Commentary
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski were a couple new missing pieces needed to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from perennial losers to second-time Super Bowl champions.
By Alexandra Acain
For years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were missing experience and leadership. During the past decade or so, the team has had the talent at many positions, but lacked consistent performance at the quarterback position. Veteran quarterback Tom Brady delivered that to the Buccaneers and helped turn the team around to win a Super Bowl.
“Well, I think in any game… I think what our defensive line did last night was incredible. And it is very difficult, almost impossible to play quarterback under duress like that. That is just the reality of football. You have a rhythm in your head of how a play should go or the rhythm of a certain play, and if that rhythm is thrown off from the snap of the ball, you are just scrambling to make plays,” said after the Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory in Super Bowl LV.
With great cause for celebration, there are a couple potential Achilles heels in the team that will need to be analyzed and addressed with Brady being part of the Buccaneers. The first is forcing throws.
“He is trying to force bad throws as he gets older. Tom just needs to be smarter with throws when he gets to a point where he knows he can’t get the ball as far downfield as he used to in his prime,” Mike Lightner, a real estate office manager, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan pointed out about Brady.
Brady is noticeably throwing more interceptions than touchdowns.
Thankfully, there are more strengths in this team, so much resiliency and hunger to improve that can compensate for their weaknesses. One of them is the reunion of former New England Patriots teammate, and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“Gronk, he's one of the most legit tight ends in the league because he can do both. I wish he had gotten his touchdown because that was a play that we were looking forward to getting and we missed it by a couple of inches. That is what he is – he is a football player. He is not a wide receiver. He does have a lot of stats, but he doesn't go into a game looking for stats – he's looking for wins, " Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said after the Super Bowl.
As Arians implied, Gronkowski has been more of a blocker this season. He caught 45 balls for 623 yards, and 7 touchdowns during the regular season.
A couple other big strengths of the team are veteran wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leonard Fournette.
Brown has caught for 45 receptions, 483 yards, and four touchdowns during the regular season. Fournette has performed just as excellently during the regular season catching for 36 receptions, 367 yards, and six touchdowns.
“He was amazing and just did it all, blocked, ran. Just had an incredible season. We got him pretty late and he just showed up big. It was amazing just how he performed in the biggest moments. Just so proud of him,” Brady said about Fournette’s consistency throughout the postseason in both the running, and pass-catching game.
Brady also had this to say about Brown and Gronkowski: “Yeah. It is just great to see them. Big time players making big time plays. Just love what they did. But what they added to the team, Gronk’s an unbelievable player, teammate, talent, work ethic, commitment. AB is just, since he got here, he has just done everything the right way. So impressed by him. Proud of him.”
Brady has the capability to get the most out of everyone on the team, using their strengths and hiding their weaknesses. For him to be a genetic marvel to be playing at a high level for over 20 years, and to be playing in a Super Bowl at the age of 43 bolsters his legacy.
“This has been an amazing year, amazing year,” said Brady. “We got off to a good start, 7-2, and then had a little rough stretch where we kind of found our identity and played a lot better football down last December, January. Just really proud of all the guys, proud of all the coaches, the effort we put in. We knew we were playing a great football team, and we got the job done. You want to get this far, you got to get the job done. And we did it.”
Commentary
Coach Lafleur, Aaron Rodgers, key player resigning, and improved defensive line can bring about brighter futures for the Green Packers.
By Alexandra Acain
Another postseason has come and gone for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers came close to playing another conference championship round in Lambeau Field on Sunday January 24.
However, Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers have beat the Packers 31-26 and became NFL champions following Super Bowl 55 after with a 31-9 victory against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Tampa at the Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, February 7.
Despite a close game that signified the end of the postseason road for the Packers, there will be nowhere to look, but forward for the team in the offseason. A couple of key components to keep the Packers headed in that direction would be resigning key players and selecting new ones in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“I think the obvious number, or the obvious goal is to re-sign Aaron Jones and Corey Linsley to solidify and keep them there,” said Isaiah Butler, a sports journalist for Best Version Media from Milwaukee, Wis. Butler also points out that general manager Brian Gutenkust has big shoes to fill after Ted Thompson has posthumously left a legacy of building a strong and well-known team with quarterback Aaron Rodgers being one of first draft picks. Adding Allen Robinson of the Chicago Bears, or another wide receiver from free agency to the team can be a possible way to keep the team moving forward.
Developing quarterback Jordan Love with weapons like Robinson and Davante Adams can also add more youth to the Green Bay offensive line.
“So I think Allen Robinson can be a number. He could be a good number two for the Packers right now, obviously, the Packers have (Allen) Lazard and Devonte as their go-to receivers. But Allen Robinson could be another good acquisition for him to be that he could slide into that number two role, Davante can still keep his number one role than analysts can slide over to the three maybe get into more slot situations for the Packers,” Butler said.
In addition to strengthening their receiver corps and adjusting other offensive weapons, their defense, particularly their linebacking core, has potential to grow and improve.
“I know our linebacking core isn't really that good. So, I know we got I think we're going to have to try and build the numbers might say differently. They looked phenomenal throughout the rest of this year, or throughout the end of this year towards the end of this year. But I think we need like one more one more piece, or two more pieces at the middle linebacker core,” Butler said.
Their defensive line can be further enhanced with a new coordinator. Another important name that Butler has mentioned for the Packers to consider was Steve Belichick. The son of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick can bring his father’s defensive intellect to help Green Bay progress to more playoff runs.
For the time being until someone like the younger Belichick will be hired in the future by the Packers front office, veteran defensive coordinator Joe Barry can help with strengthening that line previously leading the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Football Team.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to decisions. The key things that fans should look forward to with the right decisions being made by the front office and head coach Matt LaFleur, and others that come after Joe Barry are the development of Jordan Love, free agency at the wide receiver position, a fortified defense, and the NFL Draft.
“I think he (Coach Lafleur) can do right with the offense and the offense is obviously key for the Packers. We just need a defense that brings intensity and a different and a different mindset to beat to beat the best team in the NFL, which is Kansas City right now, I believe. But yeah, it is going to be that offense, and hopefully keeping Aaron Rodgers on the team for a little bit more can help hopefully lead us down the road to another Super Bowl,” Butler said.