Super Bowl 2021 Live: Score Tracker and Stream Updates of Bucs, Chiefs

8 Feb 2021

The New York Times

Super Bowl 2021 Live Score Tracker and Stream Updates of Bucs Chiefs

The Buccaneers and Chiefs are in the first quarter of the game.

Benjamin Hoffman Reporting from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

It’s not surprising, but it is notable how audible the cheering (and taunting) of various fans is thanks to the smaller crowd. During Tampa Bay’s first punt, you could hear individual voices.

Kevin Draper

Patrick Mahomes is not a running quarterback like Lamar Jackson, but he scrambles quite effectively, including for a first down just now to keep the drive alive.

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:41 p.m. ET

Tom Brady’s first drive was a quickie: a 2-yard completion, a 3-yard run and an incompletion and Tampa Bay is punting 100 seconds into the game.

Patrick Mahomes: You’re on.

Kevin Draper

The Buccaneers returned the opening kickoff to the 23-yard-line, and the Super Bowl is underway!

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:36 p.m. ET

The Chiefs won the coin toss, but their captain, Travis Kelce, deferred until the second half, meaning the Buccaneers will receive the opening kickoff.

The coin-toss ceremony included a United States Marines veteran, a teacher and an intensive-care nurse from Tampa, who tossed the coin. Congratulations if you had heads in the evening’s first big prop bet.

Benjamin Hoffman Reporting from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

They did roll call cheers for the Bucs and Chiefs fans in the stadium, and Tampa’s presence was suddenly felt. They clearly have a sizable advantage.

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:33 p.m. ET

In her short but already momentous career, the 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman has accomplished a stunning series of firsts. At 19, she became the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate. Last month, when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Biden’s inauguration, she became the youngest inaugural poet in American history. And on Sunday, she became the first poet ever to perform for the Super Bowl.

Before the game, Gorman delivered an original poem titled “Chorus of the Captains” in a taped segment. Gorman wrote the poem to celebrate three people who were chosen as honorary captains to take part in the coin toss: Trimaine Davis, a Los Angeles teacher who helped his students get laptops for remote schooling; Suzie Dorner, a nurse in a Tampa who works with Covid-19 patients in an intensive care unit, and James Martin, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Pittsburgh who has worked to support veterans, high school athletes and young people in his community.

In a performance before the coin toss, Gorman paid homage to the honorary captains:

Today we honor our three captains

For their actions and impact in

A time of uncertainty and need.

They’ve taken the lead,

Exceeding all expectations and limitations,

Uplifting their communities and neighbors

As leaders, healers, and educators

Ever since she stole the show with a charismatic performance at the inauguration last month, Gorman has seen interest in her work soar. Her publisher announced that it will print three million copies of her upcoming titles, which include her debut poetry collection and a picture book. Barack Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Oprah Winfrey praised her on social media. IMG Models signed Gorman and will represent her for fashion and beauty endorsements.

Appearing at the Super Bowl will likely bring an even larger audience to her work. The N.F.L. contacted Gorman in November, when the league was trying to create a ceremony that would reflect the challenges the country is facing. It decided to open the game by celebrating people who have helped their communities through the pandemic.

“We knew that in order to honor them properly — and all of those across the country that they represent — we needed the right words that would match the power of that moment, and there’s no one more perfectly suited to bring those words to the world than Amanda Gorman,” Matt Shapiro, the N.F.L.’s vice president of events strategy, said in a statement.

At the end of her poem, Gorman cited the tireless work of Dorner, the intensive care nurse, as proof that “even in tragedy, hope is possible.”

We celebrate them by acting

With courage and compassion,

By doing what is right and just.

For while we honor them today,

It is they who every day honor us.

Benjamin Hoffman Reporting from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

There was quite a bit of emotion in the crowd for Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan’s rendition of the national anthem, with plenty of fans taking their face masks off to sing along.

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:25 p.m. ET

Doug Mills/The New York Times
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
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Capacity was reduced — but still real — at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. If you looked close, you could even pick out the humans in the sea of cutouts.

Benjamin Hoffman Reporting from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The similar color schemes make the crowd somewhat hard to read, but from the sound of the cheers it appears to be a healthy mix of fans for both teams, despite the Buccaneers’ playing at home.

Kevin Draper

In a video, President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, urged Americans to wear masks and get vaccinated when it is their turn. They held a moment of silence for those who have died from the coronavirus.

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:20 p.m. ET

The Kansas City Chiefs have banned fans from wearing Native American headdresses at Arrowhead Stadium, but fans continue to swing their arms in a tomahawk chop to celebrate their team’s success on the field. They did it again as the team ran onto the field Sunday.

