In just over a week, Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will take place in Tampa, Florida. Here are how the teams stack up heading into the big game.
Head Coach: Andy Reid and Bruce Arians are two of the more likable coaches in the entire league, but the Chiefs have a decided advantage over the Bucs with Reid at the helm. Reid was able to win his first championship last season but has been one of the best head coaches in the league for over two decades.
Offensive and Defensive Coordinators: Byron Leftwich is the Bucs OC and Todd Bowles is Tampa’s DC. Eric Beiniemy is the Chiefs OC and Steve Spagnuolo coordinates the defense. These are four of the best coordinators in the entire league.
Both head coaches are offensive-minded and play a huge role in the offense every week. Beiniemy and Leftwich are both great coordinators, but Beiniemy being more experienced and having won a championship last year gives him the slight edge.
Bowles and Spagnuolo are both former head coaches and will have a tough task in front of them trying to stop both these offenses on Super Bowl Sunday. Spagnuolo has faced Brady in the Super Bowl before when he was the Giants DC during the Patriots’ historic 2007 season. Ultimately, the Giants were able to halt New England’s perfect season and Brady struggled in the game. He was sacked five times and only threw one touchdown.
Bowles is tasked with slowing down a Chiefs offense that can look nearly unstoppable at times. In the team’s first meeting of the season, Bowles has no answer for Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill. Hill had over 200 yards in just the first quarter of that game. The Bucs defense is now rolling though, and Bowles deserves a great deal of credit for that. Because of Spagnuolo’s previous Super Bowl success against Brady, he would get the edge over Bowles, but it is really close.
Quarterback: Even though Tom Brady is one of the greatest players in the history of sports, at 43 years of age, he is not the best quarterback in Super Bowl LV. Patrick Mahomes is 25 years old and only just entering his prime. The main difference between these two historically great quarterbacks is the fact that Brady can no longer carry a team to victory like he once could. Instead, he needs a lot more help to win at an elite level at this point in his career. Mahomes, on the other hand, can overcome virtually anything and still come out victorious when the game is over.
Running Backs: Tampa has a slight edge in the rushing department. The two-headed monster of Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette is more dependable than the Chiefs’ Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Damien Williams. The rushing attack is also a more important part of the Tampa Bay game plan than it is for Kansas City.
Pass Catchers: The Bucs have the advantage here even though the Chiefs have what is considered to be the best pass-catching duo in football. While Hill and Travis Kelce are a great tandem, the Bucs have a more dependable and deeper receiving core. Led by Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, and Rob Gronkowski Tampa has a more dependable group of pass-catchers.
Offensive Line: Tampa has a huge offensive line advantage, and it may end up being the deciding factor in Tampa winning this game. The Chiefs enter the Super Bowl with question marks surrounding three of their starting linemen. If Mahomes has time to get the ball off and find the open man the Bucs have no shot, but if the Bucs could take advantage of a weakened line then there is no reason they cannot win Super Bowl LV.
Tampa had trouble dealing with pressure early in the year but fortunately for them those issues have been sorted out. Brady has only been sacked twice in his last two games and has been protected much better over the past two months.
Defense: While the Chiefs defense is underrated, Tampa had one of the best defenses in all of football during the regular season. In the playoffs, Tampa’s defense has only gotten better. The defense held the high-powered Saints and Packers offense to 20 and 26 points respectively. Tampa’s defense also held down Green Bay when Brady threw three second half interceptions in the NFC Championship Game. The Bucs defense will need to be just as stellar during Super Bowl LV.
Special Teams: Both teams have top-notch special teams, but in close games like this one should be special teams can be the difference between a win and a loss. Tampa would get the edge in this category based on the playoffs alone. Bucs kicker Ryan Succop has not missed a field goal this postseason (8-8). In the NFC Championship Game, Tampa Bay had a couple of great kick returns by Jaydon Mickens that gave Brady and the offense great starting field position. The Chiefs on the other hand had a special teams disaster in the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills. Mecole Hardman fumbled the ball on a kick return that Buffalo recovered at the Chiefs three yard line. These sort of mistakes can doom the Chiefs against a team playing as well as Tampa is.
コメント