| |
|
| Monday, February 8, 2021 |
| After watching what will certainly go down as the best Super Bowl ever (at least according to Buccaneers fans), I'm back with your Monday newsletter, which is mildly surprising, because the day after the Super Bowl is pretty much the number one day of the year to skip work. |
| I was going to skip work, but then I thought the least I could do is show up and go through the motions, which is kind what it felt like the Chiefs did last night during their 31-9 loss to Tampa Bay. Thank God there was a streaker to keep things spicy in the second half, because the Chiefs definitely didn't do anything help keep us all entertained (If you missed the streaker, you can see video along with Kevin Harlan's great call by clicking here). |
| My favorite thing about this Super Bowl wasn't even the game, it was how many people in Boston hate-watched Tom Brady. According to preliminary reports, the Super Bowl scored a 57.6 TV rating in Boston, which is insane when you consider that Boston topped the rating in Tampa (52.3). Boston definitely has a love-hate relationship with Tom Brady and I'm guessing about half the people who were watching love him and the other half hate him. |
| Speaking of Brady, he'll definitely be returning next year and so will Bruce Arians and it sounds like Rob Gronkowski is coming back too. Basically, it sounds like the Buccaneers are going to try to keep the band together for one more run. With that in mind, let's get to today's rundown. As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. All you have to do is click here and then share the link. |
| 1. Today's Show: Super Bowl LV winners and losers |
| |
| For me, the best part of the Super Bowl every year is definitely the part where I stay up until 3 a.m. after the game so I can record a podcast with Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson. I was fully expecting Wilson to show up to the podcast with a big head since the Buccaneers were his preseason pick to win the Super Bowl, but that didn't happen, and I'm guessing that's because he backed out on them by picking the Chiefs to win on the day of the game. Wilson, that's why you always leave with the girl you brought to the dance. You don't dump them and switch to another team hours before the Super Bowl! |
| Anyway, as we've done all season, we handed out our weekly winners and losers for the Super Bowl. I'm not going to spoil things here, but I am going to say that for our winners this week, none of us picked any Chiefs players. |
| Ryan Wilson |
| Winner: Tom Brady. Not only is he handsome, rich and married to a supermodel, but he also now has seven Super Bowl titles to his name. Sometimes, life isn't fair, unless you're Tom Brady, then it always somehow ends up working out in your favor, but I'm going to stop talking about him now, because we'll be talking about Tom Brady a lot today and I don't want anyone to get burnt out on Brady before we're even through the first part of the rundown. Loser: Chiefs pass-catchers. If there's one group of receivers in the NFL that's almost always reliable, it's the receivers for the Chiefs. However, they had an absolutely ugly night in Tampa Bay. It's not just that they were dropping balls, but they were dropping them in key situations. Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Darrel Williams all had ugly drops in the game. |
| Will Brinson |
| Winner: Bruce Arians. There are going to be a lot of biscuits eaten in Tampa today and that's because Arians' famous "no risk-it, no biscuit" philosophy finally paid off with a Super Bowl win. After going 7-9 with Jameis Winston, Arians and Jason Licht made the bold decision to bring in Tom Brady and that decision paid off with a Super Bowl win. Loser: Patrick Mahomes. If you watched the game, you know why Mahomes is the loser here. It's not necessarily because he was bad, it's because he had to play behind a makeshift offensive line against one of the best pass rushes in football. It's a miracle that Mahomes made it out of the game alive. |
| John Breech |
| Winner: Jason Licht. Every point that was scored by the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl was scored by someone who wasn't EVEN ON THE TEAM 11 months ago, which makes Licht directly responsible for this win. The Buccaneers general manager went out and got Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, Antonio Brown and Ryan Succop and those five guys combined for all 31 points. I think Buccaneers fans are finally now going to forgive him for trading up to grab a kicker in the 2016 draft. Loser: Andy Reid. It's not often you see Andy Reid get absolutely out-coached, but that's what happened in the Super Bowl. Not only did the Chiefs offense look out of sync all night, but Reid never seemed to adjust to anything that Tampa Bay was doing. |
| Not only did we list our winners and losers, but we also recapped the game. If you want to listen -- and you definitely should -- you can click here. |
| |
| 2. Tom Brady wins his fifth Super Bowl MVP |
| In an NFL season where nothing was normal, it almost feels weird that the season ended in the most normal way possible: With Tom Brady winning another Super Bowl. |
