Early on Sunday, I asked Raiders fans who they were rooting for in the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Buccaneers. I asked because I knew it was a tough decision. Which is saying a lot considering in most cases, rooting against the hated Chiefs would be an easy call.
If you’re curious, the results of the poll ended up with the Buccaneers around 75% of the votes, though most acknowledged that it was an unpleasant decision to have to make. In fact, a follow-up poll revealed it was as hard to root for the Bucs as it was for Raiders fans to root for the 49ers last year. And there is some serious bad blood with the former cross-bay rival 49ers.
In the end, the Buccaneers would rout the Chiefs 31-9. Based on the poll, it’s the result most Raiders fans wanted, but celebrating that fact probably left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths.
Why was it so hard to “root” for the Buccaneers? Well, that’s a multi-layered answer. There are a lot of demons for the Raiders on this Buccaneers squad. Here are five.
QB Tom Brady
He of tuck rule infamy. Brady, at the age of 43, with his seventh Super Bowl ring. The first one shouldn’t have happened. Charles Woodson strip-sacked Brady and Greg Biekert recovered on the play that should have sent the Raiders to the AFC Championship game. But the call was reversed by the seldom ever called tuck rule. It wasn’t even called correctly. No surprise Brady benefitted from quite a few timely penalties called on the Chiefs in this game, leading directly to at least two Brady touchdown passes.
WR Antonio Brown
One of those aforementioned touchdown passes went to Antonio Brown. And it’s enough to make you want to throw something at your TV. Brown was supposed to be playing for the Raiders right now. The team traded a third and fifth-round pick to the Steelers in the 2019 offseason, only to have Brown self-destruct, skip the entire training camp over a ridiculous helmet dispute, cuss out and threaten GM Mike Mayock for fining him, and then demand his release.
Brown joined Tom Brady with the Patriots two days later, but a sexual assault allegation ended that after one game. Then several run-ins with police including a domestic assault incident and an assault on a moving truck drive got him suspended for the first eight games of the 2020 season. The moment his suspension was up, he again joined Brady, this time with the Bucs. Now two seasons removed from forcing his way off of two different teams and assaulted several people, he has a Super Bowl ring. Karma doesn’t exist.
Buccaneers franchise
Yeah, the franchise itself. That tuck rule game was Jon Gruden’s last with the Raiders. That offseason he was traded to the Buccaneers. Then the Raiders made it to the Super Bowl only to face their old ball coach and the Bucs and get ran out of the building. And the Bucs were even back to wearing their old/new uniforms this season, so they looked the part too.
LB Devin White
With the Raiders holding the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft, the best linebacker in the draft was there for the taking. And they had a need at the position. They chose Clelin Ferrell instead. And White went to the Bucs with the very next pick. White led the Bucs in tackles in the Super Bowl. His 12 combined tackles were twice as many as any other Buccaneers defender. And he made the game-sealing interception.
DE Shaq Barrett
That same 2019 offseason, the Raiders were desperate for pass rushers. Hence the selection of Ferrell. The thing is though, Barrett was a free agent. And he was there for the taking. He ended up signing with the Buccaneers on a one-year, $5 million deal. Then he went out and put up 19.5 sacks.
He re-signed with the Bucs last season and put up another 8.0. That’s 27.5 sacks in two seasons. He had three sacks on Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship game and sacked Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Ferrell has 6.5 sacks in two seasons with the Raiders. To think, the Raiders could’ve had White and Barrett instead.
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