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Why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will win Super Bowl LV – Sportsnet.ca

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Ahead of Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sportsnet writers will break down why each team can win the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.

First up, the Buccaneers.

It’s hard to add to a legacy when you’re already considered The Greatest of All Time, but Tom Brady can do just that this Sunday.

In search of his seventh Lombardi Trophy in his 10th Super Bowl appearance, Brady could join Peyton Manning as the only other quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two different teams, and would do so after having made the bold move out of Bill Belichick’s shadow last spring to branch out on his own.

A Super Bowl LV win would be another remarkable accomplishment in a career full of them.

Standing in the way is Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs, as formidable an opponent as there is in the NFL.

Can the Buccaneers, underdogs as the first-ever true home Super Bowl team, overcome the defending champions and add to Brady’s collection of rings? We think they’ll do just that.

Here’s why.

THE SUPER BOWL GOAT

When Brady takes his first snap of the game on Sunday, he’ll become the oldest player to have ever played in a Super Bowl.

But age is just a number to TB12, and while others in their 40s who have played for the Lombardi Trophy have largely done so after taking a step back, Brady hasn’t lost a step entering his 10th Super Bowl.

We don’t really need to explain to you why Brady is a threat to the Chiefs capturing their second consecutive Super Bowl, but here goes.

Firstly, the 43-year-old future Hall of Famer is fresh off one of his best regular seasons in years – ranked behind only Aaron Rodgers by Pro Football Focus while throwing his most TD passes (40) since 2007 – and is leading a red-hot Bucs offence into the Super Bowl. Tampa has won seven straight games in which the team is averaging more than 34 points per game. Over that span, Brady has 19 touchdowns to just four interceptions.

With a top-notch supporting cast around him, Brady’s got game-breaking wide receivers in Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown (more on them later), and lines up behind an offensive line that PFF ranked fifth in the NFL in the regular season. That type of support behind the GOAT should strike fear into any opponent.

Secondly, Brady is the best player the Super Bowl has ever seen. Not only does he own a ton of Super Bowl records and boasts a load of jaw-dropping Super Bowl stats, but every championship game he’s played in has come down to the wire – win or lose. All nine NFL title games in which Brady has started have been decided by one score, meaning No. 12 is going to have the Bucs in a position to win this Sunday.

Against a Chiefs defence that’s been just OK in 2020, including the league’s worst red-zone defence, we see Brady orchestrating his seventh Super Bowl–winning drive and lifting the Lombardi Trophy once again.

Finally, Brady brings leadership to the game that’s unrivalled in the league.

ADVANTAGE: BUCCANEERS DEFENSIVE LINE

How will Brady get into a position to win the game against these Chiefs? It comes down to the trenches, where the Bucs have their biggest advantage of the game.

While Brady and the offence get most of the attention, Tampa’s defence has been the team’s most consistent unit this season – and that’s thanks to one of the NFL’s best defensive fronts.

Tampa boasts two of the NFL’s most effective pass rushers in Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett, a duo that combined for 17.5 sacks in the regular season and accounted for all five sacks of Aaron Rodgers in the NFC title game, dominating one of the league’s best offensive lines in the process.

In the interior are defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Vita Vea – one a three-time All-Pro who has made a name for himself across 11 NFL seasons as a game-wrecker and the other a third-year player who has flown under the radar this season after playing just five games due to a broken leg.

Together, Suh and Vea have the potential to give any offensive line fits, let alone a Chiefs line dealing with its share of issues heading into the Super Bowl.

And that’s where the Bucs’ advantage lies. Thanks to injuries and absences, the Chiefs will be starting a patchwork offensive line in Tampa on Sunday. If the Bucs can get pressure on Mahomes without blitzing, like it did in the NFC title game against Green Bay, it could alter the outcome of Sunday’s game.

Factor in that just behind that dominant defensive line is one of the best inside linebacker pairings in the NFL in Lavonte David and Devin White, and you’ve got a potential recipe for slowing down Mahomes and the Chiefs.

VERSATILE WEAPONS ON OFFENCE

We bring it back to the offence in our final reason for why the Bucs will win Super Bowl LV.

Undoubtedly, the Chiefs have one of the most talented groups of offensive skill position players in the game, but if there’s one team that can rival K.C. in that department, it’s Tampa.

In Evans, Godwin and Brown, the Buccaneers have one of the best wide receiver trios in the NFL. All three have elite skills possessed by few others at their position while each bringing something different to the table.

Against a Chiefs defence that has struggled to defend the pass at times this season, any one of them – or all three – could have a big game on Sunday.

Don’t sleep on the other weapons surrounding Brady, either. We all know about Rob Gronkowski, who hasn’t made the major impact coming out of retirement that we all expected, but has a history of coming up big in Super Bowls. Alongside Gronk, Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard offer Brady viable options to take advantage of the Chiefs’ weak red-zone defence.

And while the Bucs’ run game won’t get a lot of attention in the lead-up to the big game, Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette could be factors on Sunday. K.C. ranked 21st against the run this season, and Jones was able to average more than five yards per carry as he came just 22 yards short of his first 1,000-yard rushing campaign.

Fournette was not a factor in the regular season, but he’s been Tampa’s go-to back so far in the post-season, and “Playoff Lenny” has shown flashes.

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

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DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

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PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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