| At this point in his career, I'm starting to think Brady should just play for a different team each year and see if he can lead them to a Super Bowl win. The man is out of challenges. During Tampa Bay's 31-9 win over the Chiefs, Brady was so good in the first half that he basically got to sit back in the second half and watch his defense finish off the win. The 43-year-old was named Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 201 yards and three touchdowns. It marked the fifth time Brady has been named MVP of the game, which is extremely impressive when you consider that only one other quarterback in NFL history has even been named MVP three times (Joe Montana). |
| If Brady's latest win did anything, it cemented his status as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT). He's now the GOAT of GOATs. To unseat Brady, someone is going to have to win eight Super Bowls and that's so difficult to imagine that I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it. |
| If you want to know how bad Brady wanted to win this game, just consider this: The man stayed up until 11 p.m. in the week leading up to the Super Bowl just so he could send out text messages to his teammates that said "We WILL win." Brady usually goes to bed around 8:30 p.m., so if he's staying up until 11, you know he's serious about winning. |
| You also know he's serious about winning when he starts using inappropriate words on the field and apparently he did that in the Super Bowl. After the game, Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said Brady called him "something I won't repeat." |
| Of course, Brady is a known trash-talker, so that shouldn't be too surprising. Brady is also known for winning Super Bowls. As a matter of fact, Brady has been so dominant in Super Bowls that he now holds nearly every record that a quarterback can hold. Here's a look at every record Brady owns: |
| Super Bowl wins -- 7 Super Bowl appearances -- 10 Super Bowl MVPs -- 5 Career Super Bowl TD passes -- 21 Career Super Bowl passing yards -- 3,039 Decades with a Super Bowl win -- 3 Oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl -- 43 years, 188 days Super Bowl completions -- 277 Super Bowl attempts -- 421 Super Bowl game-winning drives -- 6 Three-plus passing touchdown games -- 4 300-yard games -- 4 Only QB to win a Super Bowl with both an AFC team and an NFC team |
| He also holds multiple single-game records that you can check out by clicking here. The bottom line is that the Brady is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. Brady's seven Super Bowl wins means he now has more than any FRANCHISE in the NFL. With Sunday's win, he moved past the Patriots and Steelers, who both have six. |
| 3. Super Bowl records that fell on Sunday night |
| |
| It's hard to keep track of all the records that were broken on Super Bowl Sunday, but the good news for you is that I know someone who knows someone who keeps track of this type of stuff. Although it might seem like Tom Brady was the only person setting records in the Super Bowl, that actually wasn't the case, so let's take a look at a few other Super Bowl and postseason records that fell. |
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski connected for two touchdowns and have now combined for 14 in their postseason careers, which is the most of any duo in playoff history (They had been tied with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, who combined for 12). Rob Gronkowski became the first player in Super Bowl history to score the first two touchdowns of a Super Bowl. Gronk also joined Jerry Rice (XXIV, XXIX) as the only players ever with two or more receiving touchdowns in multiple Super Bowls. With the two touchdown catches, Rob Gronkowski now has five for his Super Bowl career, which is the second-most all-time behind only Jerry Rice. Gronk is also the only player ever to have a reception in five different Super Bowls. Tom Brady threw a first quarter touchdown pass for the first time in his Super Bowl career. The Buccaneers became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl at home. Super Bowl LV marked the first time in Patrick Mahomes' career that the Chiefs didn't score a single touchdown and it also marked the first time in Mahomes' career that he lost by more than one score. The game was also the first time the Chiefs didn't score double-digit points since Mahomes became the starter. Patrick Mahomes didn't throw a TD pass against the Buccaneers, marking the first time since Week 4 of the 2019 season that he didn't throw a TD pass. Patrick Mahomes has only lost two playoff games in his career and they were both to Tom Brady. The Buccaneers are the first team in NFL history to score 30 or more points in four different games during a single postseason. The Buccaneers playoff run included wins over three former Super Bowl MVPs and they beat all three in consecutive weeks (Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes). The Buccaneers were the first wild-card team to the win the Super Bowl since the Packers did it in 2010. They were also just the fourth team seeded fifth or lower to win the Super Bowl since 1990. The Chiefs became just the third team in Super Bowl history to fail to score a touchdown in the big game, joining the Rams (Super Bowl LIII) and Dolphins (Super Bowl VI). The Chiefs beat the Buccaneers in the regular season, but lost in the Super Bowl, which means AFC teams are now 0-5 when going for a season-sweep.
