Football is a remarkably complex game, with 11 players on each side flying into highly orchestrated chaos at the snap of the ball. You think about the men and women (thanks, Bruce Arians) who coach the sport and the time they’ve put into training athletes on technique as well as the hours spent watching film and developing game plans and it’s all a little bewildering.
Then you get to the final game of the year, with the two teams who’ve found a way to persevere that long, and the margins are as small as can be. In can take days or weeks of digging to understand the final result of a game like that.
Or, as is the case with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55, the why and how are blindingly obvious: One team just couldn’t block the other.
Kansas City’s banged up line never gave QB Patrick Mahomes a chance. That’s the most obvious reason the Bucs won. But it was still up to Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles to make that advantage count with a smart game plan.
Then there was the work of Byron Leftwich, the Bucs offensive coordinator who found a way to make Bruce Arians’ high-velocity downfield offense work for legendary QB Tom Brady, who is more comfortable working a quick, short and efficient scheme.
The hosts of our NFL podcast The Counter — Steven Ruiz, Charles McDonald and Chris Korman — broke down Super Bowl 55 not long after ended in the video above.
To hear their extended analysis of the game, subscribe to The Counter using the links below and listen to the latest episode.
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