After four epic games, Round 5 of Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady comes in the Super Bowl

TAMPA, Fla. — It’s becoming touted as a person of the biggest Super Bowl quarterback matchups — 43-yr-previous Tom Brady, “the GOAT,” compared to 25-yr-previous Patrick Mahomes, “the Magician.” The winner of 6 Super Bowl titles pitted from the defending Super Bowl MVP, who’s broadly deemed the heir evident.

Quite a few wondered no matter whether their 7 days 12 matchup, in which Mahomes’ Kansas Metropolis Chiefs bested Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 27-24 victory, would be their last, with Brady possessing left the AFC just before the season. But lo and behold, they satisfy once more in Super Bowl LV on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS), with Mahomes acquiring a opportunity to attain floor on Brady’s legacy and Brady looking to lengthen it in his first season with the Buccaneers.

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They have a mutual admiration.

“He’s performed an extraordinary occupation,” Brady mentioned of Mahomes this week. “I seriously admire Patrick for the form of participant he is. He has fantastic command of his team. I know his teammates appreciate enjoying with him. He’s obtained fantastic charisma. When I see Patrick, I see somebody who, none of these moments are too big for him. … He’s a huge participant. A fantastic chief. [He] usually would seem to perform his finest when his team needs it the most.”

Stated Mahomes of Brady: “The way he is able to dissect defenses just before the snap is a thing that I genuinely admire, that I’m striving to get to that degree. The way he is able to go in just the pocket and to be able to reset his toes and to be completely calm and even now make the toss ideal on the revenue no make a difference who’s close to him is a thing that I’ll have to proceed to get the job done on. … I’m going to try to do whatever I can to view tape on him for the reason that he is executing it the ideal way, and you can tell by the Super Bowl championships he has and rings on his fingers.”

They’ve presently experienced four riveting matchups, all resolved by a person score. This is a search back at all those matchups and what enthusiasts can count on when the two satisfy Sunday.


What it meant: The Chiefs were being 5-, and Mahomes, in his first yr as the starter, was presently environment the NFL on hearth with 1,513 yards and fourteen touchdown passes. The Patriots were being three-2 but on a two-game successful streak.

The game, suitable for a Mahomes-Brady matchup, was large-scoring. It highlighted nearly seven hundred passing yards, break up almost similarly between the two, and five touchdown passes, four from Mahomes. Mahomes threw a seventy five-lawn touchdown move to Tyreek Hill with three minutes left to tie the score at 40, but Brady then led a push that ended with the successful area aim and a 43-40 Patriots victory. The Chiefs went on to a 12-four history and the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, with the 11-5 Patriots right away at the rear of.

Sunday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
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Finest moment/pivotal perform for just about every QB: Brady’s three longest passes of the game arrived in the fourth quarter. None was bigger than a 39-lawn toss to Rob Gronkowski that set the Patriots in place for the successful area aim. Mahomes experienced two extended touchdown passes, the seventy five-yarder to Hill and a person of 67 yards to Kareem Hunt.

What they mentioned: “[Mahomes] built a ton of big ones — the a person at the close to Tyreek was a fantastic toss, and he experienced some other fantastic throws. So difficult to gradual all those fellas down. They’ve been scoring a ton of details all yr. They are going to be quite difficult to halt, so glad we experienced our last shot and glad we took benefit of it.” — Brady

“I have the best respect for Tom and everything that he did this game and his complete full career. He’s experienced achievement in this league for the reason that he is won online games with last-minute drives like that. For us, you just have to locate a way to gain online games like this. If you want to get to where you want to get to, you have to gain online games that are going to be limited and they are going to be from seriously very good opponents.” — Mahomes

Who won this round: Mahomes and the Chiefs sounded their existence, but Brady proven early supremacy in the rivalry.


What it meant: The stakes were being bigger this time as Mahomes and Brady achieved for the AFC championship. The first 50 % experienced a substantially various search than the first game between the quarterbacks. Mahomes and the large-scoring Chiefs were being discouraged by the person-to-person coverage of the Patriots and trailed fourteen- at halftime. But the expected shootout formulated in the 2nd 50 %.

Driving three touchdown passes from Mahomes, the Chiefs were being poised to advance to the Super Bowl when Brady experienced a move intercepted late in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs ahead 28-24. But the perform was wiped out by a penalty, and the game sooner or later went to time beyond regulation. The Patriots won the coin toss and scored a touchdown for a 37-31 victory. Mahomes in no way touched the ball in time beyond regulation.

Finest moment/pivotal perform for just about every QB: Brady was at his finest on the successful push in time beyond regulation, completing three passes on third-and-10 for first downs. Mahomes threw a 23-lawn touchdown move to Damien Williams in the fourth quarter to give the Chiefs their first direct.

What they mentioned: “We have overcome a ton this yr. Down but not out, and we identified a way to perform our finest the last four online games — Buffalo, Jets, experienced the bye, played fantastic from the Chargers and played seriously nicely today. We are going to need to have a person additional fantastic game. That was a fantastic way to close it. I was in all probability as energized as I have been in a extended time. A ton of factors, a person perform here or a person perform there, could improve everything, but that is football. I am just happy of our team.” — Brady

“It’s just how the coin tosses, I guess you would say. It’s a thing where he experienced a fantastic push. He experienced a ton of third-down conversions. In big moments, fellas built big catches for [Brady]. It’s a thing where all you can do is help your teammates, trust your teammates, and when you get your prospect, go out there and try to make performs.” — Mahomes

Who won this round: Brady left with the prize, a vacation to the Super Bowl, which he won to make his sixth ring. Mahomes & Co. left with commitment for the future season.


