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Surge Summary: It’s here: Super Bowl LV. A historically great Quarter Back on one side; his younger opposite number challenging him on the other. Here are Pigskin Pundit’s picks for ‘The Big Show”.
by Pigskin Pundit
The Superbowl teams have been decided, and for all those who hated on Tom Brady for going to so many of them over his career, hey, deflate this! HEEE’S BAAAACK! The man who has made the NFL championship part of his personal brand stands once again on the brink of history. Across the field stands Patrick Mahomes, whom many think will supplant Brady’s career accomplishments as he continues his own meteoric rise. Put me down as a big NO for that nonsense. Mahomes is exceptional, and has a sterling career ahead of him, but please…. have some sense of the historical magnitude of those inane prognostications. We aren’t likely to EVER see another career like Brady’s because it was overwhelmingly improbable we were ever going to see ONE, let alone a repeat.
Let’s get to the big game.
DEFENSE
Defense wins championships. We’ve had this mantra drilled into us, because it is true. In pro football, if a team can neutralize one advantage of the other team, that can decide a game. Take two of those away, and you substantially tilt the field in your favor. Tampa did this with Green Bay’s running game, stuffing Aaron Jones and forcing the game outcome onto the Packer receivers. You can’t stop Aaron Rodgers from being a deadly accurate passer, but you can disrupt his receiver routes enough to make a fantastic passing game more pedestrian. Todd Bowles’ defense provided the margin of victory in the NFC championship game by taking away just enough of Green Bay’s offensive advantages to allow Brady room to work. Shaq Barrett, Pierre-Paul, Devon White and Lavonte David have been huge…but Carlton Davis got exposed against the Packers. He will need everything he’s got, against ‘The Freak’ and Kelce.
Kansas City did the same, erasing Buffalo’s mediocre ground game and concentrating on keeping Stefon Diggs largely off the scoreboard. Tyrann Mathieu had his way much of the game, which is to say he made plays wherever he needed to. Frank Clark still pins his ears back and gets after it as well. Buffalo was simply overwhelmed on both sides of the ball, as they could NOT shut down or even slow down Travis Kelce.
EDGE – Buccaneers, by a crossbone
OFFENSE
Kansas City is the undisputed champ in this category. They can strike with an astonishing quickness so startling that it seems inexorable. They can reverse another team’s momentum on a dime, no matter how late in the game. I spent 20 years watching Peyton Manning’s 2-minute drill decide games, and of course Tom Brady’s dozens of epic late victories, especially in the biggest games. So, I have seen this movie before. People forget that Brady threw for 504 yards in the Super Bowl loss to Philly and nearly won that game singlehandedly when his defense could NOT make an open field tackle all day.
Brady is playing great, and I don’t mean great for 43. However, he isn’t the young stud he was 20 or even 10 yeas ago, and he hasn’t played with this offense prior to this year. The Butterfingers Buc receivers need to stop stabbing at Brady’s passes, which are still pinpoint accurate and delivered with velocity, and catch the damn ball. What they need is grabs, not stabs. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin especially need to grow a set and haul those passes in, instead of swatting them up into the air to become picks. At this point, I don’t trust either of Brady’s primary targets in a Super Bowl. I DO trust Kelce, Hill, Watkins and even Mecole Hardman to be equal to the moment when the ball comes their way. Gronkowski presents matchup problems for the Chiefs when he is on the field with Brate. He won’t catch a lot, but the ones he gets always matter.
In the running game, Fournette has shown his value by stepping up this season, especially picking up first downs. He’s been effective getting into the end zone as well. He doesn’t know what a block is, which was evident at Lambeau when he failed to pick up his rusher, who then planted Brady for a big loss. That needs to change. Mike Jones has vanished as a runner. The Packers erased him completely, and I expect the Chiefs to make all-gone with him as well. I don’t expect Edwards-Helaire or Darrel Williams to be big factors in the game, against Tampa’s staunch D. Fournette’s drive and ability to catch passes is the difference here.
EDGE – Chiefs, by a feather
COACHING
Matt LaFleur showed us what tentative coaching accomplishes in playoff games – early departure. His reluctance to use the offensive firepower he had at the most critical times cost the Packers the game. Not that Bruce Arians made much more sense, when he had Mickens sit down with the ball on a kickoff with 2:02 left in the game, handing the Packers an extra timeout essentially. The guys with the bones on their flag need to avoid boneheaded plays.
