Kansas City Chiefs defender Bashaud Breeland explains past success against Tom Brady
Bashaud Breeland is ready to add another souvenir to his collection.
Shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs cornerback came up with an interception against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in 2019, he asked to keep the ball and then displayed it prominently inside his home. A year later, when he hauled in another pick against Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he did the exact same thing. His collection grew.
“Every player wants one of those,” Breeland said Tuesday during a Super Bowl video conference. “He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback like Drew Brees and those guys. So I got those put up as souvenirs. It was a great accomplishment. I had to keep those balls.”
You better believe he will treasure a third football if he can continue his hot streak against Brady and grab another interception against him in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Some defenders might not enjoy the challenge of playing against Brady. He’s played in nine Super Bowls and many call him The GOAT because he throws touchdowns much more often than interceptions.
But Breeland is not intimidated. Not even a little bit.
You could say he has Brady’s number based on their past two meetings, both of which ended as Chiefs victories on the road.
What’s his secret?
“It’s really my teammates that allow me to make plays and my coach that puts me in the best position be really be able to perform,” Breeland said. “My teammates doing what they’re supposed to do allows me to do what I need to do for us to win those games. Tom Brady is an exceptional quarterback. It’s an honor to have two interceptions against him in my career, but I wouldn’t say I have his number. I made the plays when he allowed me to.”
Breeland is confident Kansas City can once again create problems for Brady in this game.
It might not be easy for the Chiefs to defend pass-catchers like Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Scotty Miller, Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski. After all, Brady did throw for 345 yards and two touchdowns against them in November. But they also intercepted him twice and held Tampa Bay to 21 points.
“We just press,” Breeland said. “A lot of teams press, but they don’t really press the type of style that we do. So I really feel like that is one aspect that can really help us slow them down, especially in a time when we are going to be using our size to go against their size.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 10:08 AM.