Chiefs fans brought the chop, and its accompanying chant — a made-up war cry — to the Super Bowl on Sunday, just as they had at last year’s title game in Miami. The league piped the chant into the stadium as part of the pregame ceremonies.

To many Native Americans and others, the act is a disrespectful gesture that perpetuates racist stereotypes of the nation’s first people and embarrasses a city that fancies itself a hub of culture and innovation.

Kevin Draper

The Chiefs’ tomahawk chop chant was clearly audible on the television broadcast, and it followed a number of public service announcements and segments that urged unity and an end to racism.

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:10 p.m. ET

The N.F.L. didn’t just play football this season, it conducted an enormous coronavirus testing program: More than one million tests administered daily over a six-month period to more than 6,000 players, coaches and staff. For good measure, the Buccaneers and Chiefs were tested twice a day for much of the past two weeks.

While few organizations have the tens of millions of dollars needed to test every employee every day, let alone track their movements to see where they contracted the virus, the league learned lessons that could help scientists and other sports leagues.

For instance, the league’s testing partner, BioReference, initially used five different testing systems. Over time, the company learned which ones were the most sensitive to picking up the virus, which helped teams isolate players more quickly.

“We were really able to see some of the nuances and sensitivities of those diagnostic tools, which were quite new,” said Christina Mack, an epidemiologist who advises the league.

Scientists who try to predict how viruses travel through communities are eager to see the N.F.L.’s testing data to fine tune their models. Donald Burke, an epidemiologist the University of Pittsburgh, said the data could help him understand how long infected people have been in the community spreading the virus.

The N.F.L.’s data, including more than 700 positive cases over six months, “sound like an incredible way to figure out transmission patterns, which is still a dark art,” he said. “That’s plenty of cases to learn from and what went wrong and what didn’t work.”

Feb. 7, 2021, 6:00 p.m. ET

The list of inactives for the Super Bowl is out and there are no surprises: Every significant player that is even close to being healthy enough is on the active list and eligible to play.

Perhaps the biggest question marks were Buccaneers safety Jordan Whitehead and receiver Antonio Brown. Whitehead will reportedly be playing with a torn labrum in his shoulder, while Brown missed the N.F.C. championship game with a knee injury.

The only Chiefs player listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week, receiver Sammy Watkins, will play.

The most significant player missing the game is Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher, who made the Pro Bowl last season. Fisher has an Achilles’ tendon injury and was declared out on Friday.

#Bucs S Jordan Whitehead is going to play through a fully torn labrum in Super Bowl LV, source said, an injury that includes additional shoulder damage. Whitehead was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but practiced fully on Friday. He’ll play in pain.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 7, 2021

Feb. 7, 2021, 5:45 p.m. ET

With kickoff approaching, people are still getting their bets in on the Super Bowl, traditionally the biggest sports gambling day of the year. The Chiefs are favored by 3 points across many casinos, which means that at the end of the game, they would need to win by more than 3 points for those who bet on them to win their wagers.

Kansas City was actually favored by 3½ points for much of the week leading up to the game, but gamblers supporting Tampa Bay moved the line slightly, which is significant because it’s not uncommon for games to be decided by exactly 3 points.

The Chiefs are 3-point favorites today

Four of the last five teams to be favored by 3+ in the Super Bowl lost outright (Pats in 2012, Niners in 2013, Panthers in 2016, Pats in 2018)

The only team favored by 3+ to win in that span was the Patriots in 2017 https://t.co/lpKmwFcz0y
— ProFootballReference (@pfref) February 7, 2021

There are many other ways that people bet on the game, including small events within the game, like whether the opening coin toss will be heads or tails and how many catches a certain player might have, what the first play of the second half will be — a run or a pass — and how many combined total points will scored.

There are also wackier bets that are mostly out of bounds for Americans who are gambling in casinos licensed in the United States.

With some sports books based elsewhere, bettors can also wager smaller sums on things that will have nothing to do with the outcome of the game, like how long the national anthem will last and what will be said by the announcers.

There are some coronavirus-related bets this year, including what will be said first during the game, “mask” or “coronavirus,” with the latter being the heavy favorite.

Amanda Gorman, the national youth poet laureate, will recite before the game and you can bet on which team she might mention first. The Chiefs are the prohibitive favorite for that one, requiring bettors to lay $125 to win $100. And if you are so inclined, stick around after the game to hear the Most Valuable Players speech. Whom will that player mention first, teammates, the owner, God, family or coaches? It’s even money that it will be teammates, but a $100 bet will win back $225 if a religious figure gets the first mention.

