Tom Brady Earned His Seventh Through a Perfect Team Win Tom Brady has officially won seven Super Bowls. Seven. That's more than any other player, or franchise, in NFL history. Brady earned that seventh ring on Sunday night, as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. Before Brady signed with Tampa Bay 324 days ago, the Bucs hadn't achieved a winning record since 2016. They hadn't reached the playoffs since 2007. Now the franchise has two titles to its name, and a legacy of its own with the greatest quarterback of all time. Seven is considered a number of completeness or perfection, so it's fitting that Sunday was the Bucs' most well-rounded performance of the year. It didn't matter how special Patrick Mahomes was on Sunday evening. Tampa Bay did more than enough to win, getting contributions from every position group and executing a sound game plan put together by a talented coaching staff. Tampa Bay carried its momentum into the second half. Leonard Fournette broke out for a 27-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to give the Bucs a 28-9 lead. And they didn't relent from there. Brady finished the game 21-of-29 for 201 yards and three scores, and he connected with six different receivers on the night. He was sacked only once and was pressured on four of his 30 dropbacks, according to ESPN Stats and Info, the fewest number of sacks of his Super Bowl career. And as comfortable as he looked picking apart Kansas City's secondary from behind center, his defense made the job all the more easier. The Bucs defense took advantage of the Chiefs' most glaring weakness: the offensive line. After losing starting left tackle Eric Fisher to a torn Achilles in the AFC championship game, Kansas City shifted right tackle Mike Remmers to that spot. The domino effect pushed starting right guard Andrew Wylie to right tackle, and forced journeyman veteran Stefen Wisniewski into the lineup at right guard. Meanwhile, as the Chiefs suffered subtractions, Tampa Bay got stronger up front. Star nose tackle Vita Vea looked like himself after returning from an ankle injury to play in the NFC championship game. Vea, Ndamukong Suh, and edge rushers Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul formed a game-breaking unit. The secondary-which got cooked by Tyreek Hill in the teams' Week 12 matchup-held strong too. Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles found success deploying his safeties in two-deep pre-snap alignments, which prevented Hill from taking the top off his defense. Cornerback Carlton Davis, who had a rough first matchup against Hill in Week 12, rebounded in a big way on Sunday, allowing just two catches for 14 yards on four targets, according to Pro Football Focus. Tampa Bay's linebacker tandem of Devin White (a team-high 12 tackles) and Lavonte David was immaculate, as both affected the line of scrimmage and showed up in the short passing game to limit Travis Kelce. Tampa Bay neutralized Mahomes as much as a defense possibly can. The Chiefs QB still managed to keep plays alive-per Next Gen Stats, Mahomes ran a combined 497 yards before his passes or sacks-and he gave his receivers a chance, but nothing seemed to go right. The Chiefs, who are among the NFL's elite at converting third-and-long situations, went 3-for-13 on third down against the Bucs. Mahomes finished 26-of-49 for 270 yards and two interceptions. The final stats will show he was sacked three times and was hit as he threw eight times, but those numbers mute how often he was under duress. The result was Mahomes's first single-digit output in the NFL, and his first double-digit loss. This was a complete team performance for Tampa Bay-a result of the efforts of coach Bruce Arians, his staff, and general manager Jason Licht, who assembled arguably the NFL's most talented team and attracted the star quarterback needed to lift this team to a championship. “This belongs to our coaching staff and our players,” Arians said Sunday night while holding the Lombardi Trophy. “I didn't do a damn thing.” But the thing is: He did. Arians deserves much of the credit for how far the Bucs have gone, as do Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Collectively, they managed to get their team to play its best football during the most important stretch of the season. Tampa Bay's pathway to this Super Bowl required it to win a wild-card game, then defeat Drew Brees's Saints and Aaron Rodgers's Packers-all on the road-before facing Patrick Mahomes's Chiefs. And they did it. This was a complete team performance for Tampa Bay-a result of the efforts of coach Bruce Arians, his staff, and general manager Jason Licht, who assembled arguably the NFL's most talented team and attracted the star quarterback needed to lift this team to a championship. “This belongs to our coaching staff and our players,” Arians said Sunday night while holding the Lombardi Trophy. “I didn't do a damn thing.” But the thing is: He did. Arians deserves much of the credit for how far the Bucs have gone, as do Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Collectively, they managed to get their team to play its best football during the most important stretch of the season. Tampa Bay's pathway to this Super Bowl required it to win a wild-card game, then defeat Drew Brees's Saints and Aaron Rodgers's Packers-all on the road-before facing Patrick Mahomes's Chiefs. And they did it. Kaelen Jones, The Ringer.com, published 8 February 2021