Super Bowl: Tom Brady leads Magic Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs

Tom Brady made his seventh Super Bowl title look familiar – despite moving south to a new team and new conference during a pandemic.

Brady threw two touch passes to old friend Rob Gronkowski and one to good friend Antonio Brown, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Patrick Mahoms and Kansas City 9-31 at home at Super Bowl 55 on Sunday (Monday New Zealand time).

Brady expanded his Super Bowl title record on his tenth appearance, his first without Patriots coach Bill Belecik. The 43-year-old Brady broke his own mark for the oldest player to win the Super Bowl and join the Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the only player to win one with multiple perks.

The Buccaneers (15-5) won their second NFL title and first in 18 years while becoming the first team to play the big game at home, capping an extraordinary and hard-to-play season through the novel coronavirus. They won three road matches as a pop-up team to reach the Super Bowl.

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The Tampa Mahomes victory prevented the Chiefs (16-3) from becoming the first recurring champion since the Brady Patriots did so in 2003-04.

The NFL completed the 269-game season on time without any cancellations, a remarkable feat that required nearly a million Covid-19 tests for players and team members.

Due to the virus, only 25,000 fans wearing masks were allowed, including about 7,500 health care workers who were vaccinated and who were given free tickets by the NFL. About 30,000 pieces of cardboard made the stadium look full.