Benjamin Hoffman Reporting from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The first loud cheer of the day came when a large contingent of Chiefs players — including Patrick Mahomes — jogged onto the field to warm up.

Feb. 7, 2021, 5:30 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan Keith Kunzig at the N.F.L. draft in 2018.Credit...David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Keith Kunzig, the Buccaneers superfan known as Big Nasty, was getting a pedicure with his wife when his phone pinged with an offer of a lifetime: two tickets, behind the team’s bench, for the Super Bowl.

“The credit card is melting right now,” he said. “But come on, this just doesn’t happen.”

Kunzig, 53, went to the Bucs’ last (and only other) Super Bowl, after the 2002 season, when they beat the Raiders in San Diego. Until this playoff joy ride, they hadn’t won a postseason game since. He is certain — certain — they win again Sunday, too. Why? Because omens abound.

He purchased his tickets on Monday, his late mother’s birthday. Then, as soon as he finished paying for a cardboard cutout of his late brother Kenny — known as Little Nasty — to appear in the stands, a friend texted him footage that aired on a Tampa-area news broadcast. It was of Kenny 18 years ago, at that Super Bowl. Kunzig started to cry.

Amid the euphoria these last two weeks, Kunzig — who answered the phone the other morning decked in red-and-white face paint — has perhaps reflected most on a photo he took back in September, when he was honored in the Ford Hall of Fans at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

There, he and his daughter posed in front of a sign proclaiming that no team had ever played a Super Bowl in its home stadium. Posting the photo on Facebook that day, she wrote that the Bucs — a year after going 7-9 — would be the first to do so.

They are attending the Super Bowl together, Kunzig and his prescient daughter. Her name is Destiny.

Feb. 7, 2021, 5:23 p.m. ET

CBS has placed the experience of Black N.F.L. players — including the refusal by many coaches to believe they could be effective quarterbacks — at the center of the network’s pregame show.

Roy Wood Jr., a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” narrated a segment about Marlin Briscoe, the first Black N.F.L. quarterback. (Briscoe made a handful of starts in 1968 before he was converted to wide receiver.) But Wood did not limit his criticism to the past: He also criticized the suggestion by at least one team that Lamar Jackson, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in college, would need to move to receiver to succeed in the N.F.L.

Another segment narrated by Viola Davis focused on the integration of Black players into the N.F.L. in the 1940s. After Davis’s segment, the CBS pregame host James Brown criticized the N.F.L., in unusually pointed terms for a broadcast partner, about the stagnant hiring of Black head coaches.

“Frankly, the track record is pitiful,” Brown said, adding, “But can we really attribute this to an issue of unconscious bias when the numbers tell an unambiguous story?”

Colin Kaepernick was mentioned only briefly in the segment, but he has a large presence in Tampa. Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream maker, released a “Colin Kaepernick’s Change the Whirled” flavor late last year, and the company has placed murals and billboards of Kaepernick around the Tampa area and in other cities for Super Bowl week.

Feb. 7, 2021, 5:16 p.m. ET

Anti-vaccine protesters shouted and waved signs at health care workers waiting in line to enter the Super Bowl.Credit...Zack Wittman for The New York Times

Some health care workers who won tickets to the Super Bowl had to pass a line of anti-vaccine protesters to enter the stadium.

The protesters, including a group dressed as referees, held up signs with false or dubious claims. None of the protesters was wearing a mask.

The group said they represented V is for Vaccine, a campaign undertaken by the Florida Freedom Keepers, who oppose the coronavirus vaccine, according to Joshua Coleman, a leader at the group.

“We’re just here trying to inform people about vaccine risks,” said Coleman, who was in town from Sacramento. Asked if the group opposed the vaccine, Coleman said: “It’s an experimental vaccine. We really don’t know how safe or how dangerous it is.”

The vaccines are widely considered safe and effective by scientists and medical experts.

Maggie Ellett, 24, said she was wary Sunday as she walked outside the Raymond James Stadium with her sister, Hannah Ellett, 23.

“Being in New York, everyone was wearing masks outside,” said Maggie, who works as a Covid-19 contact tracer. “When I was driving in an Uber to my hotel, I noticed groups of people not wearing masks. I just see the difference.”

The sisters, who both wore masks, were in Tampa to support their brother, Porter, who is an offensive quality control coach for the Chiefs. Maggie flew from New York and Hannah from Utah to attend the Super Bowl, though they said they would be watching the game from a hotel.

