The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Green Bay Packers 31-26 yesterday, sending Tom Brady to his 10th Super Bowl. The win also gives the Buccaneers their first Super Bowl appearance since 2002, and they become the first team in NFL history to host a Super Bowl. The Buccaneers were ready to play this game, jumping out to an early lead in the first half. They eventually held an 18 point lead that quickly started to fade as Tom Brady did his best to try and give the game away. I thought the end of half execution and the red zone were the two most important parts of this game. The Buccaneers were better situationally, and I give Bruce Arians credit for this win.
The Buccaneers were aggressive in this game, and I thought their execution at the end of the first half was great. Bruce Arians deserves a ton of credit for the end of the first half because he called the Packers bluff. The Packers were afraid to give the ball back to Brady because they were conservative on their final drive. Arians sensed this and called timeout, thus forcing the Packers to throw on the next down, leading to an interception by Sean Murphy-Bunting. The Buccaneers then took an aggressive approach and exposed the Packer’s embarrassing defensive call on the Scotty Miller touchdown.
Now to get to Brady, I thought this game was a tale of two halves for him. He was excellent in the first half as he was money from the start. He set the tone for the game with a great opening drive where he converted three third downs before throwing a touchdown to Mike Evans. Brady also was excellent on the final drive of the first half as the throw to Scotty Miller was phenomenal.
The second half is where Brady struggled as he looked like he lost his mind. All three of his interceptions were his fault as they were all boneheaded plays. The first one was a rookie mistake, the second one was too high to Evans(he knew it when he let it go), and the third one was horrendous. Brady was rattled in the second half, and his third interception gave me flashbacks to his last two years with the New England Patriots. That interception was a chuck and duck, which is what Brady did his last two years with the Patriots. It’s horrendous because that’s one where he should have just taken the sack. Brady was lucky that the Packers were only able to capitalize on one of the three interceptions.
Brady finished the game going 20-36 for 280 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. My overall feeling of the game is that Brady got bailed out by his defense and the Packer’s inability to convert in the red zone. Although Brady threw 3 touchdowns and was 9-14 on third down, he tried to give the game away. If Aaron Rodgers’s interception gets called back for pass interference, this is a very different game. However, this is the beauty of team sports as his defense helped send him to his record 10th Super Bowl. The numbers from this game are historic as Brady is now the Buccaneers all-time leader in postseason touchdown passes, he has the same amount of NFC championship wins as Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, and he is now tied for the most playoff road wins in the Super Bowl era. I found that one ironic as all I have ever heard is that Brady can’t win road playoff games.
Overall, everyone should appreciate and admire what they are witnessing. Tom Brady, the greatest athlete of all time is heading to his 10th Super Bowl. He won three straight road games, two of them against top 5 defenses and two of them against Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. Brady just has one more challenge to complete this historic run against Patrick Mahomes and the mighty Chiefs. This is going to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls of all time, and I am excited to watch the GOAT pursue ring number 7 on February 7th.
Thompson's Takes 