The makings of a classic

LOS ANGELES • The greatest quarterback in National Football League (NFL) history faces off with the pretender to his throne today when Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes go head-to-head in a Super Bowl clash of generations.

After a tumultuous NFL season played out under the shadow of Covid-19, Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers face Mahomes and the reigning champions Kansas City Chiefs in what has all the makings of a classic.

The 55th NFL showpiece pits the 43-year-old Brady, targeting a record seventh Super Bowl at the end of his 21st season, against the 25-year-old Mahomes, chasing back-to-back Super Bowls.

Depending on the outcome, the clash at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium could either turn out to be a passing of the quarterback torch or yet another improbable chapter in Brady's age-defying career.

"This is literally going to be like LeBron and Jordan playing in the NBA Finals," said former Dallas Cowboys quarterback-turned-pundit Tony Romo, and the hype appears to be justified.

Win or lose, Brady will make history this weekend.

At 43 years and 188 days, he will become the oldest player to start a Super Bowl, following a big campaign in which he passed for 4,633 yards and set a franchise record with 40 touchdown passes in the regular season.

Brady's achievement in reaching a record 10th Super Bowl is all the more astounding, given that he is doing so with a new set of teammates after leaving the New England Patriots last March, and with virtually no off-season preparation after Covid-19 shut down North American sport last year.

"It's been an incredible team effort throughout my life on and off the field. I've tried to play my ass off every week - and I'm still trying to do it," he said last week.

The Buccaneers will also make history by becoming the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. They earned that the hard way, winning three straight road games in the play-offs including an NFC Championship victory over the top-seeded Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

Coach Bruce Arians, 68, has built a Buccaneers side boasting the sixth best defence in the league, and a potent Brady-led offence brimming with receiving and rushing weapons.

The game may well hinge on whether Tampa's defence are able to stop Mahomes and the Chiefs, who averaged 29.6 points per game in the regular season.

Mahomes, who passed for 4,740 yards and 38 touchdowns this season, has an array of targets at his disposal, notably towering tight end Travis Kelce and quicksilver receiver Tyreek Hill.

"If you're a young athlete, and you're playing any sport, and you don't look up to guys like Tom Brady, you're crazy," said Mahomes. "He's the type of greatness that you strive to be, to be like and to be towards as you grow up."

Like Brady, Mahomes thrives under pressure. In last year's Super Bowl in Miami, he turned a 20-10 deficit with six minutes remaining into a 31-20 victory for the Chiefs.

"He's got the ability to focus when the moments are the biggest and to deliver for his team," Brady said last week. "That's probably the mark of any great athlete."

Mahomes is also blessed with a peerless ability to scramble out of trouble in the pocket, and uses his prodigious throwing arm to unleash passes all across the field.

"He's unique," Buccaneers coach Arians said. "There are no other quarterbacks who run all the way out to the right and then throw the ball back across the field to the left. In fact, you teach players not to do that. He's amazing."

Today's Super Bowl is the final act of an NFL season that has been completed successfully despite the backdrop of a nationwide pandemic that has surged out of control at different times.

While Covid-19 forced multiple games to be postponed, the league's safety protocols have largely held firm.

Today's clash will host a socially distanced crowd of around 25,000 in a venue which normally holds around 65,000 spectators.

The slimmed-down nature of the event also extends to the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl. VIP parties have been scaled back and several corporate giants have also declined to take part in the traditional blitz of television advertising that accompanies the biggest event in the US sporting calendar.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS