Chiefs Defense Contains Tom Brady's Buccaneers Well Enough for the Win
Coming off a last-minute win over the Las Vegas Raiders last week, the Kansas City Chiefs defense did its best to tune out any noise surrounding its performance, according to safety Tyrann Mathieu.
The results paid off in a 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The Chiefs did not trail once despite the defense giving up 17 points in the second half.
“I felt like we played well,” Mathieu said following the game. “It’s always tough to go on the road and play against a quality team. Not just any quality team, these guys got weapons all over the place, Hall-of-Famers all over the place. I thought we did a great job early on, just playing our style of football.”
The Chiefs allowed Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady to complete 27-of-41 passes for 345 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Tight end Rob Gronkowski led the Bucs in receiving, catching six passes for 106 yards, including two for 48- and 29-yard gains.
“You know, obviously it’s a few drives we want back," Mathieu said. "We kind of went to sleep on Gronkowski a little bit tonight, which he made the plays they gave to him.”
Mathieu and cornerback Bashaud Breeland were responsible for Brady’s two interceptions. Mathieu was involved with both, pressuring Brady to send the ball off in the direction of Breeland and Buccaneers wide receiver Scotty Miller.
One drive later, Mathieu gained a pick of his own. The back-to-back stops could’ve been the difference in the comeback Brady attempted against the Chiefs.
“Obviously playing against Tom Brady, he’s going to make his plays,” Mathieu said. “At the end of the day, I thought we held up well. We forgot about last week, we moved on. It thought it served us well.”
