Super Bowl XLIX: Brady Leads Second Half Comeback, New England Patriots Win

Quarterback Tom Brady led the New England Patriots through a second-half comeback to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona.

Brady and the Patriots took the win Sunday after entering the fourth-quarter with a 10-point deficit, but a three-yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman with 2:02 left help put New England over the top.

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson drove Seattle down to the New England 1-yard-line, but was ultimately intercepted by Malcolm Butler with 20 seconds remaining to deny the Seahawks the championship. It would have been Seattle’s first repeat NFL championship in a decade.

The win was the fourth Super Bowl title for New England under the leadership of Brady head coach Bill Belichick, who tied former Steelers coach Chuck Noll with the most Super Bowl wins by a head coach. Brady, who took his third Super Bowl MVP trophy, set a Super Bowl record with 37 completions and finished with 328 yards passing in addition to four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Brady also became only the third quarterback in NFL history to win four Super Bowls and only the second to win three Super Bowl MVP awards.

As the Patriots ran out the clock, players on both sides fought and Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin was ejected. Minutes later, New England players were celebrating on the same field where their 2007 unbeaten season was ruined in the Super Bowl by the Giants. They were also defeated by the Giants in 2011.

Brady started New England’s rally with a 76-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola. With New England within field goal range with 7:55 remaining, they took the score to 24-21, Seattle.

Brady’s two fourth-quarter touchdown passes gave him 13 over six Super Bowl games, passing his childhood idol Joe Montana, who held the old record of 11. Montana is also the only other quarterback to win three Super Bowl MVP awards.

The teams got down to football under the open retractable roof at University of Phoenix Stadium — the first venue to host an indoor and an outdoor Super Bowl — after dealing with distractions far beyond the typical Super Bowl hype. The Patriots are being investigated for using under-inflated footballs in their 45-7 win over Indianapolis in the AFC championship game.

Jeremy Lane made the first big play to negate a nearly eight-minute drive by the Patriots with a leaping interception at the goal line late in the first quarter. Lane, a third-year backup Legion of Boom member, made his first pro interception. However, he ultimately had to leave with a wrist injury after being tackled by Julian Edelman.

His replacement, Tharold Simon, got torched by Brady for much of the remainder of the contest.

While Wilson didn’t get off a single pass in the first quarter, Brady completed his record 50th postseason TD throw in the second quarter. It was 7-0 in the second quarter.

Then Seattle rallied to a 24-14 lead in the third quarter on Hauschka’s field goal and Baldwin’s touchdown catch from Wilson. New England was looking shook, but Brady once again took charge.

“It was a lot of mental toughness,” Brady said. “Our team has had it all year. We never doubted each other, so that’s what it took.”