It’s hard not to get excited about the quarterback matchup waiting for us in Super Bowl LV.
On one side, Tom Brady – the best to ever play the position – will suit up for his first NFL title game without Bill Belichick, and he’ll do it for a Buccaneers team that will become the first team to ever compete for the Lombardi Trophy on home turf.
On the other, Patrick Mahomes – the heir apparent – who after a week of major question marks guided the defending-champion Chiefs to one their most impressive wins of the season and now gets a chance to become the first quarterback to lead his team to back-to-back titles since … Tom Brady.
It’s a matchup we’ll have plenty of time to break down over the next two weeks, so let’s dive into the takeaways from another eventful Conference Championship Sunday in the NFL.
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CHIEFS’ DYNAMIC WEAPONS SIMPLY TOO MUCH TO HANDLE
This is far from a new take, but it’s one that’s hard to ignore after an offensive game like the one the Chiefs put together on Sunday in their 38-24 win over the Bills.
How are opponents supposed to stop this Kansas City team? Outside of Jon Gruden’s Raiders in Week 5 of this season, no team has had an answer to that question against these full-strength Chiefs.
That Oct. 11 loss to Vegas is the only one the Chiefs have suffered with Patrick Mahomes starting under centre over the last 14 months.
And on Sunday evening, the reasons why were fully on display.
Kansas City had 94% DVOA for the game tonight. By far their best game of the year. Their best offensive performance and second-best defensive performance behind Week 3 against Baltimore.
— Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) January 25, 2021
Not only are the Chiefs coached by one of the greatest offensive minds in league history in Andy Reid, and quarterbacked by the best player in the game in Patrick Mahomes (who put on a show against Buffalo), but the supporting cast is just ridiculous.
Travis Kelce set yet another record with his 13 catches, the most in a conference championship in the Super Bowl era. The All-Pro tight end had 118 yards and two touchdowns to go along with those 13 catches.
Tyreek Hill didn’t find the end zone against the Bills, but Cheetah did rack up 172 receiving yards on nine catches, including a blazing 71-yard run that set up K.C.’s fourth touchdown of the day to make it 31-15.
The @Cheetah. #RunItBack #NFLPlayoffs
: #BUFvsKC on CBS
: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/RTcXvhOR4u pic.twitter.com/Sm5G3lr7Mj— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2021
Throw in some big-time plays from Mecole Hardman, who more than made up for his first-quarter muffed punt with a touchdown and a 21.5-MPH run for 50 yards, plus rushing scores from Darrel Williams and rookie Clyde-Edwards Helaire, and this Chiefs offence somehow feels more menacing than last season’s edition.
It makes for a fascinating matchup in 13 days against a Buccaneers defence that did real damage against Aaron Rodgers in the NFC title game.
Also, shoutout to Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs defence, which smothered a Bills offence that, despite its struggles over the last two weeks, was one of the most dangerous in the league this season.
Speaking of the Bills offence …
SETTLING FOR FIELD GOALS JUST WON’T CUT IT
It was a tough night for the Buffalo Bills.
Not only was it nearly impossible to slow down Patrick Mahomes – the Bills defence forced just one punt, and it came on K.C.’s first drive – but Josh Allen and the Buffalo offence just wasn’t good enough.
Allen missed throws, the rhythm of the offence felt off (similar to last week against Baltimore) and, as a result, a unit that shredded opposing defences consistently over the final weeks of the regular season struggled to put any significant drives together when it mattered.
A gifted first-and-goal opportunity from Mecole Hardman gave the Bills an early 9-0 lead, but the score was deceiving of the actual success Buffalo was having offensively: in their first five possessions, the Bills accumulated just 88 yards on 25 plays – 42 of which came on the 10-play opening drive that ended in a field goal, a precursor of what was to come.
The Bills were finally able to manufacture a prolonged drive late in the second quarter, putting together 12 plays for 73 yards to get to the Chiefs’ two-yard line. But, trailing 21-12 with time expiring in the half and K.C. set to start the third quarter with the ball, the Bills choose to kick a field goal on fourth down rather than go for the touchdown.
