It is funny to watch how some people are twisting the history of the KC AFCCG game to make it fit their own confirmation bias when it comes to Tom.
The reality is that the entire postseason run in 2018 was a full team success from the first game to the last. Nobody carried any game by themselves or even stood out particularly.
Specifically against the Chiefs it was the defense which until the third quarter shut out a historic offense -- which is in the top 10 DVOA all time -- and the running game which gave us control over the clock resulting in a 42min:22min advantage. Special teams often nailed the Chiefs deep in their own territory and the passing offense closed the game out. Everyone contributed, that is what made this game so very satisfying.
But closing out doesn't mean carrying. Without the margin of error that the defense provided by denying the Chiefs any points we would have never overcome a -2 turnover differential. Without control of the clock via the run game the Chiefs offense would have had 2-3 more shots at scoring.
And yet somehow certain people keep bringing this game up as some kind of signature game for Brady when he didn't really deliver more than any other group on the team. Again, yes, they closed out the game in OT but even that was nowhere near the masterclass and total control like against Atlanta.
They got through by the skin of their teeth. And it was awesome.
I'd say that during the 2018 (2019) playoff run, the aspect of play that had the best performance consistently throughout the playoffs was the running game.
vs. LAC: 34 att, 155 yds, 4.6 avg, 4 td
vs. KC: 48 att, 176 yds, 3.7 avg, 4 td
vs. LAR: 32 att, 154 yds, 4.8 avg, 1 td
TOT: 114 att, 485 yds, 4.3 avg, 9 td
I mean, that's pretty impressive. But every unit did its job at one point or another. Clearly the defense was awesome in the first halves of all three games, especially in the KC game. But they played less than great in the second half of both the LAC and KC games. Brady did have big passing numbers, and he started like a house on fire against LAC, and obviously had huge, clutch throws in the KC game and on the TD drive in the Super Bowl. But he wasn't *great* in the last two games, with the bad turnovers along the way. The secondary got lit up by KC in the second half but played great against the Rams. The pass rush had its moments.
You're right...it was a total team effort where every unit contributed. I'd still say that the most consistently good unit during that run was the running game (not sure if it's called a "unit" or a phase or aspect of the game, but you get what I mean).
