Todd Bowles, Steve McLendon among ex-Jets to win Super Bowl LV with Bucs
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles had his team make play after play on Sunday night, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV.
Bowles was head coach of the Jets from 2015-2018, going 24-40 with the team. He took a year off of coaching before accepting the DC job with the Bucs in January of 2019, after they had hired Bruce Arians as head coach.
The Bucs defense held Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes to only 270 yards passing and forced him to throw two interceptions. They sacked the former MVP three times, and allowed only 107 total rushing yards to the Chiefs.
It’s the first time that Bowles has won a Super Bowl as a coach, after having won once as a player with Washington in Super Bowl XXII.
Despite having Tom Brady on offense, the Bucs defense made big plays consistently during the playoffs. They won three road games before becoming the first team to host a Super Bowl.
Bowles’ defense finished the regular season ranked eighth overall, and was fifth in turnovers with 25.
Todd Bowles, Steve McLendon, DL Coach Kacy Rodgers, ILB Coach Mike Caldwell win Super Bowl LV with Bucs
The mantra “defense wins championships” certainly bore fruit during the Bucs’ 31-9 win over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
Tampa Bay DC Todd Bowles played an integral part in Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl victory. If they handed out MVPs to members of the coaching staff, Bowles would have been the easy choice. Bowles, his coaching staff and Steve McLendon helped keep Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City’s plethora of weapons in check for the majority of their 22-point win.
Let’s look at all the former Jets who are now Super Bowl Champions following Sunday’s big game.
DC Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WHO IS TODD BOWLES
Todd Robert Bowles (born November 18, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator of the Super Bowl LV winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL), as well as a former player. He played eight seasons in the NFL as a safety, mainly for the Washington Redskins, and started in Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. Bowles was the interim defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012, and then for the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. He was the interim head coach for the Miami Dolphins for the final three games of the 2011 season with a 2-1 record after the firing of Tony Sparano, and served as the head coach of the New York Jets from 2015–2018.
On February 7, 2021, Bowles won his second Super Bowl as the Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in (LV). Bowles was credited with a game plan that pressured Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes without resorting to blitzing, by utilizing the two-deep safety look and pass rush which prevented the the Chiefs from scoring a touchdown.
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As Tony Romo mentioned during Devin White’s game-sealing interception, the Bucs’ entire defense should have gotten a share of the game’s MVP. The architect of the defense that held Mahomes and the Chiefs to just nine points was none other than ex-Jets head coach Todd Bowles.
Mahomes completed 26-49 passes for 270 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. While Kansas City was able to rush for 102 yards on 16 carries, that was pretty much the team’s only source of offense. Bowles’ defense had Mahomes running for his life all night, making the otherworldly talent look like a mere mortal behind an offensive line that took a beating.
DT Steve McLendon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
When Joe Douglas sent Steve McLendon to Tampa Bay midseason, the Jets lost a leader. But McLendon was given a chance at a ring.
McLendon finished the job on Sunday. McLendon had one total tackle and a quarterback hit on Mahomes. The Chiefs QB was knocked around more than a few times by McLendon’s teammates in the trenches.
DL Coach Kacy Rodgers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Bucs only blitzed on six of 56 dropbacks and yet the defensive line, led by Kacy Rodgers, made sure Mahomes was uncomfortable. The Bucs had three sacks and eight quarterback hurries.
After serving as Bowles’ defensive coordinator (2015-18) in New York, Rodgers deserves credit for Sunday’s win. His unit go after it and played an integral role in the team’s 22-point victory.
ILB Coach Mike Caldwell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Mike Caldwell’s linebackers were all over the place during Sunday’s victory. White and Lavonte David patrolled sideline to sideline with relative ease, controlling the middle of the field. The pair combined for 18 total tackles, two tackles for loss, three passes defended and an interception.
Like Rodgers, Caldwell was an imperative member of Bowles’ coaching staff in New York. He served as the team’s assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach for four years, then reprised the latter role under Bowles in Tampa Bay. Now, he’s a Super Bowl champion.
Trade gives Steve McLendon championship opportunity
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Steve McLendon (96) helps bring down Carolina Panthers running back Mike Davis during an NFL game on Nov. 15, 2020, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Defensive tackle Steve McLendon started the 2020 NFL season by playing in six consecutive losses. He’s hoping to end it on Sunday with eight straight victories.
If Tampa Bay adds one game to its winning streak when it plays the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, McLendon and the Buccaneers will be Super Bowl LV champions.
A former Carroll-Ozark and Troy standout, McLendon begin the 2020 season as the nose tackle for the New York Jets. The night before the Jets’ game against the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 18, McLendon found out he was being traded to Tampa Bay. He played against the Dolphins anyway.
After the game, McLendon got in a waiting car for the drive from Florida’s east coast to his new team on its west coast.
“Going into playing the Dolphins and I found out about the news, I was just like, ‘I’ll focus on that when I finish my task here,’” McLendon said. “I finished my task there, and when I got in that car and headed this way, I understood that I had an opportunity, and that’s all you could ever ask for.”
Tampa Bay acquired McLendon after Bucs nose tackle Vita Vea suffered a fractured ankle in the fifth week of the season. But even though Vea did not play again until the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24, Tampa Bay had the NFL’s stingiest rushing defense for the second straight season.
“Getting Steve McLendon was huge for us down the stretch, especially in stopping the run,” Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said.
The Jets went on to lose their first 13 games of the season and posted a 2-14 record for 2020. Tampa Bay qualified for a wild-card spot in the NFC playoffs with an 11-5 record, then reeled off three road victories in the playoffs to become the first team in NFL history to play at home in the Super Bowl.
“My first impression of this team was it was a veteran team that was building something really good here,” McLendon said. “They already had something good going on, and I just wanted to be a part of it. The biggest thing for me was I wanted to win a championship, I wanted to have an opportunity to win a championship, and when I found out about the trade, I was like, ‘I most definitely have an opportunity to go play in the championship game.’”
McLendon entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie and spent his first season on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ practice squad. In 2010, the Steelers cut McLendon three times, but he ended playing in seven games and going to Super Bowl XLV. But he didn’t play in the Steelers’ 31-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
In McLendon’s six seasons with Pittsburgh, the Steelers never had a losing record and had double-digit victories four times. McLendon joined the Jets in free agency after the 2015 season, and New York had a losing record annually during his time there. But McLendon looked at his tenure with the Jets as an opportunity to learn from the losses.
