Tom Brady Leads Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Promised Land, 31-9 Over Chiefs
All four players who scored a touchdown for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV weren't part of the franchise this time last year.
Veteran quarterback Tom Brady, who made the decision to join the Bucs this past offseason after 20 years with the New England Patriots, tossed three touchdowns en route to a 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs and his seventh championship.
For Tampa Bay, it's the franchise's second-ever Super Bowl win and the first since the 2002-03 season. Brady was near perfect completing 21-of-29 passes for 201 yards to go along with three touchdowns, two of which were caught by his longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski.
The Bucs' tight end caught his first touchdown of the night from Brady with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter and hauled in his second touchdown midway through the second quarter.
With two touchdowns in Super Bowl LV, Gronkowski joined Jerry Rice as the only players in league history with multiple Super Bowl performances with two or more touchdown receptions.
Gronkowski's second touchdown of the game gave Tampa Bay a 14-3 lead with 6:05 left in the second quarter. The Chiefs continued to only respond to Tampa Bay's touchdowns with field goals as Harrison Butker nailed his second kick of the game, a 34-yard field goal with 1:04 left in the first half.
In true 'risk-it-for-the-biscuit' fashion, head coach Bruce Arians kept his offense in attack mode before halftime as the Bucs went 71 yards in 55 seconds to score. Brady connected with Antonio Brown, adding to Tampa Bay's halftime lead.
For the fourth-straight game, the Buccaneers scored within the final two minutes of the opening half as Brady found Brown for a one-yard touchdown.
The scoring continued in the second half for Tampa Bay as running back Leonard Fournette started to heat up running the ball. Fournette picked up 12 yards on third-and-short at Tampa Bay's own 22-yard line that kept the drive alive. Brady found Gronkowski again for 25 yards and on the next play, it was Fournette's turn to score.
Fournette, who has earned the nickname 'Playoff Lenny' this postseason, broke free for a 27-yard touchdown, the longest postseason rush of his career. Fournette extended Tampa Bay's lead to 19 points with 7:51 left in the third quarter.
And it wasn't just Tampa Bay's offense that continued to have success throughout the game.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw two interceptions and only completed 26-of-49 passes for 270 yards while getting sacked three total times by the Bucs.
Bucs' defensive back Mike Edwards deflected a pass that was then intercepted by Antoine Winfield Jr. for his first career postseason interception. Winfield is just the seventh rookie in NFL history to record an interception in the Super Bowl.
Mahomes second interception of the game came in the final two minutes as linebacker Devin White caught a pass intended for Travis Kelce.
Kelce led Kansas City with 10 catches for 133 yards but no touchdowns. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who blew up for over 200 yards in Week 12 when these two teams last met, was held to just 73 receiving yards on seven catches.
When it was all said and done, Tampa Bay didn't allow a single touchdown while only giving up nine total points. Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker was the lone Chiefs player to score, going three-for-three on kicks.
For the Bucs, kicker Ryan Succop nailed a 52-yard attempt with two minutes and 50 seconds remaining that made the final score 31-9.
At age 68, Arians becomes the oldest coach to ever win the Super Bowl while at age 43, Brady becomes, once again, the oldest to start and win the Super Bowl.
Sitting at 7-5 following a 27-24 loss to Kansas City, the Bucs went on to win eight straight games capturing a Super Bowl championship in the end, proving that age is just a number.
