Super thoughts . . . 

In the wake of a rare lopsided victory in Super Bowl LV arrives two of my favorite football aphorisms, each contributing mightily toward  the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' massively decisive victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

In no particular order, they prove way more often than not to be absolutely true:

Offense wins football games; defense wins championships. And football games are won and lost in the trenches. A simple breakdown of the Bucs' surprisingly easy 31-9 beatdown reveals both truths.

The Bucs owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. The offensive line protected its 43-year-old quarterback well and bashed open enough holes for running backs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II to rack up 150 yards.

With due respect to Tom Brady, his seventh championship ring and fifth most valuable player award, the real MVP in this one was the Tampa Bay defense, which did something no one else has been able to do the last three National Football League seasons. Stop Patrick Mahomes II.

Not just stop, but almost completely shut him down. Rendered him ineffective for 28 minutes and 37 seconds. Made him look like . . . well . . . just like an ordinary quarterback, which he clearly is not, making what the Bucs' defense accomplished that much more remarkable. Holding Mahomes to just three field goals qualifies.

The defensive line seemed to be in Mahomes' face on nearly every snap. He was in scramble mode seemingly split seconds after the snap. He was hurried on more than half of his 56 dropbacks and scrambled an unbelievable 500 yards escaping the pass rush. 

Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, remembrances from the week 12 home loss to the Chiefs in the regular season clearly in his mind, concocted the perfect defense to shut Mahomes down, taking away the Chiefs' bread-and-butter offense, the quick-strike long ball, with a two-deep safety zone.

Mahomes threw for 462 yards and wide receiver Tyreek Hill amassed 268 of them and all three touchdowns in the first outing, seven grabs for 203 yards in the first quarter alone. Bowles employed numerous blitz packages and man coverage in that one. 

The two aphorisms intersect. The Bucs manhandled both Chiefs lines in the trenches, especially on defense, taking advantage of a Kansas City line stitched together throughout the season due to injuries and COVID-19 opt-outs.

It might have been a different story if offensive tackles Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz (injured) and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (a medical doctor who opted out to work at a long-term health care facility during the pandemic in Montreal) had been healthy. We'll never know.

Most of the pressure arrived from the flanks, forcing the young quarterback to move well before he wanted. He had precious little time to scour the field before taking off. Most of his yardage came during garbage time after Bowles backed off once the game was clearly won

Bowles is a perfect  example of an assistant coach who is much better as a coordinator than as a head coach. The few coordinators who find success in the top spot are considered generals. The rest are lieutenants. Bowles, who coached the Browns' secondary in 2004, is the latter. In four seasons as head man with the New York Jets (2015-18), he was 24-40.

And let's not forget Bucs offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich, a four-team, 10-season NFL journeyman quarterback who began his coaching career with the Arizona Cardinals under Bruce Arians, reuniting with him in 2019 in Tampa.

He kept the Chiefs' defense off balance with a nice mixture of plays. He got a little help from a couple of questionable pass interference calls against the KC secondary, but that was hardly the reason the Chiefs were humbled.

No, this one belonged to the Buccaneers from the start. Another notch for the defense-wins-championships crowd and those who firmly believe football games are won and lost in the trenches.

Weighing in 

It is truly amazing how quickly some lame-brained idea can catch fire and light up the Internet. Viral doesn't begin to describe the latest stick of dynamite involving the Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield.

The on-going saga down in Houston with regard to the playing services of Deshaun Watson caught the attention of the National Football League universe after the Texans foolishly allowed the star quarterback to be part of the selection process for a new head coach.

Foolishly because there seems to be an unclear division of responsibility within that structure of that dysfunctional team. As a general rule, the ownership and front office take care of the business end of the team. That includes selection of player personnel and the coaching staff.

Players are paid to play, not stick their wealthy noses into places they don't belong. Because the club hierarchy paid scant attention to whom Watson wanted for his next head coach, he all but demanded he wanted to be an ex-Texan.

The Internet exploded almost instantly and speculated wildly as to his next destination. Web sites all over the NFL landscape climbed aboard. That's where the Browns entered the picture.

One fan Web site among the many devoted to the Browns launched the following thought: "It's time for the Cleveland Browns to think about Deshaun Watson", suggesting it wouldn't be a bad idea for General Manager Andrew Berry to at least think about giving the Texans a buzz, dangling Mayfield as bait.

Well, that set off all kinds of bells and whistles, catching the attention of the pundits on ESPN, FOX and the NFL Network among others, and undoubtedly numerous radio talk shows across the nation with regard to these high profile quarterbacks.

The notion Watson and Mayfield intersect in the thoughts of anyone indicates some people are not paying attention. Both are good quarterbacks. In fact, it would not be incorrect to call Watson a great quarterback. And therein lies the problem.

Mayfield and Watson are entirely different types of quarterback. There is no plausible argument that would convince me the Browns would be a better team with Watson in charge of the huddle than Mayfield.

Football is a team game on both sides of the football. On offense, it's 11 men pulling in the same direction. It took nearly half a season under the tutelage of Kevin Stefanski for Mayfield to realize that and become Stefanski's kind of offensive leader.

He is the polar opposite of what he brought to the table in his first two NFL seasons. The mistake-prone gunslinger has morphed into a model of reliability capable of keeping his team in games regardless of how his cohorts on defense play.

I am not certain at all that Watson can change his game because that's what he would have to do to fit Stefanski's methodical, button-down system. It's a system that values the run as much as, if not more than, the forward pass.

Watson has carved out a reputation as one of the league's best passers, but would have to play a diminished role, relatively speaking, for the Cleveland head coach. 

Don't get me wrong about Watson. I love him. As a fantasy football quarterback. Had him on our team this season and we were rewarded with a third-place finish in a 20-team league. But he is not a system quarterback, where ball carelessness is not tolerated.

If I was starting a team, damn right I would want Watson over Mayfield. But not now. Not when the Browns after all these years have finally developed a winning culture under Stefanski. Why spoil it now? Makes no sense whatsoever.

Why fix something that isn't broken? If it weren't for Mayfield and the offense, the Browns would not have come close to qualifying for the playoffs, knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round and scared the crap out of the Kansas City Chiefs in round two.

There are certain rumors that have legs as they swirl around the NFL landscape. They linger for a while before something definitive emerges. This could be one of those.

The Texans, who ultimately hired a head coach Watson didn't favor, say their quarterback is going nowhere. They paid him a lot of money last season and made it clear they intend to make certain he is going to stick around to collect it.

Personally, I don't think Watson is going anywhere. It would be a devastating public relations blunder for a club that has lately exhibited the same dysfunctional tendencies that hampered the Browns for the better part of last two decades.

The best part of this scenario? Mayfield is also going nowhere.