Legendary quarterback Tom Brady has made more history by winning his seventh Super Bowl and first with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Key points:
- Tom Brady has more Super Bowl wins to his name than any team in NFL history
- He won six titles with New England from 2001 to 2018 and won his seventh in his first year at Tampa Bay
- Kansas City was aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brady’s Patriots in 2003-04
The Buccaneers beat defending champions Kansas City 31-9 to give Brady his seventh ring in Super Bowl LV, meaning he now has more victories in the NFL’s showpiece event than any franchise in league history.
The 43-year-old won his first six titles over almost two decades with the New England Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018) and it was a familiar connection that kicked off the Buccaneers’ scoring against the Chiefs.
After getting sacked on Tampa Bay’s second drive of the day and watching the Chiefs open the game with a field goal, Brady steered his team down the other end and found fellow ex-Pat Rob Gronkowski for their 13th Super Bowl touchdown connection.
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That made them the most prolific combo in the history of the game, and they went one better in the second quarter when Brady went deep right to his long-time running mate for extend the lead.
The Chiefs could only manage another field goal on their next trip down, and the Chiefs’ frustration started to show after Brady put receiver Antonio Brown over shortly before halftime.
Chiefs defensive superstar Tyrann Mathieu got in his face, kicking off something of a scuffle before the break, but no amount of chat could cut into the 21-6 lead.
The Chiefs once again had to settle for a field goal just after halftime to cut the deficit to 21-9, but running back Leonard Fournette scooted over for the Bucs’ fourth touchdown and then a 52-yard field goal sent them into the final quarter with a 31-9 lead that they maintained until fulltime.
This year’s game was a far cry from the scene 12 months ago, when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won MVP as he led the team to its first Super Bowl title with a 31-20 win over San Francisco.
Making matters worse, Mahomes’s last possession of the game was an interception — his second for the game.
The game was also played at Tampa Bay’s home ground, Raymond James Stadium, in front of a crowd of about 25,000 people, approximately 50 per cent of the arena’s capacity, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
More than a quarter of those tickets went to 7,500 vaccinated frontline healthcare workers, while three “local heroes” of the pandemic were made honorary captains for the game and inaugural poet laureate Amanda Gorman dedicated a piece to them that was read out before the game.
Follow along in our live blog.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 – 9 Kansas City Chiefs
By Daniel Colasimone
By Daniel Colasimone
Alright that’s it for me. Thanks for joining us. Stick around a little bit longer though and I’ll put up some of the best Super Bowl ads this year.
Bye bye!
By Daniel Colasimone
The GOAT speaks
Here’s Tom Brady:
“I’m so proud of all these guys down here.
“The team had a lot of confidence. We came together at the right time.
“We ended up playing our best game of the year.”
By Daniel Colasimone
The Super Bowl MVP is … Tom Brady
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By Daniel Colasimone
Giselle sighting!
By Daniel Colasimone
Quarterback argument settled for now
So that’s seven Super Bowls for Tom Brady now, and after all the talk of his battle with Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs player barely got a look in to the argument today. You can partly put it down to him having an off game, but really the Bucs’ defence playing like maniacs made it impossible for him to exert any influence over this game. If he’s going to challenge Brady for GOAT status at some stage, as some have predicted, it won’t be for a long while.
By Daniel Colasimone
Here’s how it happened.
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By Daniel Colasimone
By Daniel Colasimone
Is Tom Brady the GOAT?
In terms of best sportsman of all time, you will have to do the stats to see how many standard deviations Brady is away from the average. The crown on this measure has long belonged to one man and by a margin – Don Bradman.
-David Wrede
By Daniel Colasimone
Audience comment by Town Crier
The king is not dead! Long live the king!
By Daniel Colasimone
By Daniel Colasimone
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Super Bowl!
Wasn’t even close. At no point were the Chiefs in the game.
The final score is 31-9 to the Bucs.
It’s the first time ever a team has got to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium, and Tampa Bay did the right thing and won it for their fans.
By Daniel Colasimone
The clock is still going but the cameras are already on the field.
Tom Brady is the man they’re surrounding.
By Andrew Mcgarry
Brady and the Buccaneers break Kansas City hearts
This certainly wasn’t the result – never mind the scoreline – that the experts were expecting from Super Bowl LV.
But after one season and a postseason away from New England, the question remains – how DO you stop Tom Brady?
If you give him time, and some familiar weapons in his team’s attacking arsenal, it is very, very hard to keep him from the victory dais.
Brady made virtually mistake-free football, and showed composure as the Chiefs were losing theirs.
This could be more than painful for Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City – how will they rebound next season?
And who’s going to bet against Brady doing this again next year at 44?
By Daniel Colasimone
It’s 2nd and 6 now as this winds down.
Intercepted! White reels it in and now the Bucs have it. Yikes. Bad times for Patrick Mahomes. Seventh turnover for the Buccaneers.
The Tampa Bay players are celebrating now.
By Daniel Colasimone
Putting things in perspective
By Daniel Colasimone
Tompa Bay?
Interested now to see if the Tampa Bay mayor follows through on that promise to rename the city if Brady won them the Super Bowl.
-Claire
By Daniel Colasimone
1st and 10 for the Chiefs with 3:30 left on the clock. They probably want to go home now.
Mahomes tries to find Edwards-Helaire but it’s around his shoelaces and he can’t pivot his body around to snare it.
Better from Mahomes to Hill straight down the middle, but they’re still 2 yards short.
Simple pass to Edwards-Helaire and they’re back at first down.
Incomplete pass to the wide receiver and it’s 1st and 20.
2nd and 4 now after Kelce receives the pass and gains territory.
Make that 3rd and 4. What do they do here? Mahomes tries a safe option with the quick pass to Williams, but he’s bundled out and only gains a yard.
4th and 3.
Better option to the right side and they’ll start from first down after the two-minute warning.
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