Super Bowl LV 2021 - Preview
With the 2020-2021 season finally nearing its end we have one final game to finally wrap up the wacky and bizarre season once and for all. In the final matchup of this season, we have Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Super Bowl LV will be played on February 7th in Tampa Bay, Florida at Raymond James Stadium. While several others such as the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams have played the championship game in their home region, this is the first time in the Super Bowl era that one of the teams will be playing in their true home stadium. With this Super Bowl being with two of the best quarterbacks of their era, this might almost be a “passing of the torch” scenario and should be a thrilling game from start to finish.
The first team we will preview is the Kansas Chiefs who have one of the most explosive offenses in football backed by a defense that is more than capable of holding their own. Kansas City’s offense ranks tied for second with explosive play percentage (12%) with playmaker all over the field in Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Mecole Hardman and with a solid running back room with Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Le’Veon Bell returning from injury and Darrell Williams who proved he can hold his own, will be a great change of pace back come Super Bowl Sunday. Throughout the regular season, this Chiefs offense was first in yards with 415.8 per game, along with 29.6 points per game, this offense has maintained a top level of play throughout the season. While the offense handled business in the regular season their two biggest playmakers Hill and Kelce have combined for 254.5 and 1.5 touchdowns per game thus far in the playoffs, along with Hardman, who has developed nicely into the second wide receiver role/returner throughout the season, the Buccaneers will have a lot on their plates and will need to come to with an elite gameplan to hold Mahomes and the rest of the offense in check.
On top of an elite, the Chiefs defense would surprise a lot of people with how solid they truly are. While the team is often known as this almighty offense the defense is ranked inside the top 12 in overall defense while they allow a sizeable number of yards with 358.3 in the regular season, they lock teams down when it comes to putting points on the board with only allowing 22.6 points per game. This defense has come to play in the run game thus far in playoffs with only letting up 66.5 yards per game including facing arguably the best duo in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, improving on their regular-season average of 122.1 rushing yards allowed per game. They also remained steady in their pass defense only giving up 245.5 passing yards per game after playing both Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. If this defense continues on this path and they come out allowing 21 or fewer points and even or positive in the turnover battle like they have most of the season, they will be in good shape to come out with a victory on Super Bowl Sunday.
As for the Buccaneers they are a well-rounded team, finishing the regular season in the top seven on both sides of the ball. While bringing in one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady, they took that necessary step on the offensive side of the ball to become true contenders. Coming into the playoffs averaging 289.1 passing yards per game they are second to only the Kansas City Chiefs while adding 30.8 points per game. Led by one of, if not the best-receiving groups led by Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Scotty Miller, Rob Gronkowski, and the mid-season addition of Antonio Brown, Kansas City will have their hands full from start to finish. On top of the stellar receiving crew, they have two very solid runners in Ronald Jones II and Leonard Fournette who are both capable of breaking off chunk yardages at any given moment. The combination of power that these two running backs have will eat away at a defensive front seven and if they can create solid runs it will make the passing game that much more outstanding.
While their offense ranks among the best in the league, the true strength of this Buccaneers team resides on the other side of the ball. Throughout the regular season, they were among the top six in yards allowed 327.1 while only allowing 22.1 points per game and have continued that success into the playoffs including a five sack performance vs. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Led by a terrific front seven that gets after the quarterback including Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaquille Barrett, a healthy Vita Vea wreaking havoc in the middle while linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David have the speed to work sideline to sideline. This defense will have to get after Mahomes early and often to get him working out of the pocket where the linebackers with speed can get after him and make him uncomfortable to have success on the defensive side of the ball.
Overall we are looking at what will be a fantastic Super Bowl between one of the greatest players of all-time in Tom Brady vs. one of the best players in the NFL today and looks to be on his way to becoming one of the greatest of all time as well in Patrick Mahomes. I think that this game will be won between the Buccaneers’ defense and the Chiefs’ offense. We know that Tom Brady will come in and be a game manager making plays when he has to and being cautious with the ball. Once Brady has to start pushing the ball aggressively downfield to keep up with Mahomes and the explosive Chiefs offense, we may see him make riskier plays leading to more turnovers. If the Buccaneers can hold the Chiefs to under 24 points I think it will be the Buccaneers’ game to lose. This game should be exciting from start to finish with both teams having playmakers all over the field and a battle between two giants at the quarterback position.
