SUPERBOWL XLIX: Seattle 'Throws' away Superbowl to New England

TOM BRADY Holds the Vince Lombardi trophy as New England are crowned SUPERBOWL Champions 

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 28 - 24 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS    

  

In what was one of the most incredible Superbowl`s of recent memory and possibly the Greatest of All-time too it saw the New England Patriots regain the title of ‘World Champions’ once again at Superbowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona with an amazing climax that will be talked about for many years to come and will go down in Superbowl folklore for the chance that Seattle threw away, literally.

 In a week where controversy has been about ‘deflate-gate’ in which the New England Patriots win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, come under scrutiny over a ball that was found to have been deflated and said to have favored the Patriots. Their opponents the Seattle Seahawks have that their own bit of controversy to. For a side like the Seattle Seahawks who aren't afraid to open their mouths and talk trash but that however couldn`t be said of Running-Back Marshawn Lynch, who has a history of refusing to speak to the media and his only quote he made all week was: ‘I`m only here because i don`t want be fined!’ a phrase that has fast become a sound bite and buzz phrase in US culture.

A total of 70,288 packed inside the University of Phoenix Stadium, in Glendale Arizona as the big kick off got underway it saw Tom Brady and his New England Patriots receive the ball first and them take up the majority of possession in the opening quarter of the game. The Patriots had managed to make it up to the Seahawks 10 yard line when Brady threw an attempted pass towards the end zone and saw Jeremy Lane of Seattle make an interception on his own goal line before running out-of-bounds to the 10 yard line.  It turned out to be the last act for Lane as his broke his wrist going out-of-bounds and his Superbowl moment turned from joy to despair in less than five seconds.

Seattle didn't manage to do much with their opening set of possession and as we went into the second quarter it saw the breakthrough in the contest, with the Patriots moving up field with a Danny Amendola catch for 17-yard followed by a 23-yard play by Julian Edelman on a 3^rd and 9. New England moved up closer to the Seahawks line and saw on a 2nd and 9 play, quarterback Tom Brady throwing an 11 yard pass to Brandon LaFell for a touchdown to put the Patriots up 7-0 with the extra point added.

The NFC champion Seattle Seahawks needed a response quickly as they hadn't shown anything in the way of scoring possessions saw them come up with nothing to show. That was till Russell Wilson managed to find some room on a 2^nd and 5 and his long throw up field saw Chris Matthews claiming a 44 yard catch down the right hand side and take the Seahawks up to the New England 10 yard line. A couple plays later and the Seahawks turned to ‘Beast Mode’ in the shape of Marshawn Lynch and he twist and turned his way over the whitewash with an outstretched arm for a 3 yard run to score a touchdown and get the Seahawks back in it at 7-7.

New England came back on to the field and for what looked like the final drive of the quarter with half time fast approaching.  Tom Brady started the drive off with throw towards Shane Vereen and he ran for a total of 26 yards to see the Patriots getting into field goal range with 32 seconds to go in the first half. The following play saw Brady spotting the movement of Tight-End Rob Gronkowski down the right sidelines and his pass was converted for a 22-yard touchdown to see New England 14-7 up. You would have been forgiven for thinking that the scoring was done for the opening half of the game, but Seattle had other ideas as Russell Wilson kept the Seahawks drive going after he evaded being sacked again and had him run out-of-bounds at the 40 yard line in the New England half.

Wilson then threw a 23-yard pass to Ricardo Lockette and with a face mask penalty called on Kyle Arrington it saw the Seahawks moving up towards the 11- yard line with just six seconds remaining. The following play saw Wilson throwing towards the end zone and picking out Chris Matthews who made the catch with two second on the clock and brought an unbelievable end to the half and tie the game up at 14 all going into the break.

The half time extravaganza saw Katy Perry as the headline act this year with support coming from American Rock Legend in Lenny Kravitz and hip-hop star Missy Elliott as they added to the traditional entertainment that only the National Football League can bring at this sporting event. The show piece entertainment saw the California-singer coming out on a massive walking Tiger and then featured her dancing with Beach Balls, Palm Trees and two Sharks to which one of them was out of sync with the rest and made for a show packed with fun, very entertaining and purely summed up the over the top Americana that come to expect at Superbowl.

Second half started with the defending Superbowl champions in the Seattle Seahawks getting the jump on their opponents as that score at the end of the half gave them a boost. It saw Chris Matthews making another fantastic catch up field to see the Hawks driving up field and when Steve Hauschka kicked over a 27-yard field goal for Seattle it saw the NFC champions taking their first lead in the game for a 17-14 score.  New England then took up the challenge that the Seahawks threw down to them at the start of the third quarter, it then saw an interception by Bobby Wagner off Tom Brady`s intended pass to Rob Gronkowski being picked off, as the Seahawks had the early momentum to start off with.

Marshawn Lynch then turned ‘Beast Mode’ once again for Seattle as he ran to the 4 yard line and then the following play saw Russell Wilson throwing to a wide open Doug Baldwin in the end zone and he gave them a touchdown, along with a unsportsmanlike penalty for gesturing of pulling his pants down and making an action. It saw the Score moved to a ten point game at 24-14 in favour of the Seahawks and the NFC champions were in charge.

