Spiderfan's Web of Football Super Bowl LV Edition

[spiderfan]

Disappointment SCtoC! It is I, Spiderfan, the official NFL analyst for this great website, and while the word disappointment may come off as a biased word since yours truly was on the losing side, considering all the hype surrounding this game, it is not hyperbolic to say that Super Bowl 55 was a disappointment. Since I gave my top 4 story lines of Super Bowl 55 for the awesome game capsule, I will use those as the template for my review/recap/thoughts/column about Super Bowl 55 itself. 

4. Can the Buccaneers stop Tyreek Hill?
In the first match up Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill completely dominated and had it not been for the lead that the gave the Chiefs, he probably would have broken the single game receiving record. Will Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles adjust his defense to stop Hill? Will Hill beat those adjustments? And how will those adjustments affect the game overall? The game itself will answer those questions, but I think by the 3rd quarter we will know.

Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles completely adjusted the Bucs defense as Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill was well covered the entire game. Hill did have 7 receptions for 73 yards, so you might think he had some impact and/or successfully beat the Bucs defensive adjustments. Not really. His catches were sporadic throughout the game and he never really got going. Hill had a chance to get going on the Chiefs second offensive drive when he had an opportunity at a TD catch... which he dropped. The Chiefs would settle a FG to go up 3-0 which would be their only lead of the game. 

3. Brady vs Mahomes
This may seem like an obvious choice, but how can it not be? You've got the 2 best QBs in the NFL currently (and probably ever) playing against one another in the Super Bowl in what is likely the last time these 2 play each other barring a rematch next year. Mahomes played fantastic last time they played each other and Brady played less than fantastic.

This time? Brady played fantastic winning Super Bowl 55 MVP (although Gronk should have won it IMO as he had multiple TD catches and was a lead blocker for a lot of the Bucs big runs) and Mahomes had probably the worst game of his career up to this point. Now the stat sheet does not tell the whole story and we will get to that in a bit, but suffice it to say for all the hype of "Brady vs Mahomes" like previous "epic matchups" such as Montana vs Elway or Montana vs Marino, the game was ultimately non-competitive and not nearly as exciting as most people thought it would be. 

2. Turnovers
Speaking of Brady playing less than fantastic he had 2 INTs in the previous match up, although that was before he developed the chemistry with his receivers that he has now. The Chiefs also had a key fumble which kept the Buccaneers in the game. They always say it is important to win the turnover battle, and considering both teams have high powered offenses that score a lot, keeping turnovers at a minimum will be an absolute must for both teams.

Despite Mahomes having 2 INTs, neither of those really affected the outcome of the game that much. What did have an impact on the game, at least from a momentum perspective was the Brady INT by Chiefs S Tyrann Mathieu that was called back because of a defensive holding penalty. This would lead to Brady and Mathieu having multiple to heated trash talking sessions at various points for the remainder of the game. It would also lead to a Gronk TD catch which put the Buccaneers up 14-3 instead of being up only 7-3. In fact there was another massive defensive penalty this time a pass interference on the Chiefs, which set up an Antonio Brown TD catch. As it would turn out defensive penalties by the Chiefs would end up being worse than any offensive turnover they would commit. That was not something I would have expected for either side. 

1. Chiefs O-line vs Bucs D-line
The biggest storyline of Super Bowl 55 may seem like an uninteresting one, but hear me out. The Chiefs are missing multiple starting tackles. The Bucs D-line is completely on fire having possibly sent multiple future HoF QBs into retirement. Despite Mahomes' obvious greatness, if he is under pressure and getting hit, the better chance the Bucs have at winning. If the Chiefs O-line holds up? The Buccaneers offense are gonna be the ones under pressure.

As it would turn out this is the storyline that decided the game. Remember how I said earlier that Mahomes' poor stats were misleading? That is because the Chiefs O-line was completely destroyed by not only the Bucs D-line but also their LB core. Not only was the Chiefs O-line completely destroyed by the Bucs D-line and LB core, but it was destroyed without very many blitzes. This meant that while the sack numbers for the Bucs defense weren't all that high, Mahomes was under pressure constantly and unable to find open targets as he barely completed 50 percent of his passes and almost half of those completions and that yardage was done by TE Travis Kelce. I would expect that Chiefs go big on O-line depth this offseason in free agency and the draft because they need it. 

Boston Bitterness

I do have one last takeaway from the Super Bowl I'd like to share which is this: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Antonio Brown were all New England Patriots. Gronk's retirement led to Brady not having a great target, which led to Brady wanting and getting Antonio Brown, who's release angered Brady and was the beginning of the end of Brady's time with the Patriots, which led to Brady joining the Buccaneers, Gronk unretiring, and Brown signing with Bucs after his suspension ended. Every single of them made plays to ultimately with the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and not the New England Patriots. The Buccaneers have a bright future and the Patriots are on a decline back to irrelevance. For all of his success, I think Bill Belichick has now been revealed to be just a tad overrated. Maybe a little more than a tad. 

Congratulations to the Buccaneers ownership, coaches, players, and fan base (including our very own Bannock) for winning Super Bowl 55! 


I would just like to take this moment to thank Jessica for all of the help and support she has done with the column this season. I would also like to thank Monika for the amazing graphic work she has done and for her continued support. Speaking of continued support I want to shout out Heidi, Angi and the big boss Kasey for the support they have given me throughout the season as well. Every single one of you gals has my sincerest gratitude. Same goes for everyone has read the column this year too. This was my favorite season I've done so far and here's hoping that next season is even better! This is spiderfan out.