Ball hawk Sean Murphy-Bunting and Bucs focused on stopping Chiefs passing game
Sean Murphy-Bunting’s ball hawking has been a key to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run to Super Bowl 55.
A second-year cornerback, Murphy-Bunting has three interceptions in the Bucs’ three road playoff victories. Now him and the rest of Tampa’s defense are tasked with slowing down a Kansas City offense that has an electric passing game with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and weapons such as wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce.
“Kelce’s a really good player,” Murphy-Bunting said in a virtual news conference on Tuesday. “He’s very talented. He has a very good quarterback that gets him the ball. He makes plays happen. You can do a lot of different things, but at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to playing ball. I mean, we’re going to try to limit a bunch of guys and try to do a bunch of different things. It just depends on the situation, the circumstances and the scheme. But we’re going into the game confident. We’re going into the game ready to play no matter who we have to cover.”
Hill torched the Bucs with 269 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the teams’ earlier season matchup.
“That dude is fast, he has some serious speed,” Murphy-Bunting said. “I feel like, for a lot of people, you won’t really know how to play that type of guy until you’ve seen it in person or seen it go against you. So just seeing that in person, the dude’s fast. I see why his nickname is the cheetah. I do.”
So how does the Bucs’ secondary slow down a Chiefs’ aerial attack that ranked No. 1 this season with more than 5,000 passing yards?
“We’ve gotta be ball hawks,” Bunting-Murphy said. “Creating turnovers any way possible, whether it’s an interception, whether it’s a forced fumble, fumble recovery. Any way we can get our hands on the ball we’re trying to get our hands on the ball.”
COVID-19 list
Two Kansas City Chiefs, receiver Demarcus Robinson and offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore, were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list after a barber who cut their hair tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to NFL.com. The players and the barber were masked and both players have tested negative thus far, NFL.com reported.
Northwestern reminiscing
Bucs linebacker Lavonte David is a South Florida native and played on the Miami Northwestern High team that won a national championship in 2007.
On Tuesday, David recounted his experience with the Bulls, including a tight bond formed with fellow linebackers Quevon Taylor and Sean Spence.
“We were the closest ever, even to this day we talk daily,” David said. “I feel like those guys are my brothers. We know everything about each other’s life. I’m Quevon’s son’s godfather ... Me and Sean, every time I’m back home we figure out a way to hang out. We still work out together during the offseason. We built a relationship that’s going to last forever.”
Hawaiian shirt revival
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid wore his trademark Hawaiian shirt to last year’s Super Bowl Opening Night festivities, which had a Chiefs logo on it. This year, it was absent during the virtual press conference event Monday.
But on Tuesday, Reid didn’t disappoint by donning the shirt.
Arians aggressive philosophy
Tampa Bay Bucs head coach Bruce Arians is known for his aggressive play calling approach, and Tuesday he touched on the origins of it.
“When I was young, one of my coaches put the poem, ‘If,’ by Rudyard Kipling in our playbook and it just talks about not being afraid to throw your hat in the ring,” Arians said. “Fail or win, bounce back and keep on going. I do apply it to every day life. You’re not guaranteed the next day. I hit a lot of balls in the water going for it in two knowing I can’t get there, but I ain’t going to get there unless I try. And that one out of 10 that makes it, it’s a great feeling. So yeah, that’s how I live life.”