No side in Superbowl history had ever come back to win from a ten points deficit before and so the task was compounded too with the fact the Seahawks had the best defense in the NFL too, so it made the task twice as difficult but if anyone could break that trend it could be Tom Brady and the Patriots. The Patriots thanks to Julian Edelman had New England up to the 5-yard line and a 1^st and goal saw Brady fake a pass before throwing towards Edelman in the end zone, but the pass was just too high for the Wide-Receiver after he had made a beautiful spin move to break free from his man and when the pass came in it was just out of reach.

Luckily for New England though, they capitalised on the next play with Brady finding Danny Amendola as he managed to take a catch under pressure from Earl Thomas and gave the Foxboro side a touchdown, which cut the lead to just three points and have the Patriots still in the contest with just 7.55 remaining.  Rob Gronkowski then took a catch and ran short of the Seahawks 30-yard line with the Patriots coming back at the champions now and made for a thrilling finale. New England then retook the lead when on a 2^nd and goal on the Seahawks 3 yard line, it saw Brady throw to the far corner where Julian Edelmann was wait to take the catch and helped put the Patriots 28-24 up with 2.02 remaining.

Seattle came back on the field knowing that nothing only but a touchdown would do now for them as they looked to defend their crown that they won last year at Superbowl XLVIII.  Russell Wilson then attempted a long throw up field towards Chris Matthews inside the 10-yard mark of the Patriots, but it was batted away to stop the catch from happening.  With the Seattle Seahawks gaining a 1st and 10 it saw Wilson scanning the field and finding Jermaine Kearse who went up for the ball with Malcolm Butler from the Patriots, only to see what some have dubbed a ‘Circus play’ as the play looked to be going dead, but Kearse managed to somehow engineer a catch using his legs to keep the ball alive and then grabbed the ball while on his back the whole time before he was bundle out at the 5-yard line.

Replays shown New England quarterback Tom Brady having a look of shock mixed in with annoyance, as thoughts much have played through the Patriots heads of previous Superbowl games, as back in 2008 at Superbowl XLII at the same venue as this year`s, it saw the ‘Helmet Catch’ by David Tyree that saw the Giants stop the Patriots having a 19-0 perfect season. Then roll on four years later for a rematch against the New York Giants and it saw another amazing play that saw Mario Manningham this time making a sideline catch and up there with incredible plays in Superbowl finals.

With less than a minute to play in an enthralling game between the two sides, it saw Marshawn Lynch back in to the thick of the action and saw him run to the 1-yard line before being brought down. However what followed will be the most talked about play in Superbowl XLIX and not only that, but the whole of the Superbowl itself. Seattle Seahawks was on a 2^nd and goal and what seemed certain to be a no-brainer and turn to Lynch who would power himself to a touchdown, would see the Patriots with not much time to respond and would practically guarantee a touchdown. Every one watching the game had already made the call and knew it was the only play to run at this precise point in the game.

So when the ball got snapped to Wilson he then threw it incredibly to Ricardo Lockette just inside the end zone and was sensationally intercepted by Malcolm , who had missed the tackle on Kearse that led to the Seattle player making the unbelievable catch but saw him making amends for it. The difference of emotions on the touchline was there for all to see, with Brady jumping up and down for joy at the play for the New England team and across the field it saw Richard Sherman for the Seahawks, for once at a loss for words and looked confused and distraught at the what just took place. With New England on their 1-yard line, it saw them hoping the Seahawks defense would move offside for move yardage and that was just what they did as Michael Bennett jumped the gun and all but sealed victory for the Patriots.

However that wasn`t end of the drama, as with 20 seconds left to go it saw the Patriots taking a knee to run the clock out and instead saw the Seattle side losing their composure and letting their frustrations taking over as it saw an ugly ending to the game and especially with Bruce Irvin from the Seahawks.  After it had all calmed down it saw Irvin being ejected from the game for his punch on Gronkowski and led to Seattle handing over their crown in a not so classy way to the new champions and puts the Patriots just two championships behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and one short of Dallas Cowboys to claim their 4^th title in 14 years.  

Tom Brady was named the MVP of Superbowl XLIX and is now tied with some of the greats like former quarterbacks Pittsburgh Steelers Terry Bradshaw and San Francisco 49ers Joe Montana in winning four Superbowl titles in their careers.

Malcolm Butler intercepts on the FINAL PLAY to see the Patriots Champs

New England Coach Bill Belichick said after asked if he thought he would get another Superbowl in his hands he responded.

“Sure did, with these guys. They`re a great team and got a lot of great players”.

When then asked about how concerned he was with being 10 points behind he said.  

“Not as much as i was about being 14 against Baltimore!”

Tom Brady was asked himself about being 10 behind at the start of the 4^th quarter, Brady jokingly said.

“It wasn`t the way we drew it up”. “Especially throwing a couple of picks didn`t help, but a lot of mental toughness and our team has had it all year.

“And we never doubted each other, so that`s what it took, that was a great football team we beat, I`m just so happy for our team.”.