Super Bowl 55

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No. 12, Tom Brady before he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wikipedia Commons

TB to TB to SB

In what has been an absolutely insane NFL post-season, the end result of the Super Bowl  did not disappoint For those who didn’t watch the championship game, look at any social media from Sunday until now, or who just refuse to be up to date on anything, Tom Brady is now a seven-time Super Bowl champion (which means he has more individually than any team), while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now two-time title winners (which means they have more than the New York Jets will ever hope to have).

Tampa Bay’s first Super Bowl win was against the Oakland Raiders in 2002, during which time they were led by current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and then-quarterback Brad Johnson. The win was a huge one for the Buccaneers as they don’t exactly have a history of success; when they began as a franchise in 1976, they found themselves on the wrong side of a 26 consecutive loss streak in their initial two seasons (going 0–14 in their first). The Buccaneers would also find themselves with 14 consecutive losing seasons from the 80s to the 90s.

Now, fast forward from their first Super Bowl win to almost 20 years later and we have a Tampa Bay team that are champions once again, making history by winning the big one in their own hometown. The Buccaneers defeated the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in a blowout 31–9 victory, cementing this talented roster of players as the new team to beat. Let’s just be clear on that statement, the new team to beat, not just the ageless wonder Tom Brady. Other fantastic players such as Rob Gronkowski, Lenoard Fournette, Mike Evans, and Antonio Brown, have all earned a ring for their efforts on the field this past Sunday (especially Mike Evans).

Of course, no Super Bowl analysis article is complete without looking at Tom Brady’s legacy, so you know, backpedal, backpedal. That being said, it’s time to stop the Brady debate. Not familiar with what I mean? Well, if you’re a regular NFL viewer, you are. From DeflateGate, to HeadsetGate, to whatever conspiracy theory type bullshit gets thought up by pissed off fans, you’ve heard every possible argument as to why Tom Brady is not the best.

Read my words clearly: Tom Brady is the best to have ever played this game. He may not be your favourite NFL player (Lord knows he isn’t mine), but there are no ifs, ands or buts with regards to what he has been able to accomplish. He has defied the odds time and time again, and has shown that he doesn’t need a system to win. If anything, the system needs Tom Brady.

What makes Brady’s legacy all the more shocking is that when he loses, he loses to the most baffling opponents that the NFL has ever thrown at him. No disrespect to Eli Manning and Nick Foles, but I mean come on, Nick Foles was a back-up for the Eagles when he beat Brady!

But Eli, oh Eli Manning. There’s probably going to be a lot of Giants fans coming for my head for saying this, but Eli Manning is the luckiest player to have ever accidentally found his way into a Super Bowl arena. Props to the 2× Super Bowl champion for earning those rings, but how he made that now-legendary throw in 2008, I’ll never know. As well, if it weren’t for that perfect lob pass, I guarantee you nobody would ever talk about Eli Manning. That being said, at least Manning did something with his career unlike Tony Romo.

But I digress. Now, with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick in tears and former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe laughing at Belichick’s tears, it’s official that Tom Brady can ride off into the sunset as the best that ever will be. Brady is just going to win at the end of the day and that’s all there is to it. And win he did. By switching to another team, and going to a more difficult division, he proved to everyone that he was the genuine article and got the monkey off of his back. Even if he were to lose every game from this point on, it wouldn’t matter, because he did it. He earned our respect and then some. So here’s to you Tom Brady, from a random Saskatchewan writer in the middle of nowhere Regina to the historic seven-time Super Bowl champ, you’re the best.

So what else is there to discuss? Well I am happy to report that I was correct in my Super Bowl Carillon prediction for this year. Since writing at the Carillon, I’ve been correct in three out of six Super Bowls, (Super Bowl 50, Super Bowl 52 and Super Bowl 55). I should’ve been correct in four, but we don’t need to relive the Atlanta Falcons fiasco of Super Bowl 51. That being said, nothing wrong with 50 per cent. Of course, since this will likely be my last year writing at the university paper, it’s a shame I’ll never really have the opportunity to make it past .500.

So, in an effort to look really cool while in reality looking incredibly foolish, I’m going to throw out a hail mary of a Super Bowl prediction for next year. I think the Los Angeles Rams are going to win it all next season (Heaven Can Wait, eat your heart out). Anyway, hope all of you fine folks enjoyed this year’s championship game and all of the history that came with it.
           

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