Then, after holding the Chiefs to just three points on the opening drive of the second half, Buffalo put together another promising drive – 10 plays for 67 yards – which again led the Bills inside K.C.’s 10-yard line. Again down to a fourth-and-short inside the Chiefs’ 10, trailing by 12 with the most potent of offences on the opposite sideline, the Bills decided against going for six and once again settled for a chip-shot Tyler Bass field goal.
On the next drive, the Chiefs drove 75 yards in just over two minutes to stretch their lead to 16. Josh Allen threw an interception on the Bills’ ensuing possession, and the game was essentially in the bag.
Against a team as deadly as the Chiefs, field goals deep in enemy territory won’t cut it – especially when the team settling for those three-point kicks is led by a quarterback in Josh Allen who had been a killer inside the opposing 20 and was facing the league’s worst red-zone defence.
The future is bright in Buffalo because of what the team has built on offence, but on Sunday it was the decision against trusting those players that likely decided the Bills’ fate.
BRADY BAILED OUT BY BUCS DEFENCE AFTER RARE PLAYOFF MISTAKES
The first 37 minutes the NFC title game in Green Bay couldn’t have gone any better for Tom Brady.
By the time the Buccaneers scored their fourth touchdown of the game early in third quarter to extend the lead over the Packers to 28-10, the 43-year-old future Hall of Famer had three touchdown passes – giving him 80 total in his post-season career, 35 more than the next closest QBs – and had cemented himself as the Buccaneers’ leader in playoff touchdown passes in less than three games.
The Buccaneers were rolling and Brady was only further solidifying his legacy as the best playoff performer the sport has ever seen. And then he threw interceptions on three consecutive drives, an incredibly rare string of gaffes for the GOAT.
The mistakes allowed Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to claw back into a game they had trailed by 18 at one point — but fortunately for Brady, Tampa Bay’s stout defence stepped up.
Rodgers was able to take advantage of Brady’s first pick, turning it into six and cutting the Bucs’ lead to just five after a failed two-point conversion. But the other two interceptions were followed immediately by Green Bay three-and-outs, two drives in which the Packers recorded a combined minus-five yards.
Todd Bowles’s defence was also stellar inside its own 20 against one of the league’s top red-zone offences, twice holding the Packers to field goals from inside the 10-yard line – including the controversial three-point kick Matt LaFleur opted for late in the fourth quarter (more on that later …).
It’s another incredible performance from a Bucs defence that had done it to the Packers once before in 2020, and were really the only team to cause Rodgers serious problems at all during his MVP-calibre campaign.
Including Sunday, Rodgers threw six interceptions all season – three of them came in two games against the Bucs. Rodgers was sacked 25 times – nine of which came against the Bucs.
By no means should we take away from what Tom Brady has accomplished; 10 career Super Bowl appearances is a mind-blowing accomplishment.
But Brady and the Bucs wouldn’t have got that 31-26 win on Sunday without the play of that defence.
HEAD-SCRATCHING COACHING DECISION COSTS PACKERS
There are a lot of reasons the Packers lost Sunday’s NFC title game at Lambeau – a failure to capitalize on Tampa turnovers, committing their own costly turnovers and a very bad defensive call in a very big situation.
Despite all of that, Green Bay was in the game in the final minutes until an inexcusable call on fourth down deep in Buccaneers territory essentially sealed the Packers’ fate.
After an incomplete third-down pass to Davante Adams in the end zone, on which Aaron Rodgers appeared to pass up a chance to run in for a score, the Packers faced fourth-and-eight with 2:05 left in the game trailing by eight points.
Rather than trust the presumptive league MVP under centre and go for the touchdown in an attempt to tie the game, head coach Matt LaFleur elected to kick a field goal to move within five points and hope the Packers defence would get a stop to provide one last possession.
They didn’t.
Given the personnel the Packers boast and the situation the team found itself in, going for the touchdown was a no-brainer: trust Rodgers, Adams and one of the league’s best offensive lines to get the job done. And if they don’t? The Buccaneers take over deep in their own territory and Green Bay’s defence gets its chance to make a stand.
Three points made no difference.
It’s a decision LaFleur expressed some regret for post-game – “Any time it doesn’t work out, you always regret it” – but ultimately one he defended.
But it’s more than just a head-scratching call from LaFleur that robbed his team and its Hall of Fame quarterback a chance at the Super Bowl – it’s one that could define his career as Green Bay’s head coach.
