Craig Hohmann ‘24
I want to preface this article with a disclosure. I hold myself to a high degree of journalistic integrity, but this article is about sports: football. I will be totally blinded by my hate for Tom Brady. As a fan of the New Orleans Saints, I have grown accustomed to disappointment in the postseason playoff football, where the seven best teams in each of the conferences battle it out in elimination football to see who gets to go to the Super Bowl. Seeing Tom Brady and his new team get the Super Bowl after we crushed them twice in the Regular Season was disheartening. Nonetheless, I will give the review of the big game and provide extra details as to why this was not that great of a Super Bowl.
Starting off, the hype for this game was off the charts, with Tom Brady plowing his way through the Elite of the NFC, National Football Conference, (the NFC is one of the two divisions in the NFL with 16 teams inside of it that play for their shot to be in the Super Bowl) and the Washington Football Team. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to the statistics, was the underdog, but beneath the veneer of hype, I saw a beleaguered opponent. The Kansas City Chiefs had gone through a gauntlet of strong opponents, including the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns. Nonetheless, the Kansas City Chiefs had a very good quarterback in Patrick Mahomes and a serviceable, albeit physical (where the defensive players will use their hands to mess with the offensive players' rhythm) defense. It seemed to be a match built for the ages, but as most people who watched the game could attest, it would be the furthest from that.
The Kansas City Chiefs had been plagued by injuries along their offensive line (the people who protect the quarterback), and it was showing towards the end of the season. Patrick Mahomes, no matter how good he is, needs time to throw the ball. The Chief's offense is built around the premise of having fast wide receivers run 30 yards down the field in four seconds and catch a throw from Patrick Mahomes. But to do that, the quarterback needs protection from the offensive line for those four seconds of running. The Chiefs had some difficulties on offense because of that. Their defense was a whole other story. The people who rush the quarterback (the defensive line) saved themselves almost exclusively for the Playoffs, so they lacked practice.
But enough of the context. I will get to the Super Bowl recap.
From the first play of the game, I could tell that it would be a long one. The Chiefs' defense was holding (where a defensive player will inhibit the offensives players' ability to make the catch by holding them back) on almost every play. However, some of the more consequential plays were "phantom" calls, meaning they were a bit loose with the penalty called (whether that be a holding call that wasn't holding or a defensive flag where the player flopped to get the call). Tom Brady was pedestrian (in that he was not throwing the ball 40 years every play, but just running the ball and making short passes), though his numbers may not show it. The Kansas City Chiefs were able to march down the field when their receivers were not dropping the footballs, and then they would stall in the Field Goal Range (the area in which the kicker can kick a field goal worth three points).
It was tragic to see an offense with so much potential not live up to their prospects. Against the Buccaneers defense, however, that was to be somewhat expected. What wasn't expected was the sheer amount of pressure that the Buccaneers defense would put on Patrick Mahomes. Sometimes it would rush with only three people and still be strong enough for Patrick Mahomes to have to run for his life. When he was able to spin out of the way of the defense and throw, his receivers would drop it and lose the momentum they had just created by driving down the field and having all the players in rhythm so that they could score a touchdown, like the two times the Chiefs dropped miraculous throws in the endzone, possibly helping to swing the game in their favor if caught by the Chiefs.
As the game wore on, it became clear that the Chiefs would not be able to claw back into the game the way they had so many times before. All remaining hope was effectively crushed when a snap that went over Tom Brady's head was not recovered by the Chiefs, showing that Brady had somehow gotten God on his side.
Now that I have given the Super Bowl recap, I will talk myself into believing that this was not as impressive as it seemed. Kansas City's defense is below average to average, and when you go up against arguably the best-supporting players in the NFL, it is going to be very hard for the opponent. The Tampa defense was very good. That was most clear when getting pressure on Mahomes and sacking him enough times he did not have any time to throw or gain confidence.
Now that I have given my recap, I will go into a cocoon until next season starts.
Comments