to make a Super Bowl prediction either. My forecast of a Green Bay/Buffalo got demolished. Now I'll go with Kansas City 31 Tampa Bay 24.