The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the first team to win in their home stadium in Super Bowl history.
As the 55th Super Bowl kicked off, and it was the Chiefs who struck first on the scoreboard after they stopped the Buccaneers on their first and second drives of the game. The Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker nailed a 49-yard field goal for Kansas City to start their point tally 3 – 0 on their second possession. However, the Tampa Bay offense answered quickly, getting into a rhythm and their possession ended with a touchdown connection from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski for the Buccaneers as they took the led 7-3.
On the next Buccaneers possession, they made it to the one-yard line, but the Chiefs defense stood tall as they stopped Tampa Bay running back Ronald Jones from scoring. After they changed possessions it was the Buccaneers who stood tall and forced a punt from the Chief’s endzone where their punter Tommy Townsend shanked consecutive kicks with the second punt ending up only 29 yards downfield and gave the Buccaneers a significant field position. Another connection from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski was made from 17-yards out to add to Tampa Bay’s score 14 – 3.
The first half was very chippy, with many players going back and forth towards one another when plays were dead. This led to a few penalties, mostly on the Chiefs. Right before the first half was over, Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver, Mike Evans, took off down the sideline and was tripped up by a Chiefs defender. This led to a pass interference penalty. A few plays after another pass interference penalty was called in the endzone by Chief’s safety Tyrann Mathieu to place the Buccaneers on the one-yard line. Inevitably the Buccaneers scored their third touchdown of the game before halftime as Tom Brady threw a one-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Antonio Brown.
The Buccaneers tallied three touchdown passes to the Chiefs two field goals in the first half with the score in favor of Tampa Bay
21 – 6.
Because Kansas City deferred their choice to the second half after the coin toss, the Chiefs opened the second half with another field goal drive. The Chiefs struggled to provide any offensive sparks as Tampa Bay focused on the Chief’s two main stars: wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce. After seven plays the Chiefs settled for a third field goal as they cut into the score 21 – 9.
Tampa Bay opened their first drive out of halftime with an emphasis to use the ground game. Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette broke out a 27-yard touchdown to run up the score 28-9. Tampa Bay wasn’t without the ball for too long after their fourth score of the game as defensive back Carlton Davis picked off Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes after four plays. This allowed Tampa Bay to score the final points of the game with a field goal. The third quarter ended with Kansas City in possession of the football on Tampa Bay’s 29-yard line as the Chiefs chased Tampa Bay 31 – 9.
The start of the fourth quarter was all about the Buccaneer’s defensive stops as they forced Mahomes into trouble multiple times and ended with a turnover on downs as the Chiefs gave the ball back to Tampa Bay’s offense. With the ball and a 22-point lead, the Buccaneers looked to run the clock out with five straight plays to running back Ronald Jones. The Buccaneers took 5:26 off the clock before they punted the ball back to the Chiefs on their eight-yard line.
Kansas City attempted to march towards the endzone in hopes to bring the score closer but ended up short. With five minutes left in the game Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket to keep the play alive, but instead Tampa Bay’s defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh caught Mahomes and sacked him. With one last chance to score Mahomes attempted a pass to Hill, and it was deflected by Tampa Bay rookie free safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Tampa Bay received the ball again only to run more time off the clock before they punted the ball back to Kansas City.
Tampa Bay linebacker Devin White ended all hopes for the Chiefs when he picked off Mahomes in the endzone with 1:33 left in Super Bowl 55. This game ended with Brady on the field as he took a few kneel downs to let the clock run out and add to his records. Brady became a seven-time Super Bowl champion and the oldest player to win the big game after this championship. Brady was named the Super Bowl 55 MVP. He has won this award five-times.
Overall for the game, Tom Brady finished with 201 yards passing and 3 touchdowns with 0 interceptions. Patrick Mahomes finished with 270 passing yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The defensive line was dominant on the night, sacking the elusive Mahomes 3 times and forced him out of the pocket on nearly every play. According to NBC Sports Pro Football Talk, Mahomes ran for nearly 500 yards before throwing the ball, the highest total of any quarterback on the season. The second most was also Mahomes in a week 5 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
This was Tom Brady’s seventh Super Bowl victory, putting him ahead of every individual NFL franchise.
Super Bowl 55 may have been a blowout win but it was still a game for the record books.