Andy Reid is an acknowledged offensive guru. I can’t remember how many times I have seen him throw in a wrinkle in his offense that pays big dividends at a critical juncture, gutting the other team’s resolve. Spagnola has that defense playing on fire lately as well, and HE likes to cook up some nasty surprises for the opposition as well. The knock on Reid is undisciplined teams that take stupid penalties as the worst time, and poor clock management late in the game. The difference is that the Chiefs give Reid more margin for error. Tampa gives Arians, Leftwich and Bowles very little. However, Arians is willing to listen to his HOF QB with 8 seconds left in the half when he says, ‘Hell, let’s just go for it’, and hits Scotty Miller for a long td instead of a 57-yard field goal attempt. Reid’s experience holding the Lombardi Trophy gives him the slim lead.
EDGE – Chiefs
OTHER FACTORS
Tampa’s inexperience is not going to work for them. They are a really good team, and they beat the best to be the best in the NFC, no shortcuts. The Chiefs have swagger. You can see it everywhere. They ACT like champs; confident, fired up, seasoned. Those are hard things to take away from them. Both kickers are money, as are the return teams. Tampa has a quarterback who owns the greatest record on this stage of all time. If the Bucs can put together the perfect defensive game for 60 minutes, they can win. Defense wins championships, and their D is better. That said, my gut tells me they are a year early for this big stage, and are going to get jitters and make mistakes. The Chiefs don’t get ulcers, they give them. Therefore, I’m going with Kansas City.
Enjoy the game, and thanks for hanging with me this year!
-Pigskin Pundit (Nate Clark)
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge
Image: Adapted from: Imagen de Brigitte is always pleased to get a coffee en Pixabay
Nathan Clark is a conservative commentator who resides with his wife in New Hampshire. He is passionate about preserving the vision of our nation’s Founders and advancing those tried and true principles deep into America’s future. His interests range broadly from flyfishing, cooking and shooting to pro sports, gardening, live music and fine-scale modeling.
Don’t let Leftist social media shut us out! Sign up for Daily Surge’s daily email blast… it’ll keep you updated on each day’s Daily Surge new columns. Go to dailysurge.com and sign up under “Free Newsletter” on the right side of the page, one-third of the way down. It’s easy! And like it says, it’s free!
Surge Summary: It’s here: Super Bowl LV. A historically great Quarter Back on one side; his younger opposite number challenging him on the other. Here are Pigskin Pundit’s picks for ‘The Big Show”.
by Pigskin Pundit
The Superbowl teams have been decided, and for all those who hated on Tom Brady for going to so many of them over his career, hey, deflate this! HEEE’S BAAAACK! The man who has made the NFL championship part of his personal brand stands once again on the brink of history. Across the field stands Patrick Mahomes, whom many think will supplant Brady’s career accomplishments as he continues his own meteoric rise. Put me down as a big NO for that nonsense. Mahomes is exceptional, and has a sterling career ahead of him, but please…. have some sense of the historical magnitude of those inane prognostications. We aren’t likely to EVER see another career like Brady’s because it was overwhelmingly improbable we were ever going to see ONE, let alone a repeat.
Let’s get to the big game.
DEFENSEDefense wins championships. We’ve had this mantra drilled into us, because it is true. In pro football, if a team can neutralize one advantage of the other team, that can decide a game. Take two of those away, and you substantially tilt the field in your favor. Tampa did this with Green Bay’s running game, stuffing Aaron Jones and forcing the game outcome onto the Packer receivers. You can’t stop Aaron Rodgers from being a deadly accurate passer, but you can disrupt his receiver routes enough to make a fantastic passing game more pedestrian. Todd Bowles’ defense provided the margin of victory in the NFC championship game by taking away just enough of Green Bay’s offensive advantages to allow Brady room to work. Shaq Barrett, Pierre-Paul, Devon White and Lavonte David have been huge…but Carlton Davis got exposed against the Packers. He will need everything he’s got, against ‘The Freak’ and Kelce.