Bruce Arians became the oldest coach ever to win a Super Bowl (68 years, 127 days), topping the record that was once held by Bill Belichick. Jason Pierre-Paul has never lost in the playoffs and is now 8-0 after the win. His first Super Bowl win came in the 2011 season against Tom Brady and his latest win came with Brady. Leonard Fournette became just the third player in NFL history to score a touchdown in four different playoff games during a single postseason. Fournette joined Larry Fitzgerald (2008) and Terrell Davis (1997). The Chiefs were hit with 120 penalty yards, which was the third-highest total in Super Bowl history. In the craziest stat ever, the Chiefs won the coin toss, which means the coin toss winner has now lost seven straight Super Bowls. |
| Super Bowl LV might have been a blowout, but as you can see, there were plenty of records and milestones that still fell on Sunday. |
| |
| 4. How the Super Bowl was won |
| Although Tom Brady was named MVP of the game, he definitely wasn't the big reason why the Buccaneers were able to upset the Chiefs on Sunday. The Buccaneers won this game because defensive coordinator Todd Bowles created a game plan that absolutely shut down Patrick Mahomes and the high-octane Chiefs offense. |
| After Mahomes threw for 462 yards against the Buccaneers in Week 12, it didn't seem like that Tampa Bay would be able to slow him down, but that's exactly what the Buccaneers did. Not only did they keep Chiefs out of the end zone for the first time in Mahomes' career, but they also held Kansas City to under 10 points, which had never been done to them since Mahomes became the starter. |
| So how do you shut down the Chiefs? |
| Pressure: This game was won up front with players like Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh and Steve McClendon, who put heavy pressure on Mahomes the entire game and the reason it worked is because the Buccaneers were able to put on the pressure without blitzing. Not only was Mahomes sacked three times, but he was pressured on 29 of 56 dropbacks, which was the most of any QB in NFL history. Chiefs stars couldn't get open: When you can get pressure on the opposing quarterback without blitzing, that means you can drop more guys back in coverage and that's exactly what the Buccaneers did. For nearly the entire night, both Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce were double-covered any time they ran a route. Due to that fact, here's what was happening to the Chiefs on every play: Mahomes would drop back, then immediately get pressured and when that happens, he loves to go to Hill or Kelce, but they just weren't getting open. Mahomes tried to get other receivers involved, but it just wasn't working as he went 5 of 15 for 17 yards throwing to the combination of Darrel Williams, Byron Pringle and Mecole Hardman. The Chiefs were also plagued by some uncharacteristic drops, but several of those happened because the receivers were so well covered. |
| For a deeper dive into how the Buccaneers were able to pull off their defensive masterpiece, be sure to click here. |
| If other NFL teams are thinking that Bowles just exposed the Chiefs and that there is now a blueprint for beating Kansas City, that's probably not the case. The only way this game plan works is if you have some of the best pass-rushers in the NFL and although the Buccaneers have that, most teams don't. |
| 5. Super Bowl refs get called out by Chiefs star and Patrick Mahomes' mom |
| There were so many penalties called against the Chiefs in this game that at one point, I was starting to think that the officials had made a secret pact to not throw any flags on the Buccaneers. That being said, the Chiefs got absolutely destroyed on Sunday and I don't think officiating is what led to their loss. However, there are a lot of people who would disagree with that and two of those people are Chiefs star Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes' mom, Randi. |
| Mahomes' mom: At some point in the fourth quarter, Randi jumped on Twitter and let everyone know how she felt about the officiating, "If you have to have the ref on your team is that really winning!" Randi also made sure to tag Gisele in her tweet, which you can check out by clicking here. Chris Jones complains: Although some Chiefs players refused to pin any blame on the officiating crew, Jones wasn't one of them. The Chiefs star didn't sound thrilled about all the penalties that were called, "I was very surprised [at all the penalties]" Jones said, via Pro Football Talk. "This is the Super Bowl. Usually you let the guys play, especially in the biggest game of the year. Penalties can change the game." |
