一个从退休中走出来，另一个从足球炼狱中走出来，第三个从地狱边缘地带被拉出来。
罗布·格罗科夫斯基、安东尼奥·布朗和伦纳德·福内特都是其他地方的明星，后来他们走上了不同的道路，在坦帕湾合作。
在汤姆·布拉迪的诱惑下，他们被带到了海盗队，周日晚上，他们以31-9击败堪萨斯城酋长队，进入了决赛圈。
“这无疑是体育史上最伟大的成就之一，”格罗科夫斯基说。
格罗恩科夫斯基获得了两次触地得分传球，布朗又获得了一次，Bucs队在中场休息时以21-6领先。福内特在第三节中途跑了27码得分，这让人们对这场比赛的结果没有什么疑问。
布雷迪获得了他的第七个NFL冠军，第五次成为超级碗MVP。
“整整一周，他让我们相信我们会赢，”福内特说。“他在晚上11点给我们发短信:‘我们会赢这场比赛。’我们相信他，我们相信教练召唤我们的比赛，我们只是顺其自然。"
布雷迪自然会把功劳归于队友。
“很高兴看到一流的球员做出一流的表演，”他说。“我喜欢他们所做的，他们为球队所做的。格罗克是一个令人难以置信的球员，队友，天赋，职业道德，承诺。学士是公正的，自从他来到这里，他所做的一切都是正确的。所以，我对他印象深刻，为他骄傲。”
去年春天，在布雷迪统治亚足联20年后，他离开爱国者队，在坦帕与海盗队签订了一份为期两年、价值5000万美元的合同。
布朗上赛季在爱国者队客串了一场比赛，曾短暂地是布雷迪在新英格兰的室友，在因违反NFL的个人行为政策而被禁赛八场后，他在赛季中期与布雷迪在佛罗里达州团聚，这是这位明星球员的几个失误之一。
福特内特是另一个抛弃物，去年夏天被捷豹放弃。看起来像他以前的自己，他在整个常规赛和季后赛中都是Bucs的明星。
福内特周日晚上堆积了135码的混战，加入了名人堂特雷尔·戴维斯(1997年赛季)，成为唯一在一个季后赛中四场比赛得分的球员。
布雷迪说:“他太棒了，他做到了一切:盖帽，奔跑，度过了一个不可思议的赛季。”。“我们很晚才抓到他，他突然出现了。太神奇了，他在最重要的时刻都表现得很好。”
当布雷迪的一群人在进攻中处理事情的时候，沙奎尔·巴雷特、恩达穆孔苏和其他Bucs众星云集的防守队员无情地骚扰帕特里克·马莫斯，让这位酋长队的年轻巨星遭受了他辉煌的NFL生涯中最严重的损失。
“这是互补的足球，宝贝，”后卫德文·怀特说，他带领Bucs队进行了12次铲球，并在最后一区拦截了马宏斯。“他们把它压在自己的一边；我们把它压在我们这边。一天结束时，我们都穿着同样颜色的球衣，我们的球衣正面都有同样的字母，我们为彼此而战。
“所以，不管是谁完成了他的工作，也不管是谁的夜晚，只要知道我们取得了胜利。这才是最重要的。”
爱国者队和比尔·贝利奇克队在2020年跌至7比9，这与布雷迪抵达佛罗里达州的前一年的记录相同，是自他的朋友佩顿·曼宁2012年离开印第安纳波利斯小马队前往丹佛野马队以来最大的自由球员。
巴雷特在丹佛与曼宁一起赢得了这一切，在坦帕与布雷迪一起赢得了这一切，他说这两个经验丰富的合格中介机构在带领他们的新团队走向顶峰的顽强决心方面是相似的。
布雷迪的第七次超级碗胜利打破了他在20世纪60年代与文斯·隆巴迪的伟大的绿湾包装工队的三名成员在大多数NFL锦标赛中保持的平局。
“没什么好说的，”巴雷特说。“没有什么是他做不到的:新的球队，新的计划，和新球队在一起的第一年，去超级碗，赢得一切。他肯定是共和党人。”
Gronk, AB, Fournette team up for Super Bowl TDs, Bucs top KC
One came out of retirement, another emerged from football purgatory and a third was plucked from limbo-land.
Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown and Leonard Fournette, all stars elsewhere before taking different paths and teaming up together in Tampa Bay.
Brought to the Buccaneers by the lure of Tom Brady, they each ended up in the end zone Sunday night in a 31-9 Super Bowl romp over the Kansas City Chiefs.
“It’s hands down one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history," Gronkowski said.
Gronkowski caught two touchdown passes and Brown snagged another as the Bucs built a 21-6 halftime lead. Fournette bolted 27 yards for a score midway through the third quarter that left little doubt how this game would turn out.
Brady wound up with his seventh NFL championship and was the Super Bowl MVP for the fifth time.
“All week he made us believe we were going to win,” Fournette said. “He was texting us at 11 o’clock at night: ‘We will win this game.’ And we believed in him, we believed in the plays the coaches were calling and we just ran with it.”
Brady, naturally, tossed the credit to his teammates.
“It’s great to see big-time players making big-time plays,” he said. “Just love what they did, what they added to the team. Gronk’s an unbelievable player, teammate, talent, work ethic, commitment. And A.B. is just, since he got here he’s just done everything the right way. So, I’m so impressed by him, proud of him.”
Gronkowski came out of retirement and signed with the Buccaneers after Brady left the Patriots last spring for a two-year, $50 million contract in Tampa after dominating the AFC for two decades.
Brown, who had a one-game cameo for the Patriots last season and was briefly Brady's housemate in New England, reunited with him in Florida at midseason after serving an eight-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, one of several missteps for the star receiver.
Fournette was another castoff, waived by the Jaguars last summer. Looking like his old self, he starred for the Bucs throughout the regular season and the playoffs.
Fournette piled up 135 scrimmage yards Sunday night and joined Hall of Famer Terrell Davis (1997 season) as the only players to score in four playoff games in a single postseason.
“He was amazing and just did it all: blocked, ran, just had an incredible season,” Brady said. “We got him pretty late and he just showed up big. It was amazing, just how he performed in the biggest moments.”
While Brady's bunch took care of things on offense, Shaquil Barrett, Ndamukong Suh and the rest of the Bucs' star-studded defenders harassed Patrick Mahomes relentlessly in handing the Chiefs young superstar the worst loss of his spectacular NFL career.
“It's complementary football, baby,” said linebacker Devin White, who led the Bucs with a dozen tackles and intercepted Mahomes in the end zone. “They hold it down on their side; we hold it down on our side. And at the end of the day we've all got the same color jersey on, we've all got he same letters on the front of our jersey and we play for one another.
“So, it doesn't matter who got he job done, who's night it was, just knew we came through to get a win. That's all that matters.”
The Patriots and Bill Belichick fell to 7-9 in 2020, the same record the Bucs had the year before Brady's arrival in Florida as the biggest free agent since his buddy Peyton Manning left the Indianapolis Colts for the Denver Broncos in 2012.
Barrett won it all with Manning in Denver and Brady in Tampa and he said both veteran QBs were similar in their dogged determination to lead their new teams to the top.
Brady's seventh Super Bowl triumph broke a tie he held with three members of Vince Lombardi's great Green Bay Packers teams of the 1960s for most NFL championships.
“There's nothing else to be said," Barrett said. "There's nothing that he can't do: new team, new scheme, first year with a new team and going to the Super Bowl and winning it all. He's the G.O.A.T for sure.”
