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OUT OF SIDE. Unnecessary roughness. Unsportsmanlike conduct. Pass the interference. And holding. Lots of holding.
The Kansas City Chiefs showcased as a textbook how to stop the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday (Manila time Monday). They did it to themselves.
By halftime, the defending champions had racked up more penalties (8) than points (6), and more frustration than hope. It was an undisciplined, uncharacteristic and somewhat incredible loss of composure that set the stage for a 31-9 beating at the hands of Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
His 95 first-half penalty yards were the most of any team in the first half of any of the 269 regular-season and playoff games this season. It was one more yard than Kansas City had accumulated in any game all year. The Chiefs only committed three penalties in the second half to finish the game with 11 for 120 yards. It hardly counted as progress.
“It was uncharacteristic, and it was a shame it happened today,” coach Andy Reid said.
The team that ran like a graceful, unstoppable machine through a championship season and more than 16 more victories en route to its second straight title game, collapsed in on itself. The Chiefs got too skilled in a vain attempt to cover Tampa Bay receivers, too nervous at the scrimmage line, too nervous when things didn’t go their way.
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Each of the eight first-half penalties hurt in their own way, none more so than the two pass interference calls in the span of three plays that led to a touchdown and a 21-6 Bucs lead just before halftime. The round started at Tampa 29 with 1:01 left. Reid burned two timeouts, after two brief wins by the Bucs, thinking the Chiefs could get the ball back.
They did not.
The face of all this Kansas City frustration: It was defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, who, one play after a 34-yard pass interference call that put the Bucs in business, was hit with an interference call of his own. that gave Tampa Bay the ball. at KC 1. After the touchdown on the next play, Mathieu received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for moving a finger in Brady’s face.
No wonder he was frustrated. A few minutes earlier, Mathieu also sparred with Brady after his interception of a deflected ball was disallowed by, what else, a defensive hold call. It was a fringe decision that went against Charvarius Ward – lots of maneuvers and the kind of hand-to-hand combat that went unmarked for much of the playoffs.
At that time they were only 7-3. And so, Mathieu said something to Brady. Brady didn’t back down. Brady came into the game with six Super Bowls titles, in part because he wins most of those mind games.
Now he has seven.
“I’ve never seen that side of Tom Brady, but whatever. No comment. It’s over,” Mathieu said.
Patrick Mahomes got stuck on a title. Dazed all day and rushed by a Bucs defense that apparently didn’t get the message about KC, he completed 26 of 49 passes, virtually all rushing, for 270 yards and two interceptions. It didn’t help that the two starting tackles who had protected him all season were injured.
“A bad day to have a bad day,” Reid said. “But I’m not going to put him on the offensive line. He took us all.”
At least a half dozen of Mahomes’ passes reached receivers on the hands, but they fell.
They weren’t the only ones with butter fingers.
With the Chiefs trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, little-used kicker Tommy Townsend landed a perfect snap and had to pick up the ball and accelerate the kick. It was a beauty that put Tampa in its 30s. But it was canceled by a hold call: A guard had to pull down an oncoming runner to prevent the late kick from being blocked.
On the replay of the fourth down, Townsend landed a 29-yard kick and the Bucs took control of the 38 from Kansas City. A 10-year sentence actually cost the Chiefs 32.
Then the flags began to fly.
The first of the subsequent unit annulled Mathieu’s interception.
Next was a five-yard penalty on the fourth and fifth – flagged by Sarah Thomas, the first female official to work in a Super Bowl – that gave Tampa Bay a first try rather than settle for a field goal. .
On the next play, Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for what appeared to be the second touchdown connection between the old teammates of the Patriots, who never looked better in the pewter and red the Bucs wear. But there was a flag on the ground.
“Holding on. Defense number 34,” yelled referee Carl Cheffers into the microphone. That penalty was rejected. It was 14-6 Bucs. In the middle of that sea of yellow, the Chiefs saw red.
“Only umpires can sanction penalties and penalties affect the game by 1000 percent,” said defensive lineman Chris Jones. “So what can I say? We have a lot of penalties today.”
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