| If it seemed like the Chiefs were hit with a lot of penalties on Sunday, that's because they were. The Chiefs were flagged eight times for 95 yards in the first half, which set the Super Bowl record for most penalty yards in a first half. The 95 yards was also the most penalty yardage that any team was hit with during the first half of any NFL game this year. For the game, the Chiefs were hit with 120 penalty yards, which was the third-most in Super Bowl history. |
| The Chiefs lost because their offense couldn't move the ball against Tampa Bay's defense, but the penalties definitely didn't help. |
| 6. Get ready for an offseason of QB drama |
| |
| Now that the Super Bowl is over, that means the NFL offseason is officially here and I have to say, I hope you're ready for crazy, because I think things are going to get crazy. There's been a lot of quarterback drama going on over the past two weeks and it got even wilder over the past 24 hours with reports over the weekend about four different quarterbacks. |
| With that in mind, let's check out the latest news: |
| Deshaun Watson: Watson is already at odds with the Texans and apparently the teams wants him to hate them even more, because it's starting to sound like they might not oblige his trade request. According to ESPN.com, the Texans have been informing other teams that they're absolutely not going to to trade Watson. Carson Wentz: We've already seen one blockbuster trade this offseason and there could be another one this week. ESPN reported on Saturday that Wentz could be traded shortly after the Super Bowl, which means we could see a deal get done in the NEXT FEW DAYS. The most logical landing spot seems like Indianapolis or even Chicago, but the Eagles have never been known for doing things logically, so who knows where he'll end up? If you'd like to check out a few more potential landing spots, be sure to click here. Sam Darnold: It appears that Sam Darnold is going to be a hot commodity this offseason. Although the Jets haven't decided what they're going to do with their starting quarterback, plenty of teams of been calling to see if he's available. If the Jets decide to move on from their former first-round quarterback, there's a good chance that a deal will come together quickly. Russell Wilson: Apparently, a few teams have called the Seahawks over the past few weeks to see if Wilson is available in a trade and although Seattle has been telling everyone no, there might be a chance that they eventually tell someone yes -- a very small chance -- and CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has the story what it might take to get them to say yes. |
| The overall point here is that you should probably buckle yourself in now because it's going to be a wild offseason. |
| |
| 7. The Kicker! |
| Since Super Bowl LV ended up turning into a blowout, most people probably aren't going to remember it as a great game, but I'm not most people. I am going to remember it as a great game and that's because it was a great game FOR KICKERS. |
| As a matter of fact, this might have been the best combined Super Bowl kicking performance ever. Not only did Harrison Butker become the first kicker in Super Bowl history to make two field goals of 49 yards or more in the big game (49, 52), but Ryan Succop also joined Butker in the record book. The Buccaneers kicker hit a 52-yarder against the Chiefs, which means Super Bowl LV is now the only Super Bowl in history where both teams made a field goal of 50 or more yards. As crazy as that sounds, it had never been done before. |
| As a matter of fact, before Sunday, there had only been five field goals of 50 or more yards ever made in the Super Bowl. Also, since they both hit a kick from 52 yards away, Succop and Butker are now tied for the third longest field goal in Super Bowl history behind only former Bills kicker Steve Christie (54) and former Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein (53). |
| Don't ask me about the punting from the game though, because I don't want to talk about the punting. I want to end this newsletter on a happy note. |
| Finally, although the season is over, this newsletter will still be coming to you daily for the entire offseason, so don't forget to check your email inbox every week day. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
