Well, who can be surprised Tom Brady did it again? Despite a very shaky second half, he’s headed to his 10th Super Bowl after doing what he needed to do against Green Bay to get there as usual. Though I suspect a three-pick second half vs. KC will croak him. Jimmy Garoppolo got roasted for a lot less than that when the 49ers didn’t hold their fourth-quarter lead against them in the SB a year ago. So Tom had better be careful.
That aside, the Bucs earned their trip to the big game with a 31-26 win over Green Bay, where defending champion Kansas City is waiting following a 38-24 manhandling of Buffalo. It was a fun day of football that reinforced my belief that NFL conference championship Sunday is the best sports viewing day of the year. Some of it had nothing to do with the local football team, and with Brady in the mix some of it seemed to me all about Patriots decisions, what might have been and what they need to do to get back to playing on the second to last Sunday of the NFL year.
Here are some more observations on all that.
If you’re interested, losing Green Bay had a 34:27–25:23 edge in time of possession in Game 1, while despite KC’s runaway win they had only a slight 31:09–28:51 edge over Buffalo. That’s why I don’t think it usually tells you much.
Don’t get why Matt LaFleur went for the FG with 2:37 left and Green Bay down 31-23. Isn’t getting one play from a Hall of Fame QB to win it on fourth down better odds than needing four from his defense and still needing a TD to win from much farther away?
Having said that, despite the success, I never do escape the feeling watching Aaron Rodgers in big games that there’s something missing. Can’t quite put my finger on why, but it was there again Sunday. Maybe that’s why he’s lost four of the five NFC title games he’s been in.
This weekend showed how far off the Pats are. Forget quarterback for a second. The most glaring deficiency is team speed on offense and defense. KC has blinding speed. Buffalo and Green Bay have it on the outside and while besides Antonio Brown I’m not quite sure how fast Tampa Bay receivers are, they seem to get open down the field a lot and their linebackers can run.
Attention, Bill Belichick. Josh Allen went from 20 TD passes to 40 after Buffalo traded for Stefon Diggs. It wasn’t all because of Diggs, but their pedestrian 2019 offense transformed into the league’s second-ranked O as their prized acquisition led the NFL in catches and receiving yards. I also recall something similar happening after Randy Moss arrived in 2007. That’s also why Brady went from 24 TD passes last year to a second best in his career 40 with Tampa Bay. Speed on the outside makes a big difference.
While we’re on that subject, how is it that with good old Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Brate and the out for the year O. J. Howard, Tampa Bay has three tight ends better than any TE the Patriots have?
Don’t buy the narrative being pushed by the Boston media Coach B didn’t have a plan for when Brady left town or retired. He did have one until Brady went up the back staircase to whine about it to the owner, who then made BB trade Garoppolo after he’d already traded Jacoby Brissett, which he wouldn’t have done if he were planning to trade Jimmy G. Then a short time after deep sixing the plan, Brady split to leave Coach B holding the bag. Basically he outmaneuvered Belichick in an act of self-preservation, so don’t make Brady out to be anything but a contributor to their QB dilemma.
But through either a strange coincidence or karma, it’s interesting that we’ll have gotten to see how the Pats QB drama played out in back-to-back Super Bowls against the rampaging Chiefs. So let’s see what Brady does next weekend vs. what Jimmy G did against them.
When Bullet Bob Hayes was called the world’s fastest human after winning gold in the 100-yard dash at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he brought blinding straight-ahead speed to scare the bejeebers out of Dallas Cowboys opponents all through the 1960’s. And through the years people from Billy White Shoes Johnson to Wes Welker have had the short-space quickness to find daylight to get free inside a refrigerator box. But Tyreek Hill has the best combination of both I’ve ever seen. He can score on any down from any distance on any type of play from go routes to wideout screens to Jets sweeps and everything else. He must terrify game planners about to face the Chiefs.
Speaking of blinding speed: The closest approximation of Hill is teammate Mecole Hardman, whose fumbled punt on Sunday handed Buffalo its first TD. He made up for it by taking a shuffle pass up the gut for KC’s first score and with a dazzling 50-yard run on a Jets sweep to put them in position for their second TD. Those impressed by that in Patriots Nation won’t love hearing the wideout/Pro Bowl returner went 24 picks behind N’Keal Harry in the 2019 draft
After watching him average 102 catches the last three seasons and tear up the Browns and Bills the last two weeks for 23 catches, 227 yards and three touchdowns, I’m starting to think Travis Kelce may be a better intermediate-range receiver than Gronk in his prime. The big fella is still a much better blocker and used to be a better deep threat, but Kelce is good and clutch.
If you think Buffalo was a fluke, guess again. They have a good young coach and a really good young QB. Sound familiar? The Pats now have to catch up to them.
