Buccaneers: Bad weather could favor Tampa in the Super Bowl
By Rob Leeds
The Buccaneers need every advantage versus the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and it looks like the weather favors Tampa.
The Buccaneers will face an uphill battle against the Chiefs from the opening whistle in the Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes and company are one of the best teams in NFL history, and they already had their way with the Bucs in the first matchup.
Mahomes and Tyreek Hill dominated the Bucs while posting video-game numbers in the first half of the previous matchup, and Todd Bowles will need to plan especially well to keep a repeat performance from happening.
Even with the defense set up perfectly, Mahomes and Hill are still hard to stop. Hill’s speed and Mahomes’ arm combine for a nearly unstoppable combination on offense against man or zone defense. Even on a perfect day defensively, these two threaten more than the average defense can keep up with.
Travis Kelce is an additional worry for the Buccaneer secondary, so clearly, the pass will be extremely damaging against a unit that has struggled to shut down most opposing quarterbacks this season.
Fortunately for Tampa Bay, the local weather could dramatically change the shape of the game, and this change would be in the Bucs’ favor. Floridians are familiar with rain nearly every day, and while the NFL is going out of its way to take away every home-field advantage for the Buccaneers, they can’t change the weather.
Sunday has the potential for being plagued by rain for part of the day, and everyone knows how quickly that can spread in this state.