Texas Tech football: Lessons Red Raiders can learn from Super Bowl LIV
Your QB has to win the game for you, not just keep you in it
In Super Bowl LIV, Kansas City had a transcendent play-making QB leading the way while San Francisco had an efficient game-manager running its offense. In the end, this game came down to the fact that Mahomes was able to win the game while the 49ers’ Jimmy Garappolo was merely a bus driver who couldn’t elevate his team in the final quarter.
When the game was on the line, Mahomes made play after play against the best defense in football. He was able to scramble for first downs, avoid the relentless S.F. pass rush, and hit open receivers in key moments.
It was far from his best game. In fact, prior to the final seven minutes, he had played rather poorly. For much of the night, the S.F. defense flustered Mahomes and his receivers by putting pressure on him in the pocket and playing a single-high zone in the secondary.
But when the game got to winning time, Mahomes was able to take his game to a different level. After his INT on the first possession of the 4th quarter, he engineered three-straight touchdown drives (though the third was all on the legs of Damian Williams).
His 44-yard pass to Tyreke Hill on 3rd-and-15 was the game’s defining play. But Garappolo had a shot to change that.
After K.C. took a 24-20 lead, the S.F. QB missed an opportunity to potentially win the game when he overthrew Emmanuel Sanders, who was three or four yards behind the Chiefs’ defense. But Garappolo severely overthrew his receiver who was streaking down the middle of the field.
In the final three S.F. drives, Garappolo was just 3-11 for 36 yards and an interception. Though you could have argued that for the majority of the game he played as well as Mahomes, when the game was on the line, he couldn’t rise to the challenge.
That was so often the case for Texas Tech in 2019. Just about every week, Jett Duffey played well enough to give the Red Raiders a shot to win. But in games against Baylor, Kansas, TCU, Iowa State, and Kansas State, he couldn’t make the 4th-quarter plays necessary to carry his team to a win.
Moving forward, Tech has to find a QB who can carry the team to a victory by making key plays and putting up points when the game is on the line. Duffey proved to be a nice bus driver but in the end, he was like Garappolo on Sunday night in that he was only good enough to keep his team in the game, but not good enough to win games. In 2020, Tech has to find a QB who can deliver in the clutch, which is something this program hasn’t had since Mahomes left after the 2016 season.