By Gustavo Castilho
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City duel prominently for quarterbacks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Kansas City. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. Sunday night promises to take the breath away of American sports lovers. The Super Bowl LV will be at 8:30 pm in Tampa, Florida. It is the first time that a team disputes the final at home. The duel will be marked by the meeting of the two best players in the League: Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. A generational battle that makes the game even more special.
On the one hand, a player considered the best in the history of American football, or at least the most successful: Tom Brady, six times NFL champion in the 10th Super Bowl of his career. On the other, the possible successor promise. A young man who, in the third season as a starter, has already reached the second decision and promises to break all the opponent’s records: current champion Patrick Mahomes goes in search of the second consecutive title, an achievement that has not been won since Brady himself did it with the New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005.
Brady, 43, is the classic quarterback, the player who stays behind the offensive line and rules the attack with passes. Mahomes, 25, is the modern quarterback. He always seeks vertical play, with a powerful arm to hit passes of more than 40 yards. If the defense presses him, he uses his legs to escape and has the ability to launch in motion. The two have faced each other four times in the NFL, with two wins on each side. In the first two, Brady gave. In the last two, Mahomes, counting the duel of this regular season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had outstanding performances in the knockout stage, but the team is not just star Tom Brady. Devin White leads the current postseason in tackles (26), while Sean Murphy-Bunting is the leader in interceptions (three) and Shaquil Barrett is the player with the most sacks (three), along with Jerry Hughes, of the conference finalist Buffalo Bill. Collectively, the Bucs regained possession of the ball through defensive actions on five opportunities in the playoffs, best mark with the Cleveland Browns. The forced errors were fundamental for the triumphs against Saints and Packers mainly, as they ended up being capitalized in points later
In addition to Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs have Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as effective targets for receiving passes. They add 254.5 yards per game in the playoffs. The defensive system, a weak point in the franchise, also evolved in the postseason, yielding only 20.5 points per game, less than the 25 points awarded per game in the playoffs last season, in which he was champion.
