As Super Bowl 55 draws ever closer, co-founder of Peckham-based National Vintage League Chris Milner highlighted Tampa Bay’s defense as the key to overcoming the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Buccaneers will welcome last year’s champions to Raymond James Stadium for the much-anticipated climax of the 2020 NFL season.
Here across the pond, Milner said that everyone at the shop would be throwing their support behind the Florida franchise on Sunday.
He said: “We’re all supporting Tampa this weekend. We’re all going watch it in Tampa gear. It’s all Tampa all day baby.
“I think their defence gives them the edge. The Chiefs’ offensive tackles may be back, but I just think that Tampa’s defence is too sharp and that’s going to be the thing that tips the scales in their favour.
“You can’t keep Patrick Mahomes at bay. All you’ve got to do is take the opportunities when they come. I think Tampa’s defence equips them to take those opportunities more than Kansas’.
“This is the meeting of the two potentially greatest quarterbacks of all time.
“History might look back on this showdown as the one that made or broke one of these two quarterbacks’ legacies.
“If Tom Brady wins, he cements his legacy as the GOAT. Even if Patrick Mahomes goes on to win seven Super Bowls, he’ll never be able to say he beat Tom Brady.”
The Super Bowl is the biggest event in the calendar for football fans, if not all fans of American sport, and this year has had NFL fanatics reminiscing over the best moments in the game’s history.
Milner added: “My favourite Super Bowl memory was after I left the States – I didn’t know anybody and so I went and found a place to watch the Super Bowl at a random bar and I went in full Washington clobber.
“I walked in and there were three guys standing there, all Americans: one in Giants gear, one in Eagles gear and one in Cowboys gear. I walked up and I was just like, ‘it looks like you’re missing a member of your gang.’
“We watched the whole Super Bowl together and it was when Philly beat the Patriots. The Eagles fan was absolutely over the moon and it was a really nice moment to be able to share with three Americans after having lived in America for so long.”
Milner runs his business alongside fellow co-founder and Buccaneers superfan Hugh Coles, dressing NFL fans in the most coveted vintage merchandise they can get their hands on.
In Coles’ mind, there can only be one outcome by the time the UK crawls into bed in the early hours of Monday morning.
He declared: “Why are the Bucs going to win the Super Bowl? Because they have to win the Super Bowl.
“Nobody wants the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl! They won it last year, we’ve been waiting since 2003. We haven’t been to the playoffs since 2007.
“The idea that we are in the Super Bowl is the stupidest thing ever. In this meme culture where the stupidest idea wins, the Buccaneers have to win.”
Featured image credit: Sebastian Brinkenfeldt CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
