4 takeaways from Tom Brady’s Super Bowl win: What it means for the Bucs, the Patriots and the NFL

What more can you say?

In his first season away from the New England Patriots, 43-year-old Tom Brady bested teams led by Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs to win his seventh Super Bowl ring — more Super Bowl wins than any NFL franchise.

Brady will always be remembered as a Patriot, first and foremost. His magnum opus remains Super 51, in which he famously erased a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons to win in overtime.

But as NFL Media’s Judy Battista perfectly stated in her postgame piece, this is Brady’s “crowning achievement.”

Much will be made about Brady winning a Super Bowl outside of Bill Belichick’s ‘Patriot Way,’ and that’s notable, but this win did much more than that for Brady’s legacy.

Here are our takeaways, both in-game and legacy wise, from the GOAT’s Super Bowl 55 performance.

Brady leads night of efficiency, wins battles over Spagnuolo, Mathieu

It was impossible to preview this game without thinking of Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and his knack for slowing down Brady. Spagnuolo was famously the New York Giants defensive coordinator in Super Bowl 42, helping to coach and utilize a pass rush to stymie a record-breaking New England Patriots offense that was hoping to lead a 19-0 season. On Sunday, Spagnuolo led a Chiefs defensive front that isn't quite on the Giants level, but did have an All-Pro in their own right in defensive tackle Chris Jones, and another top-tier talent in defensive end Frank Clark. But the Buccaneers' offensive line — which provided a stark contrast from the depleted Chiefs blocking unit that had Patrick Mahomes running for his life —held up, with Brady taking just one sack, giving him the time to dissect the Kansas City defense for three first-half touchdown passes, en route to Tom winning his fifth career Super Bowl MVP award. Brady was efficient in every facet. Calm in the pocket. Solid decision-making. No "what-was-that?" balls that you saw a few times in the NFC Title Game in Green Bay. Some of Brady's throws — particularly his second touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski — hardly looked like they were being flung from the arm of a 43-year-old. TB12 was on a mission. From the moment of his "Let's Go" chant and fist pump at the beginning of the game, it was clear how focused the GOAT was on ring No. 7. That focus and emotion came out in Brady's battle with Chiefs Swiss-army-knife defensive back Tyrann Mathieu. https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/1358586009865306114 Brady clearly won that battle, and as the Chiefs' frustration pent up, Brady made sure to take advantage of the full-on meltdown that ensued in penalty form from the Chiefs defense, jawing with Mathieu at various points throughout the game, then victimizing him for a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with the Honey Badger in coverage, then jawing with him again. “Listen, Tom Brady’s a great quarterback," Mathieu said after the game. "I never really saw that side of Tom Brady, to be honest." We've seen Brady jaw with players before during the heat of battle. And this was just another display of fiery attitude a la Michael Jordan. Brady victimized Spagnuolo's defense in every way in the first half Sunday, and that was about all that was needed offensively, with the way the Bucs' defense played on the other side of the ball.

LeBron-like recruiting to create Bucs' offensive super team pays off

Of course, to win a title, even Brady needs a little help from his friends. And that's just what happened on Sunday. It's no secret that Brady recruited Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown to Tampa, and Leonard Fournette almost certainly dreamt of winning a Super Bowl when he made the decision to join Brady's bunch right before the start of the season before being released by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Gronk. Brown. Fournette. The three Tampa additions combined for 224 total yards of offense, and four touchdowns on Sunday, helping to add to Kansas City's afternoon of misery, and Tampa's savoring moment of elation. Brady joined an already-talented offense that featured a top-tier receiver duo in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, but the addition of two of Brady's close friends, and Fournette, helped spur a unique team that we haven't quite seen before in the NFL. There was definitely a LeBron James-like, recruitment-that-paid-off feel to watching this band of former Pro Bowlers come together to win this ring. And it was all orchestrated by Brady. https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1358621275086872584 Sure, Gronk and Brown aren't quite what they used to be, but on Sunday, and at times over their eight-game winning streak since Thanksgiving, they've looked much closer to their prime selves than over-the-hill version of themselves. Credit is due to head coach Bruce Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich for keeping all mouths fed, utilizing each player on this stacked offense, and allowing Brady's recruiting to take place. Everything came together in the best way.

Brady, Mahomes were on different playing fields in Bucs' complete team victory

It was impossible not to overhype the matchup between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes heading into the game. If Mahomes continues to play on the level he has been for future seasons, then this game could be looked at as a Super Bowl version of a Michael Jordan versus LeBron James NBA Finals. But quite frankly, the two quarterbacks played on different playing fields Sunday. Yes, Brady undoubtedly was better, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. That's absurd. But the Chiefs' offensive line was simply much worse off than we expected them to be versus a vaunted Tampa defensive front. Mahomes was running for his life for most of what is now his worst career NFL performance, by far. https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1358792712665747456 Without both starting offensive tackles, credit Tampa defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers defense for taking advantage of the depleted unit, setting the tone for a Super Bowl 48-level beatdown of the vaunted Chiefs offense. Still, the tangible pressure on Mahomes in the form of a Tampa pass rush was made more devastating thanks to the pressure that was mounting on the Chiefs after each Brady score. Brady was phenomenal. So was Todd Bowles and the Tampa defense that made Mahomes look mortal (thanks to KC's O-line and Tampa's execution.) Brady deservedly gets top billing in post-game praise, but this was a team effort in the truest sense of the word, by a team stockpiled with talent, who figured it all out after losing to the Chiefs back in November.

What does this do for Brady's legacy? A lot

It's no secret that Brady winning a ring with a different franchise is a great legacy-booster, but if the Bucs were celebrating a Super Bowl win over the Buffalo Bills right now, would Brady's legacy get the same jolt forward away from the pack to where it sits right now? Probably not. This was the team and quarterback for Brady to beat. For many, he reached the status as the NFL's greatest quarterback and player about two Super Bowl wins ago, but with the way Mahomes and the Chiefs had jumped onto the scene, looking to start a dynasty of their own with a never-before-seen-talent at QB, there's something about this win that truly slams the door shut on the GOAT conversation, and destroys any keys or key holes positioned to reopen it. After this, a second Brady championship win over Mahomes in three seasons, how many rings would Mahomes have to win to even be close to Brady in any GOAT discussion 15 years from now? Five? Six? Anything less than that and there is just no plausible way Mahomes would catch Brady in invisible legacy points unless the person or media member making the take was a Brady "hater." Yes, silly television segments and ridiculous tweets will continue next season. As soon as Brady's Bucs have a two-game losing streak next season, a purposeful bout of amnesia will set in on a select group of NFL Twitter who are exhausted with Brady's dominance. But really, this win puts Brady's career on another level. He has a plausible case as the greatest athlete in team sports history. This Super Bowl win probably sits with Super Bowl 49 and Super Bowl 51 as his three most important Super Bowl victories, with only Super Bowl 42 still sitting as a one-that-got-away blemish. But think about Super Bowl 42 and the ascending 2007 season for Brady —since then, Tom has made six more Super Bowls, winning four of them. That's the thing about his career, it seemingly never ends. We are all witnesses. https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1358762506638876672 Tom Brady. A champion, once more.

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