Super Bowl LV: Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski fire Tampa Bay to victory

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the Super Bowl champions. Even with the addition of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, that never seemed like a sentence we’d be writing in February when the season got underway back in September.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the Super Bowl champions. Even with the addition of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, that never seemed like a sentence we’d be writing in February when the season got underway back in September. Yet here we are, and the aforementioned players had a major say in the Vince Lombardi Trophy returning to west coast of Florida for only the second time in the Bucs’ history.

For both of the former New England Patriots stars, it’s an incredible story. After a glittering 20-year spell with the Patriots, Brady decided to the leave the franchise at the end of last season and the Bucs were the lucky recipient of his invaluable services.

However, it wasn’t just on the pitch that the 43-year-old helped Tampa Bay onto their second Super Bowl triumph. He played a major part in Gronkowski coming out of retirement and signing for the Florida-based side, whilst he also helped lure Antonio Brown to the Raymond James Stadium from the Patriots.

Even with the stunning addition of three serial winners, the Bucs were far from fancied in the Super Bowl outright markets, and even when they entered the play-offs they were still some way off the pace in the online sports betting. But we have been left in awe of the brilliance of Brady and co. and they proved time and time again throughout the campaign that they should not be written off.

There were question marks surrounding ‘Gronk’ when he signed for the Bucs last year. Injuries took their toll and were the reason behind his early retirement from the sport in 2018. Alongside those worries was the fact that the 31-year-old had lost some of his bulky physique whilst retired, and all that made it difficult to tell if the

Bucs were going to get the same level of performances from Gronk as the Patriots pre-retirement.

Yet throughout the season he was sensational and his performance in the Super Bowl on Sunday night left no stone unturned. He successfully made six catches, more than anyone else on his team, making 67 yards whilst also racking up two touchdowns in the first half. His rise to the occasion when everybody expected the Kansas City Chiefs to go down to Florida and push the Bucs to the wayside is proof that he is in fact the greatest tight end of all time.

“It’s hands down one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history,” Gronk told the media when asked how winning the Super Bowl with the Bucs ranks. “I don’t know if it’s the greatest, but I would say it’s up there for sure. To come down here to Tampa, to come to an organization that was ready to win, come down here with the players — they’re all fantastic players, great guys, just everyone overall. I mean, the story is just unbelievable. It definitely ranks up there as one of my biggest accomplishments ever.”

In terms of Brady’s influence at the Bucs this season, it’s hard to know where to even start. So, let’s just jump straight to Sunday night. Rising quarter-back Patrick Mahomes was expected to steal the limelight, but instead it was the 43-year-old’s night. He completed 21 of 29 attempted passes for 201 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. A performance of that standard, which saw him named the MVP for a fifth time, is why is he is also considered the greatest of all time.

On a personal note for Brady, it was a record 10th appearance in the Super Bowl and a seventh ring to add his collection. He also matched Peyton Manning to become just the second quarter-back to win the Super Bowl with two different franchises.

The Bucs may have stopped the Chiefs from becoming back-to-back Super Bowl champions for the first time since the Patriots’ dual success in the early 2000s, but now Tampa will be hoping for the same feat next season and who knows, maybe they can do it!