Kansas City did the same, erasing Buffalo’s mediocre ground game and concentrating on keeping Stefon Diggs largely off the scoreboard. Tyrann Mathieu had his way much of the game, which is to say he made plays wherever he needed to. Frank Clark still pins his ears back and gets after it as well. Buffalo was simply overwhelmed on both sides of the ball, as they could NOT shut down or even slow down Travis Kelce.
EDGE – Buccaneers, by a crossbone
OFFENSE
Kansas City is the undisputed champ in this category. They can strike with an astonishing quickness so startling that it seems inexorable. They can reverse another team’s momentum on a dime, no matter how late in the game. I spent 20 years watching Peyton Manning’s 2-minute drill decide games, and of course Tom Brady’s dozens of epic late victories, especially in the biggest games. So, I have seen this movie before. People forget that Brady threw for 504 yards in the Super Bowl loss to Philly and nearly won that game singlehandedly when his defense could NOT make an open field tackle all day.Brady is playing great, and I don’t mean great for 43. However, he isn’t the young stud he was 20 or even 10 yeas ago, and he hasn’t played with this offense prior to this year. The Butterfingers Buc receivers need to stop stabbing at Brady’s passes, which are still pinpoint accurate and delivered with velocity, and catch the damn ball. What they need is grabs, not stabs. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin especially need to grow a set and haul those passes in, instead of swatting them up into the air to become picks. At this point, I don’t trust either of Brady’s primary targets in a Super Bowl. I DO trust Kelce, Hill, Watkins and even Mecole Hardman to be equal to the moment when the ball comes their way. Gronkowski presents matchup problems for the Chiefs when he is on the field with Brate. He won’t catch a lot, but the ones he gets always matter.
In the running game, Fournette has shown his value by stepping up this season, especially picking up first downs. He’s been effective getting into the end zone as well. He doesn’t know what a block is, which was evident at Lambeau when he failed to pick up his rusher, who then planted Brady for a big loss. That needs to change. Mike Jones has vanished as a runner. The Packers erased him completely, and I expect the Chiefs to make all-gone with him as well. I don’t expect Edwards-Helaire or Darrel Williams to be big factors in the game, against Tampa’s staunch D. Fournette’s drive and ability to catch passes is the difference here.
EDGE – Chiefs, by a feather
COACHING
Matt LaFleur showed us what tentative coaching accomplishes in playoff games – early departure. His reluctance to use the offensive firepower he had at the most critical times cost the Packers the game. Not that Bruce Arians made much more sense, when he had Mickens sit down with the ball on a kickoff with 2:02 left in the game, handing the Packers an extra timeout essentially. The guys with the bones on their flag need to avoid boneheaded plays.Andy Reid is an acknowledged offensive guru. I can’t remember how many times I have seen him throw in a wrinkle in his offense that pays big dividends at a critical juncture, gutting the other team’s resolve. Spagnola has that defense playing on fire lately as well, and HE likes to cook up some nasty surprises for the opposition as well. The knock on Reid is undisciplined teams that take stupid penalties as the worst time, and poor clock management late in the game. The difference is that the Chiefs give Reid more margin for error. Tampa gives Arians, Leftwich and Bowles very little. However, Arians is willing to listen to his HOF QB with 8 seconds left in the half when he says, ‘Hell, let’s just go for it’, and hits Scotty Miller for a long td instead of a 57-yard field goal attempt. Reid’s experience holding the Lombardi Trophy gives him the slim lead.
EDGE – Chiefs
OTHER FACTORS
Tampa’s inexperience is not going to work for them. They are a really good team, and they beat the best to be the best in the NFC, no shortcuts. The Chiefs have swagger. You can see it everywhere. They ACT like champs; confident, fired up, seasoned. Those are hard things to take away from them. Both kickers are money, as are the return teams. Tampa has a quarterback who owns the greatest record on this stage of all time. If the Bucs can put together the perfect defensive game for 60 minutes, they can win. Defense wins championships, and their D is better. That said, my gut tells me they are a year early for this big stage, and are going to get jitters and make mistakes. The Chiefs don’t get ulcers, they give them. Therefore, I’m going with Kansas City.
Enjoy the game, and thanks for hanging with me this year!-Pigskin Pundit (Nate Clark)
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge
Image: Adapted from: Imagen de Brigitte is always pleased to get a coffee en Pixabay
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