New England Patriots Win Their Fourth Super Bowl; Tom Brady Legacy Assured
The New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to win their fourth Super Bowl with Tom Brady as quarterback.
Brady’s touchdown pass to Julian Edelman for a short yard goal with just over two minutes left in the game all but assured that Patriots their fourth Super Bowl victory in 15 years. The Patriots started the final quarter of the contest down by ten points to the Seattle Seahawks, who came into the game with an identical 14-4 record to the Patriots, who had broken open a game that was knotted up at 14 going into halftime with a touchdown and a field goal in the third quarter. Brady answered in the fourth with a short yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola prior to finding Edelman.
Brady was able to atone for an interception thrown to Seattle’s Jeremy Lane in the first quarter of the back-and-forth game that squelched a long first frame drive. The interception prevented New England from breaking the then scoreless contest. Brady would have to wait for the second quarter, where the Patriots and Seahawks would engage in a tit-for-tat scoring contest that saw Brady connect with Brady LaFell and Rob Gronkowski just as Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, who was trying to lead the Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowl victories, found Marshawn Lynch and Chris Matthews to tie.
In addition to cementing his place as one of the, if not the, greatest quarterbacks of all time and a sure first ballot Hall of Famer, Tom Brady broke Joe Montana’s Super Bowl record for touchdowns thrown by a quarterback during the Super Bowl with 11, according to Sports Illustrated. With four touchdowns thrown in this Super Bowl alone, Brady also took home his third Super Bowl MVP award, and became only the third quarterback alongside Montana and Terry Bradshaw to win four Super Bowls.
Much controversy surrounds this Super Bowl win for the Patriots. Some had called for the Patriots to be disqualified from the Super Bowl after it was discovered that footballs were used that were deflated by several PSI under regulation during their playoff game versus the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots defeated the Colts handily by a score of 45-7. While it is likely that the Patriots didn’t need an edge as they fielded a superior team, blame continues to be passed around with no consequence yet felt for the infraction. The NFL has investigated, but has yet to hand down any punishment.
