Every once in a while, a football game can take you on the ride of a lifetime. Super Bowl XLIX was one of those games. It had everything: lead changes, clutch plays, big hits, questionable calls, turnovers and even the most unlikely of heroes. It was as exciting as it was exhausting. I, for one, spent half the game nervously pacing around the room, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone. And at the end of it all, Malcolm Butler snagged an interception, Tom Brady took a knee, and the cannons shot red, white and blue confetti into the sky.
It’s hard to say exactly where this game ranks on the list of greatest sports games I’ve ever watched, but it is certainly in the top five. It was a true heavyweight battle that lived up to all the hype, and then some. There’s so much to talk about in this game, but I’ll start with the MVP: Tom Brady. Brady has a few brilliant postseason performances under his belt, including this year against Baltimore, but this one may just have been his finest, given the defense he was facing.
He was surgical on Sunday evening. Sure, he threw two interceptions, the first of which was inexcusable, but the rest of his performance was so good that it hardly mattered. The game plan was designed around immaculate timing and precision. The Patriots were determined to get the ball out of Brady’s hands as quickly as possible, and they executed brilliantly. He finished the game with a Super Bowl record of 37 completions on 50 attempts for 328 yards and four touchdowns. His 74% completion percentage ranks him in the top five of all-time great Super Bowl performances, and all of it came against one of the greatest pass defenses in league history. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo summed up Brady’s performance with the greatest quote to come out of the Super Bowl, “For him to do that – 8-for-8 on the final drive, right? – that’s as big as a moment gets. Obviously, he lives for that shit.”
With his fourth ring and third Super Bowl MVP, Brady is now tied with Joe Montana in both of those categories for most among quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. At this point, the greatest QB of all time debate is down to just those two guys. The Brady vs. Peyton Manning debate is over. Manning mustered just 280 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against this Seattle defense in last year’s Super Bowl, getting blown out 43-8. Obviously Seattle’s score had very little to do with Peyton’s play (though one of his INTs was returned for a touchdown), but his offensive performance pales in comparison to Brady’s. Brady now has four rings to Manning’s one and the conversation is over. Alas, there were more Patriots than just Tom Brady who played brilliantly in Super Bowl XLIX, so let’s get to them.
The best player in the game, and the guy who I think should have won the MVP award, was Julian Edelman. He caught nine passes for 109 yards, leading the Patriots, with two crucial first down receptions on third and long in the fourth quarter. He was constantly open and fought through some vicious hits without missing a snap. Brady needed his receivers to be at their best in this game, and Edelman certainly was. Another guy who was huge for Brady was, as I predicted, Shane Vereen. He led all receivers in the game with 11 receptions, accumulating 64 yards. While he didn’t have any huge gains, he was consistently able to beat the Seattle linebackers in coverage to give Brady a short passing option, and he even made a clutch one-handed grab on the Patriots’ game winning drive.
Defensively, it was a team effort for the Patriots. Darelle Revis had another patented shutdown performance, this time on Doug Baldwin, only allowing one reception, albeit for a touchdown, when he accidentally ran into the referee in the middle of the end zone. Vince Wilfork also deserves to be mentioned for repeatedly beating double teams to either hit Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, or open up space for someone else to do so. The defensive hero of this game, of course, was Malcolm Butler. He wasn’t the hero because he was great all game, but because he made the biggest interception in the New England Patriots history. His goal line interception with 26 seconds to go in the game saved the Patriots from falling behind by three without enough time on the clock to come back. He closed a five-yard gap between himself and Seattle receiver Ricardo Lockette and caught the football while simultaneously barreling over Lockette, a guy with three inches and twenty pounds on Butler. Is there anything more telling of how Bill Belichick builds his football teams than having an undrafted rookie out of a division II school (West Alabama) make the game winning interception in the Super Bowl?
Belichick now gets to put a sixth ring in his collection, four as a head coach, tying him with Chuck Noll for the most titles as a head coach in league history. There is no questioning that Belichick and Brady form the greatest coach-quarterback tandem in the history of the league. But this title goes beyond that and, in my mind, sets them both at the top of their individual positions. They’ve won four titles spanning 14 years being the only two people who were around for all four. Belichick overcame a complete turnover of his coaching staff while Brady overcame numerous overhauls of the roster. There’s only been one constant throughout their tenure with the Patriots: winning. These two guys are the best winners in the history of the sport, and we’ve all been lucky to have them here for as long as they’ve been. With Brady at 37 and Belichick at 62, they’re both nearing the end of their careers. They still have a few more chances to end all the debates by winning another, but it can’t last forever. So enjoy this championship, Pats fans, because guys like these only come around once in a lifetime.
Conrad's Corner Sports 