The sensation of the day occurred in Tampa Bay, where Los Angeles beat the pawn of the defending champion, stopping at the same time the course of Brady, in search of an 8th coronation.

Aged 44, what future awaits the stainless quarterback with seven rings?

"I haven't given it much thought. So we're just going to take it day by day and see where we are," he replied at a press conference, leaving doubts hanging over him.

In the meantime, it is the Rams, with a championship title gleaned in 2000, who will face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the national conference final.

A home game in the brand new SoFi Stadium where the Super Bowl will also take place on February 13.

The Rams can therefore dream of playing it in front of their public, like the Buccaneers last year at Saint-James Stadium, with the title at the end, by beating Kansas City.

Brady had then given a lesson to his designated successor Patrick Mahomes, confirming that he remained the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time), the greatest player of all time.

Vain recovery

But after a high-flying 22nd regular season, then an excellent first round of play-offs at the expense of the Eagles, the quarterback lived a nightmarish Sunday for a long time, as he has rarely known, before reacting like a champion.

Because the end of the game was crazy.

Led 27-3, the Bucs made a fantastic comeback with three touchdowns in fifteen minutes, including the second on Brady's only winning throw, 55 yards long which found Mike Evans.

Until then, his afternoon had been hell: enormous difficulties with the pass, an interception conceded, three sacks suffered, penalized by the referees for having expressed his anger after a foul against him not whistled - evidenced by his cut lower lip.

And if Tampa Bay was able to come back up, it was also thanks to Leonard Fournette, who managed two runs in the area at the end of the 3rd quarter and 42 seconds from the siren.

But a "hallelujah" pass from Matthew Stafford got the Californians close enough for Matt Gay to pass his shot between the posts for the victory, with... three seconds remaining.

Final rebound of a meeting that Los Angeles has long mastered, piercing the defense of the Bucs three times, on two other passes from Stafford for touchdowns from Kendall Blanton and Cooper Kupp, before the quarterback went to register one at the race.

Hard for Josh Allen

Later, in front of their fans, the Chiefs got their qualification on a touchdown from Travis Kelce.

Decisive, because the rules, known as "sudden death", give victory to the first team to score in overtime.

Patrick Mahomes had just delivered there, his second winning pass of the evening, almost four hours after opening the scoring in the race.

The Chiefs quarterback delivered a beautiful distance duel with that of the Bills, Josh Allen, exceptional, author of four throws concluded by four touchdowns from Gabriel Davis, the first receiver in history to achieve such a performance in the play-offs.

Patrick Mahomes celebrates the Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Buffalo Bills in the conference semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri on January 23 JAMIE SQUIRE GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

His last two occurred in the last 73 seconds of regulation time, to allow Buffalo to regain the lead each time (29-26 then 36-33).

A mind-blowing money-time, during which Tyreek Hill has meanwhile put the Chiefs in front (33-29), Kansas City snatching the extension of a 49-yard shot from Harrison Butker, after coming up the field in ten seconds , on two Mahomes laser passes.

The latter can dream of a third final in three years, but his Chiefs will have to beat Cincinnati in the final of the American conference next Sunday.

© 2022 AFP