TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady lured tight end Rob Gronkowski out of a one-year retirement stint and convinced the Bucs to take a chance on wide receiver Antonio Brown, who was out of football one year ago.
Those two players came up big for Brady in the first half of Super Bowl LV on Sunday, with Gronkowski catching two touchdowns and Brown a third to give the Bucs a 21-6 lead at halftime.
Brown’s 1-yard touchdown came on an angle route working against defensive back Tyrann Mathieu with 10 seconds to go in the half.
BOOMIN 🤙
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— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021
In the first quarter, Brady hooked up with Gronk for their 13th postseason touchdown on an 8-yard pass, topping Joe Montana and Jerry Rice for the most postseason touchdowns by a QB-receiver combo in NFL history. It was also the first time in Brady’s 10 Super Bowls that he scored an opening-quarter touchdown.
On the play, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, Gronkowski ran across the back of the formation and into the flat. It was Gronkowski’s fourth career receiving touchdown in the Super Bowl, breaking a five-way tie for second most in Super Bowl history.
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— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021
Twice as nice 😁
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— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021
Beast mode.
— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) February 8, 2021
He now trails only Rice, who has eight.
Brady and Gronk would replicate that magic in the second quarter. The Bucs lined up for a 40-yard field goal after stalling deep in Kansas City territory, but the Chiefs’ Antonio Hamilton jumped offsides, giving the Bucs a first down.
On the next play, Brady found Gronkowski for a 17-yard touchdown pass, with Gronk faking like he was running to the corner of the end zone before turning inside and losing L’Jarius Sneed, extending the Bucs’ lead to 14-3.