How often Brady feels pressure from the Chiefs defense on Sunday could decide Super Bowl LV.
For all the complexities baked into a football game, underpinning scheme, fundamentals and techniques, most matchups hinge on a simple idea. Super Bowl LV should be no different. If the Chiefs can consistently batter Tom Brady, chase him, hit him and bury him underneath a pile of blitzers, they will win. In Week 12, Kansas City blitzed Brady on exactly half his dropbacks and escaped Tampa Bay with a 3-point victory. The Chiefs took a calculated risk that afternoon, betting they could reach Brady before he triggered the Bucs’ explosive downfield passing attack. The bet hit. Kansas City finished with the highest blitz rate a winning opponent has logged against Brady since 2009. Whether Kansas City revisits its blitz-heavy game plan Sunday, though, is irrelevant. The fulcrum of Super Bowl LV will be how effectively the Chiefs pressure Brady, regardless of method. Damming those waves of pressure will be up to the Bucs’ offensive line, an unheralded group overshadowed by Brady’s star power and that of his Pro Bowl weapons. But if the O-line handles their business, the Bucs should win. And they know it. “That’s the mindset,” Tampa Bay offensive guard Aaron Stinnie said Thursday. “We know what we have to go out there and do to give ourselves a shot, and keeping Tom clean is definitely a huge part of it.” According to Pro Football Focus, Brady passed for more yards from a clean pocket than any other quarterback during the regular season.
