Super Bowl film and analytics preview

Sheil Kapadia and Ted Nguyen collaborate on a film-and-analytics Super Bowl preview, including how the Buccaneers might defend the Chiefs passing game:

“The Bucs’ defensive meetings had to start with a plan for Hill and Travis Kelce. When Mahomes targeted those two players in the first meeting, he went 21-for-23 for 351 yards. Todd Bowles had Tampa in man coverage on just nine of Mahomes’ 53 pass plays in that game, or roughly 17 percent of the time according to TruMedia and Pro Football Focus. It wasn’t that the Bucs played a lot of man coverage. It was just that Mahomes burned them (6-for-9 for 113 yards) whenever they were in man. When Tampa lines up in press coverage in the Super Bowl, chances are they’ll mix in a healthy dose of Cover-7, which is a two-deep, man-match coverage that can allow them to bracket Hill and Kelce.”

Full article: The Athletic