Patriots Overcome Big-Catch Deflation to Capture Another Title

  Scott Soshnick

  

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots celebrates after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 during Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium on Feb. 1, 2015.

Photographer: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Tom Brady looked, well, deflated.
The New England Patriots’ quarterback, who on this same patch of grass seven years ago lost his bid for a perfect season and a Super Bowl championship, stared at the giant video screen from the sideline and shook his helmet-less head in disbelief.
It was happening again. A miraculous catch, the kind that had Seattle’s players mouthing “Oh My God” and their boss, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, staring from his owner’s box with mouth agape -- David Tyree then and Jermaine Kearse now -- was going to keep the Patriots from winning it all. It was going to keep Brady from his fourth title in six tries. It was going to wreck everything.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Brady, who was named the Super Bowl’s
Most Valuable Player after completing 37-of-50 passes for 328 yards in his team’s 28-24 win over the defending champions, a victory secured by a goal-line interception in the waning seconds that had Seahawks coach Pete Carroll explaining why Beast Mode didn’t carry the ball.
Brady’s Seattle counterpart, Russell Wilson, threw the football high and far for the 6-foot-1 Kearse, who was being defended by 5-foot-11 Malcolm Butler. They jumped. The ball hit their hands simultaneously and bounced up as both fell down. Then the football, the subject of so much attention because of Deflategate, hit the receiver’s left leg, right leg, right hand and, then finally, he caught it.
“Great concentration,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “It was a tremendous catch.”

Beast Mode

The Seahawks had the ball, first-and-goal, at the 5-yard line. A carry by 5-foot-11, 215-pound Marshawn Lynch, known as Beast Mode because of his punishing running style, put the football within one yard of the goal line and his franchise three feet from becoming the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Patriots in 2004 and 2005.
“We were right there,” said Wilson, who passed on second down. “To kind of waste that play,” Carroll said.
This time Butler made the catch. The rookie stepped in front of the intended receiver, intercepted the ball, sent the New England sideline into a tizzy and made Super Bowl champions of the Patriots.
“I feel good,” Butler said after the game at the University of Phoenix Stadium, site of Super Bowl XLII, when Tyree cemented his place in Super Bowl and New York Giants lore by pinning the football to his helmet on the game-winning drive. “I made a play to help my team win. I’ve worked so hard in practice and I just wanted to play so bad and help my team out. I got out there and did exactly what I needed to do to help my team win.”

Surprise Pass

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said he was “a little bit surprised” the offense didn’t run the ball on the goal line. “What I would have done is irrelevant at this time,” he said. “It was an unfortunate play.”
Carroll said New England’s defensive alignment didn’t lend itself well to a running play.
“If we score we do, if we don’t, then we’ll run it in on third and fourth down. Really, with no second thoughts or no hesitation in that at all. And unfortunately, with the play that we tried to execute, the guy makes a great play and jumps in front of the route and makes an incredible play that nobody would ever think he could do.”
Brady’s 37 completions set a Super Bowl record. He also tossed two interceptions against a defense that allowed the fewest points in the National Football League the past three seasons. It’s the third MVP for Brady, equaling the record of his boyhood idol, Joe Montana, who won four titles with San Francisco, site of next year’s Super Bowl.
“I’ve got a lot of football left,” said Brady, who will be 38 at the start of next season.
Tarnished Legacy?
Patriots owner Robert Kraft was asked about tarnished legacies because of Deflategate, which centered on New England’s use of softer-than-allowed balls in their American Football Conference title game victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
“We won today, 28-24,” he said. “Our people didn’t touch the balls.”
Brady said Belichick spent this past week telling his players, over-and over, to “ignore the noise and control what you can control.”
“Do Your Job” is the coach’s motto. The Patriots did theirs, said Brady, long after the game had ended, still shaking his head in disbelief.
“We put a lot into it,” he said. “Yeah, I’m tired.”