Tom Brady Beat Bill Belichick By Winning Super Bowl LV
Tom Brady did it again. He won his seventh Super Bowl Sunday night, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. The Bucs snuffed out Patrick Mahomes' magic and Brady led his offense up and down the field all night. In raising the Lombardi Trophy for the seventh time, Brady didn't just beat the Chiefs, he also scored a big win over former head coach Bill Belichick.
When a then 42-year-old Brady walked away from the New England Patriots last offseason, everyone around the NFL debated who would win the breakup. Well, Brady won the Super Bowl, and his fifth Super Bowl MVP trophy and the Patriots went 7-9 and looked like an organization adrift. So, yeah, gotta give this one to Tom.
For several years, the Patriots failed to get Brady the kind of weapons he needed -- especially on the perimeter. Even when the Patriots won Super Bowl LIII over the Rams, New England only managed 13 points. He won it with a diminishing Julian Edelman, an injured Rob Gronkowski and guys like Rex Burkhead, Cordarrelle Patterson and James White contributing. It was a terrible supporting cast and he still managed to take home a title thanks to his team's defense.
After a lackluster 2019 campaign, it appeared Brady had enough of New England skimping on the skill position talent and refusing to invest big-time money to put weapons around him. Belichick, as the team's general manager, was going to run things as he always had, by finding bargain values and identifying market inefficiencies. So Brady bounced, and found one of the NFL's most loaded rosters.
The Bucs had two top-tier receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, plus a good tight end in Cameron Brate, and a talented young running back in Ronald Jones II. Then they added Antonio Brown, Rob Gronkowski and Leonard Fournette, putting the kind of offense around Brady he had always wanted. Throw in an attacking defense, with a swarm of defensive linemen including Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh, and a star linebacker in Devin Bush and you had an outstanding roster that was only missing a quarterback.
Brady got a supporting cast worthy of his ability and the results speak for themselves. Meanwhile, Belichick is still searching for his quarterback of the future and has a ton of holes to fill on an ill-constructed roster. Brady proved he can win the big one without Belichick, giving his legacy a huge boost, while hurting his former coach's.
Tom Brady won. Bill Belichick lost.