Ringside Report Breaks Down Kansas City Chiefs Vs The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl LV – Sporting News

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By Ron Signore

For every sports fan, this upcoming weekend is the holy grail of sports weekends. Even non sports fans enjoy this weekend that revolves around the biggest sporting event of any given year: The Super Bowl.

What a year it has been all around, not even just directed at football. But this year’s biggest stage for sports is no different. Super Bowl 55 is set to be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida on Sunday, and for the first time in its existence, the stadium’s home franchise will be playing for the Lombardi Trophy.

While the stadium will only have a limited number of fans in physical attendance due to COVID, many will see something very familiar in a team led by Tom Brady under center. The odd part, it will be Brady’s first Super Bowl without Bill Belichick as coach and furthermore, not in a Patriots uniform. This time he will lead the NFC Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers out to the field in his first season with the organization.
Brady is set to appear in his 10th Super Bowl as a professional football player, though winning only 6 currently (as if that is not some sort of big deal), he looks to not only lead his team to a championship victory, but become the game’s Most Valuable Player for the 5th time.

While the Bucs have completed the toughest task in the playoffs to date to generate the Super Bowl birth in winning 3 consecutive road games, including the division rival in the New Orleans Saints (of whom swept the Bucs in the regular season) and going through #1 seed Green Bay to arrive there, they go up against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs are looking to repeat as champions as they defend their title in Tampa. Patrick Mahomes has proven once again how dynamic he is as a quarterback in the NFL as he led his #1 seed team to victory against the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills to clinch a return to the biggest stage in football.

The headline of this Super Bowl really could be tagged as Brady vs. Mahomes as most would think. However, understanding the implications as to why are what I find to be interesting. The NFL got what they wanted with probably viewership of this game as we now see two of the biggest names going against each other in the game, and lets face it, Green Bay and Buffalo do not quite have a comparison in regional viewership population. But beyond the money, we need to look at something far more meaningful to the NFL brand itself.

Mahomes is the reigning NFL MVP and has consistently proven to be the guy to beat. The young quarterback has video game like football skills, with the ability to turn crap into gold and in some of the most amazing and unbelievable ways possible. His ability to extend plays and draw breath taking excitement with his aerial assault capabilities is unreal- and that is sugar coating it. Compare that to Tom Brady who is 43 years old and on the back 9 of his career. He has been the face of the NFL for so long, with his career dwindling down to what could potentially be his last game, this could be the symbolic passing of the torch for the brand.

In addition to the billing of Brady vs Mahomes, we have two very strong teams doing battle with each other as you would expect. The Chiefs have strong Super Bowl coaching experience led by Andy Reid, and the tools Mahomes has to execute Reid’s game plan on offense in Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, the Buc’s defense is going to have to be near perfect.

The Bucs have a coach in Bruce Arians that is a talent in his own right. His accomplishment in herding all the cats on this newly renovated Bucs offense with a cast of characters like Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Bryant is a task in itself. Throw in a solid running back in Ronald Jones and complimentary back in Leonard Fournette, with other specialists like Mike Brown and Chris Godwin to spread the rock around to, Brady has more weapons than he has had in a while.

Both defenses are stingy. The Chiefs have a solid scheme that could cause fits for Brady upfront and cause confusion for throwing the ball in mixed coverages. Though Brady feels like he understands the opposing defense well, he will be tested thoroughly. The Bucs are very similar in presence, but when you have a mobile quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, you have a sense of uncertainty of where that ball could wind up. The front four will have to dominate the line of scrimmage, but also keep a backer to spy on Mahomes while hoping they keep the speedy Hill in check and close coverage on the ridiculous Tight End in Kelce.

The game draws the intrigue of what seems to be a good game. But as I mentioned before, there is more to this game for everyone. A day filled with typical appetizers like chips and guacamole, cheese dips, fried stuff, wings…it is a heavenly dream (enough fried stuff, heaven may be closer than we think). But the entertainment of the commercials becomes even the least likely sports fan to be intrigued by the game. Speaking of commercials, this will be the first year Budweiser does not do an ad promoting its Clydesdale branded beer. The halftime show will be headlined by The Weeknd for those looking for mid game reason to get up and get jamming. And for those who have no desire to cheer for either team but want to be financially vested in the game, you can bet on hundreds of props including the length of the national anthem, the coin toss and, well just about anything you can think of. There is no shortage of possible excitement to the game.

Ron’s Pick:

The last few weeks have not been my luckiest in handicapping the games each weekend- so whatever I pick, maybe go the opposite way. But in my handicapping, I have the Chiefs as a 4.5 point favorite. Vegas has taken a lot of money on the Bucs to cover. They’re line opened as the Chiefs a 3.5 point favorite and the Bucs money has driven the line down to Chiefs -3. The total opened up at 57.5 and has been driven down by the sharp bettors to 56. Not surprising, everyone wants a high scoring game, so the sharps will fade the public in that area and hope the game has less than 56 points scored. I personally am waiting for the final numbers overall, but if the number drops to Chiefs -2.5, I will grab that. If it goes to Bucs +3.5, I will grab that. As much as I would typically bet the under (of 56), I think between Brady and Mahomes ability to score we could see a game total hit 60. I will continue to monitor the money Vegas takes on both and make my final bets overall.

Enjoy the game and good luck to you whatever you interest is in the game.