Inside The Huskies

Vea, Mickens Do Their Part in Bringing Super Bowl LV Victory to Bucs

The pair of former Huskies cap off a challenging pandemic-tested NFL season on a high note.
Dan Raley|
Vea, Mickens Do Their Part in Bringing Super Bowl LV Victory to Bucs
Vea, Mickens Do Their Part in Bringing Super Bowl LV Victory to Bucs

Vita Vea seemed to throughly enjoy himself at Super Bowl LV.

As the second half opened and his team already up by 15, the defensive tackle could be seen on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline gyrating to music cascading through Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Oh yeah, besides demonstrating impromptu moves, the former University of Washington standout walked away with a championship ring, too.

The 6-foot-4, 347-pounder, in his second game after recovering from a broken ankle, did his job throughout the high-platform mismatch.

And this included more than rhythmically shaking his rear end.

Vea didn't start, but he appeared on each Tampa Bay defensive series of the 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in the Florida city in which he lives and works.

He and Jaydon Mickens, the 42nd and 43rd Huskies to appear in football's biggest game, became the 23th and 24th UW players to win a Super Bowl. 

Vea, who finished with a lone tackle, lined up on the right side and also over the center. More often than not he drew a Kansas City double-team, doing the dirty work that enabled teammates to continuously flush Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes out of the pocket.

The third-year pro from Milpitas, California, so versatile as a Bucs player, also was drew an offensive assignment. In  the second quarter, he was inserted as a fullback and a goal-line blocker. 

On the play, Vea created a crease for Tampa Bay tailback Ronald Jones II to run through, but another Chiefs defender filled the hole and blew up the fourth-and-1 attempt.

With his long ponytail flopping down his back, Vea was easy to pick out in the middle of the trenches as he battled to get upfield. 

On his first play of the game, he drew a double-team and thus permitted his teammates to pressure Mahomes into throwing an incompletion on third-and-8 that ended K.C.'s first series.

TV cameras occasionally showed the former UW defensive lineman seated on the bench, always masked up to adhere to the pandemic restrictions in place when he wasn't playing.

Meantime, Mickens returned 3 kickoffs for 75 yards, with his longest going for 28 yards. While the Chiefs punted 3 times, Mickens didn't run any of them back. 

Six years out of the UW, Mickens likewise has a ring to show off to any of his former Husky teammates that he might encounter in the offseason.

With 1:33 left to play, the Bucs came up with an end-zone interception to close out Kansas City.

Vea and his defensive teammates happily celebrated by gathering in front of and peering into the big screen mounted in the end zone. 

Once the game ended, Mickens was one of those who gave Bucs quarterback Tom Brady a hug and whispered something congratulatory in his ear.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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