How the Buccaneers defense dominated Patrick Mahomes Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes had lost just Christin Stewart Jersey one of his past 26 games as the Chiefs' starting quarterback going into Super Bowl 55. In his three seasons at the helm, he had never experienced more than a one-po se sion lo s, operated a touchdown-le s offense or seen his team score fewer than double-digit points.That all came to a screechinghalt whenKansas City was routed by Tampa Bay31-9 on Sunday. The Chiefs were denied a chanceto repeat as Super Bowl champions andMahomes failed to get his second consecutive ring at age 25.He was shell-shocked inhis worst game as a profe sional andin what will go down as one of the most legendary team defensive performances in NFL history, right up there with the 1985 Bears, 2000 Ravens and 2002 Buccaneers.What the 2020 Buccaneers did to rattle Mahomes in Super Bowl 55 would make Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and brand-new Hall of Famer John Lynch proud. The Chiefs were kept out of the end zone while Mahomes was sacked three times and pre sured a Super Bowl-record 29 times onan uncomfortable and inefficient night (26-of-49 pa sing, 270 yards, zeroTDs, twoINTs). His 5.2yards per attempt set a personal NFLlow and his 69.3 pa ser rating was his second-lowest single-game mark.DeCOURCY: "They were the better team today. They beat us pretty good. It's the worst I've been beaten in a long time," Mahomes said.The Chiefs' 350 yards of total offense were empty, and they were diminished further by the offense going 3 of 13 on third down and 0 for 3 in the red zone. The Chiefs did rush for 107 yards on just 17 attempts against the Bucs' No. 1 run defense, but a good chunkof that yardage came on Mahomes' desperate scrambles and two bursts on a single drive by rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire.This wasn't just slowing down Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense. This was an uttter beatdown, on every level. The Bucs' defense had been building to this with strong performances against Drew Brees' Saints in Dixon Machado Jersey the divisional playoffs and Aaron Rodgers' Packers in the NFC championship game. They saved their best for last against the greatest challenge ofMahomes' Chiefs.So how did the Buccaneers pull off what every team has failed to do against Mahomes in all of his NFL games? They simply won their battles against everyone around Mahomes and kept their foot on the Willie Horton Jersey gas with speed, quickne s and power, doing what the Chiefs' offense tends to doto its opponents.BENDER: The Buccaneers went in with one major personnel advantage: red-hot edge pa s rushers Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul working on Chiefsbackup offensive tackles Andrew Wylie and Mike Remmers. They exploited that mismatch, with Barrett getting another sack and Pierre-Paul disrupting other plays, including a batted ball.After seeing his team drop Rodgers four times, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, one of the most frequent blitz-callers in the NFL (39 percent in the regular season), changed tendencies for a second straight game. He sent more than four rushers after Mahomes only five times. Barrett and JPP did win as expected, but as a literal ma sive bonus, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh helped by turningback the clock, goingSapp-like with inside pre sure to account for half of Mahomes' sacks.Blazing-fast second-year linebacker Devin White had another ma sive game flying around in coverage and getting sideline-to-sideline to make tackles. The older Lavonte David was right there with him. Tyson Ross Jersey With the Bucs settling into zone coverage like they did against Rodgers, both looked like Brooks making big playsin the old "Tampa 2."Mahomes couldn't hold the balllong with the constant heat, and when he got it out quickly on short to intermediate routes, the Bucs swarmed to the ball with sound tackling to limit the damage from wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce after the catch. When it wasn't White or David owning themiddle of the field, it was rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who channeled Lynch andjoined White in the interception fun.How did Todd Bowles & Co. design the perfect defensive game plan to limit the big-play ability of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense? A THREAD (I) Two-high safety shells (II) Pre sure w/o blitzing (III) Take away the sidelines | Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) (I) Two-High Safety ShellsThe Buccaneers' defense aligned in a two-high safety shell on 87% of plays (59 of 68 plays), the HIGHEST rate by a Todd Bowles-led defense in a game over the last five seasons. Mahomes (Deep): 0/5, 0 yards, INT | Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) (II) Pre sure Without BlitzingThe Bucs blitzed on Jose Iglesias Jersey 9.6% of dropbacks, the LOWEST rate by a Bowles-led defense over the last five seasons. 4-Man Rush: 16 pre sures, 34.0% QBP rate*Bowles' three lowest blitz rates have all come against Andy Reid | Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) (III) Take Away the SidelinesMahomes finished 10/22, 50 yards & 2 INT on pa ses targeting receivers outside the numbers in tonight's big game.In Week 12, Mahomes was 18/22, 308 yards & 3 TD outside the numbers against this same Buccaneers defense. | Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) With all thework the front seven was doing and all the help Winfield was giving, the Buccaneers' talented, but sometimes undisciplined, cornerbacks, Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean, didn't need to last long in coverage or face any real trouble downfield knowing they weren't the last or only line of defense. Mahomes' best throws came when he was on the run, scrambling to buy time, but the Buccaneers' secondary stayed disciplined Sunday and never gave up fighting on such plays.MORE: Another factor: The Chiefs' lack of a consistent third receiving option behind Hill and Kelce finally caught up to them. Hill saw double-teams and triple-teams, a natural correction after he destroyed mostly Davis one-on-one in Week 12 for 13 catches, 269 yards and three touchdowns. Hillcouldn't make enough contested catches Sunday and was held to seven receptions for 73 yards Matt Moore Jersey in the rematch. He even was followed around on shorter routes that started in the backfield. Other than Kelce, who also had key drops, catching 10 pa ses for 133 yards, there was no reliable outlet for Mahomes."They took away our deep stuff, they took away our sidelines. They did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles," Mahomes said ofhow the Bucs left the Chiefs' offense discombobulated. "They executed at.a higher level defensively. They had a good game plan.We weren't able to make adjustments and find our way into the end zone."There was no elaborate scheme or rocket science by Bowles. H