We have reached halftime of Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs scored the game’s first points, coming on a field goal, but the Buccaneers then took the lead, as Tom Brady connected with tight end Rob Gronkowski for the first touchdown of Super Bowl LV.

Then the Kansas City defense made the first big play on the defensive side of the ball in Super Bowl LV, stopping Ronald Jones II short on a 4th-and-goal play. But struggles from the Chiefs offense limited what they could do in the first half, and their miscues and penalties mounted. The result? The Buccaneers enjoy a 21-6 lead at the break.

So while you settle in to watch The Weeknd, here are observations from the first half of Super Bowl LV.

The Buccaneers defense has figured some things out from Week 12

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Super Bowl LV is a rematch of a meeting back in Week 12, that got off to a completely different start. When these two team met in the regular season, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense exploded in the first quarter. Tyreek Hill racked up over 200 receiving yards in those first 15 minutes, allowing the Chiefs to build a 17-0 lead before the second quarter began.

Things were much different in the first half of Super Bowl LV. The Buccaneers found a few different ways to pressure Patrick Mahomes, forcing him to pull the football down on a few occasions and run rather than put the football in the air. In addition, the Buccaneers found some coverage looks in the secondary to bracket both Hill and Travis Kelce, making it tough for the Chiefs offense to get going in the first half.

Tom Brady has enjoyed time to throw, and has made the most of it

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In stark contrast to when the Kansas City Chiefs have the football, Tom Brady has enjoyed a good deal of time to throw so far during Super Bowl LV. On the Tampa Bay touchdown drive in the first quarter, a combination of maximum protection designs and quick concepts kept Brady clean in the pocket. That, coupled with the Buccaneers’ rushing attack, has kept the Kansas City defensive front guessing, leading to some opportunities for Brady to strike downfield. A prime example was the big connection from Brady to Mike Evans early in the second quarter, when Brady had time to find Evans working across the field from left-to-right.

What has Brady done with that time? Thrown three touchdown passes. Not too shabby for the first half of Super Bowl LV.

The Kansas City run game is a non-factor

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Given how the game played out in Week 12, this probably should not be a surprise, but so far the run game of the Kansas City Chiefs has not been a factor in this game. In the regular season meeting between these teams, the Chiefs did not take the bait from the Buccaneers defense. Rather than try and test the stout rushing defense of Tampa Bay, the Chiefs ran the ball just 17 times, even as they built a big lead.

So far, the Kansas City run game has not contributed much, and perhaps this was to be expected. The most explosive run plays from the Chiefs have come when Patrick Mahomes was either flushed from the pocket, or saw man coverage and pulled the football down to exploit the gaps in the defense.

With how Week 12 played out, this might continue into the second half.

The Tampa Bay run game has been critical

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While the Kansas City Chiefs were struggling to get consistency going on the offensive side of the football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were finding success both on the ground and in the air. Both Ronald Jones II and Leonard Fournette were finding creases against the defensive front of Kansas City. This was also something that we expected from this game, as Doug Farrar wrote this week that the Buccaneers’ run game might find ways to gain yardage on the ground against the Kansas City sub defenses.

Of course, the Chiefs defense made the first huge play of Super Bowl LV when they stopped Jones on a 4th-and-goal early in the second quarter. But given what the Buccaneers have done on the ground through the first two quarters, their run game could be critical in the second half. Doubly so if they continue to hold a lead deep into the game and try to salt away a Lombardi Trophy.

The speed from the Buccaneers defense could be their edge

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Something that has been evident from the first play of Super Bowl LV is just how fast the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense is. At all levels of the field the Buccaneers defenders are flying all over the field, and this is paying off in a multitude of ways. Up front, the Buccaneers are able to get pressure on Patrick Mahomes with their speed, often getting into the quarterback’s face with just four pass rushers.

Where it truly shows up is on the edges, and in the secondary. The Chiefs receivers have found it tough to get separation downfield, and the ability of Tampa Bay to get pressure with four is giving their defense a numbers in the secondary. Then any time the Chiefs try to test the edge, the linebacking duo of Devin White and Lavonte David are there to string out the runs, stopping them from getting going. Even speedsters such as Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman found it difficult to get to the edge and into the secondary when they had opportunities.

A prime example came before halftime, when the Chiefs faced a 3rd-and-6 in the red zone. Shaquil Barrett was able to flush Mahomes from the pocket, forcing the quarterback to simply throw the football away. The Chiefs would have to settle for another field goal to cut the Tampa Bay lead to 14-6.

Penalties are killing the Kansas City Chiefs

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In the first half of Super Bowl LV, a few critical penalties were called on the Kansas City Chiefs, and they really made life easier for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

First Chris Jones was flagged for a personal foul, which tacked on 15 additional yards for the Buccaneers offense. Then a holding penalty in the secondary erased what might have been the first turnover of Super Bowl LV, negating an interception by Tyrann Mathieu.

The most critical, however, was an offsides penalty on the Kansas City field goal block team. After a drive stalled the Buccaneers were forced to kick a field goal to take a 10-3 lead. But the flag on the play was for a defender lining up offsides, which turned 4th-and-5 into 1st-and-10.

On the next play, Tom Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for their second touchdown connection of the game, to give Tampa Bay a 14-3 lead.

Then before halftime, Brady took a deep shot to hit Mike Evans with just seconds left in the first half. Bashaud Breeland tripped up the receiver, drawing a flag for defensive pass interference. That gave the Buccaneers the ball deep in Kansas City territory, and on the next play Brady checked the ball down and a good run after the catch gave Tampa Bay a 1st-and-goal.

On that first down? Mathieu was flagged for DPI in the end zone on Evans, giving the Buccaneers a first down at the one-yard line. Brady would hit Antonio Brown on the next play for his third touchdown pass of the game. Making things worse was the fact that Mathieu was flagged for a personal foul after the touchdown, and the penalties continue to mount for the Chiefs.

Kansas City will need to tighten things up in the second half if they are going to pull out the win in Super Bowl LV. But given how the half ended, the frustration seems to be boiling over on their sideline. They have a long halftime show from The Weeknd to try and piece things together.

You can never count out Mahomes and the Chiefs

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When Tom Brady hit Rob Gronkowski with a touchdown pass to give the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a 14-3 lead, it looked like everything was going Tampa Bay’s way.

But as we have seen so many times before, that might be exactly where the Kansas City Chiefs want to be.

In their run to Super Bowl LIV the Chiefs trailed in both the Division Round and in the AFC Championship game, coming back both times to score victories. They also trailed in Super Bowl LIV to the San Francisco 49ers, but came back to win.

Then two weeks ago they trailed the Buffalo Bills by a 9-0 score early, only to score 21 unanswered to build a lead before halftime.

So it should not have come as a surprise to see that after trailing by 11, the Chiefs went right down the field to score before halftime to cut into the Tampa Bay lead.

When you have the talent on offense that the Chiefs do, sometimes trailing in a game is of little concern. It might be yet again for Kansas City as they look to come back and win Super Bowl LV.