“I feel like there’s lots of signs telling people to wear masks, but a lot of people are ignoring them,” Hannah Ellet said as they stood on a sidewalk along Himes Avenue, which runs along the stadium’s eastern edge.

Feb. 7, 2021, 5:00 p.m. ET

In the United States, the game will be broadcast on CBS and streamed free on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app, which is available on various smartphone and streaming platforms (including iPhone, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and other smart TVs).

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will provide the commentary, as they did two years ago (last year’s game was on Fox). ESPN Deportes will provide coverage. CBS has already begun several hours of pregame programming.

Among the broadcasters worldwide are Seven Network (Australia), CTV (Canada), L’Équipe (France), DAZN (Germany), the BBC (U.K.) and Viasat Sport East (Uzbekistan).

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Eastern time — which is 5:30 p.m. Central time, 4:30 p.m. Mountain time and 3:30 p.m. Pacific.

Feb. 7, 2021, 4:45 p.m. ET

Mary Joseph, 60, brought a sign memorializing her brother to the game.Credit...Amaris Castillo

Mary Joseph isn’t at the Super Bowl for herself.

“This is why I’m here,” the 60-year-old Joseph said as she removed a hair tie from a rolled-up red poster she was carrying. It was decorated in wooden star cutouts and a cross. “For my brother. He passed. He said that the Bucs were going to the Super Bowl before he passed.”

Joseph, a St. Petersburg resident who transports patients for a living for Bayfront Health, was one of an estimated 7,500 health care workers who won tickets to attend the Super Bowl. The stadium will be only a third full, with about 25,000 seats sold. Vaccinated health care workers like Joseph are attending for free as guests of the N.F.L.

Her brother, Willie E. Lawrence Jr., died last June of an aneurysm and heart attack, Joseph said.

“This makes me happy to do this for him,” Joseph said proudly, adding that the Buccaneers shirt she was wearing had belonged to her brother. “He was a die-hard Bucs fan.”

As the line quickly moved to the Health Care Heroes check-in, Joseph chuckled when she recalled deleting the email notifying her she had won a ticket because she didn’t recognize the sender. Her workplace’s human resources department reached out to her immediately afterward, she said.

Johnson shyly admitted that she’s not into football as she approached the stadium check-in site.

“I came to represent him,” she said.

Feb. 7, 2021, 4:30 p.m. ET

President Biden refused to make a Super Bowl prediction during an interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News before the Super Bowl, but he did weigh in on the great national divide: Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady?

He called them “both great quarterbacks” before deciding he would “rather take a chance on the young guy,” referring to Mahomes, who is 25 (Brady is 43).

Biden, 78, called Brady old, before quickly backtracking: “Not old, but N.F.L. old.”

SUPER BOWL INTERVIEW: Pres. Biden sits down with @NorahODonnell for his first network interview since taking office.

Pres. Biden says it's time for "schools to reopen safely," adding that roughly 20 million kids not being able to attend school this year “is a national emergency" pic.twitter.com/enCZsSTwHR
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 7, 2021

Biden may be no Gerald Ford, who won college football national titles at Michigan, but he did play in high school and briefly in college, telling O’Donnell he played as a flanker back and briefly had dreams of professional football.

Biden confirmed the previously reported news that N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell offered the use of all 30 N.F.L. stadiums as mass vaccination sites, though he said officials working on vaccinations would have to decide whether each stadium made sense to use.

Feb. 7, 2021, 4:13 p.m. ET

The Super Bowl is not just a football game, but also a concert, a carnival and even a poetry reading.

The youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman — fresh off a star turn at the inauguration of President Biden — will read an original poem honoring “everyday heroes” during festivities before the game. Also performing will be Miley Cyrus, who has an energetic performance planned if her training regimen of singing while running on a treadmill is any indication.

Gabriella Wilson, better known as the R&B singer H.E.R., will sing “America the Beautiful.” Country star Eric Church and singer Jazmine Sullivan will team up for the national anthem. It is not known whether any players or performers will kneel during the national anthem or otherwise use the biggest stage in sports to protest against racism or police brutality.

The headliner, of course, is the halftime show, which will feature The Weeknd, surely performing his megahit “Blinding Lights” and a medley of other songs. The Weeknd said he spent $7 million of his own money to enhance the performance in some unknown way. Breaking with tradition during a Super Bowl played under unusual circumstances, he will not be singing from a stage on the field swarmed with fans, but instead one in the stands.