What it meant: The Patriots were being 10-2 and the Chiefs 8-four. After acquiring off to gradual begins in his first two online games from Brady and the Patriots, Mahomes experienced 226 yards, a touchdown move and a twenty-7 direct immediately after the first 30 minutes. Brady and the Patriots rallied in the 2nd 50 % but fell limited when a fourth-down move into the close zone was knocked absent by the Chiefs with just over a minute remaining. Mahomes obtained his first victory in the rivalry as the Chiefs won 23-16.

Finest moment/pivotal perform for just about every QB: Mahomes threw a 48-lawn touchdown move to Mecole Hardman in the 2nd quarter to give the Chiefs a direct they wouldn’t relinquish. Brady lost what would have been a touchdown move early in the fourth quarter when officers incorrectly ruled that his receiver stepped out of bounds just before achieving the close zone.

What they mentioned: “Every single game requires on a small various sense and the conditions are a small various, and it can be a various team every yr, too. So I may possibly have specified experience executing factors, but this specific team as a complete has not been by various conditions. So you just try to get the job done by them over the training course of the complete season, and we have three big online games to go, and we’ve obtained to get back to successful football.” — Brady

“Very first off, I you should not imagine this will be [Brady’s] last season. He’s even now enjoying at a large degree. But yeah, you want to beat the finest, you want to go out and perform from the finest and give your finest effort. But it can be a team game your team has to beat his team. Which is a seriously very good football team, this is a seriously difficult environment to perform in, and so for us to locate a way to gain a game — it wasn’t quite the complete time, it was just a difficult, tough-fought gain.” — Mahomes

Who won this round: Mahomes. Both of those groups concluded the season 12-four, but the head-to-head victory earned the Chiefs a playoff bye, which forced Brady and the Patriots to perform wild-card weekend, when they lost twenty-13 to the Tennessee Titans.


What it meant: In terms of big quarterback data, Mahomes arrived out blazing in an unforgettable first quarter. He threw for 34 yards to Tyreek Hill on the first perform, and just before the period of time was concluded, he experienced TD passes of seventy five and 44 yards to Hill and experienced thrown for 229 yards. Mahomes concluded the game with 462 passing yards, with 269 of all those going to Hill. Brady threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns, even though the Chiefs intercepted him twice. Two Brady touchdown passes to Mike Evans in the fourth quarter narrowed what experienced been a 27-10 Chiefs direct and built the finish intriguing. While the Bucs would eliminate, it would be their last defeat of the season.

Finest moment/pivotal perform for just about every QB: Mahomes completed an 8-lawn move to Hill on third-and-7 late in the game to make it possible for the Chiefs to lengthen their final push and maintain the ball absent from Brady at the close. Brady threw interceptions on back-to-back third-quarter belongings, the two with the Bucs in Chiefs territory.

What they mentioned: “It was person coverage with no a person over the leading, and so we you should not get that a ton, specially with [Hill] and his capability, and anytime we do, we try to acquire benefit of it.” — Mahomes on why he experienced so many big performs to Hill

“It’s just exterior sound when yo
u might be shedding, that is what you deal with. … I have absolutely obtained to go out and do a better occupation the last four weeks of the yr.” — Brady

Who won this round: Mahomes, who evened his history from Brady to 2-2.


What it suggests for Mahomes: Mahomes has two wins over Brady, but the two arrived through the common season. A gain over Brady in Super Bowl LV would indicate the entire world to Mahomes and set him on a limited checklist of gamers — alongside with Eli Manning and Nick Foles — who have toppled Brady on the most important stage. A Tampa Bay victory would give Brady two postseason wins over Mahomes. It would also give Brady seven Super Bowl victories, creating Mahomes’ effort to try to beat that variety even additional tricky. In terms of legacy, you can find a ton riding on this game for Mahomes.

What it suggests for Brady: He’s vying for his seventh championship, which would surpass Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, a person of his idols. But it can be additional than just that. As Professional Football Hall of Famer and former Brady teammate Randy Moss mentioned, “Tom Brady’s not prepared to give up his crown nonetheless.” And the truth he could gain a Super Bowl with a new team that has not been to the postseason in 13 several years, with no offseason and enjoying in the NFC for the first time — all at the age of 43 — could make it his most impressive feat nonetheless.

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Problem Brady provides to Chiefs: The Chiefs have to protect him for 60 minutes. They did so for only 45 minutes in 7 days 12 this season, and Brady almost led the Bucs back to a victory with a big fourth quarter. The Chiefs were being able to strain Buffalo’s Josh Allen relentlessly in the AFC Championship Game, but Brady, with his experience, provides a larger problem.

Problem Mahomes provides to the Bucs: Blitzing is defensive coordinator Todd Bowles’ forte, but more strain doesn’t rattle Mahomes substantially. He has a 96.four QBR with 17 touchdown passes and zero interceptions from the blitz this season. To sack him, you have obtained to do away with his solutions downfield so he has nowhere to go with the football, and you can’t make it possible for him to escape the pocket.

Who has the edge, in a person sentence?

It’s extremely hard to decide from Mahomes, who generally performs quarterback on a degree of his personal. — Teicher

Mahomes for the reason that of his speedy receivers — but the decline of the two setting up offensive tackles in Mitchell Schwartz (back) and Eric Fisher (Achilles) could make factors incredibly intriguing. — Laine