Seahawks down 4, with 20 seconds left, and a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions. One yard was all they needed. But they didn’t get it. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler made one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history by picking off Seahawks quarterback Russel Wilson to win the game for the Patriots, ultimately making them Super Bowl 49 champions. It left every Seahawks’ fan in disbelief and every Patriots’ fan (and Seahawks-hater) in an explosion of emotion (trust me, I was one of them). But a lot happened before that final winning moment. Let’s see how it went down.

The first quarter featured a stalemate from both defenses as the score remained 0-0. The Patriots generated some offense as they brought their second drive down into the redzone, but Patriots QB Tom Brady threw a horrible interception right to Seahawks CB Jeremy Lane. Lane was hurt on the play and CB Tharold Simon was forced to work the slot receiver for the rest of the game. The Patriots exploited that as Simon was matched up against Patriot’s wide out Julian Edelman. Saying it was a “rough night” would be an understatement. With that being said, the Seahawks couldn’t take advantage of the Patriots mishap.

One quarter there were no points, and the next quarter there were 28 combined points. As NBC announcer, Al Michaels, would say, “You can’t make this stuff up.” The Patriots were first to strike as Brady redeemed himself by hitting wide receiver Brandon LaFell for an 11-yard touchdown. The lead didn’t last long as the Seahawks responded with 3 yard TD run by Marshawn Lynch with 2:22 left in the first half. The drive was aided with a a huge reception by Seahawks WR Chris Matthews. Matthews saw very little offensive playing time throughout the season and the play was actually his first catch, ever! The Patriots bounced right back and completed an 8 play, 80 yard drive by capping it off with a 22-yard TD strike to start tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronk was matched up against linebacker KJ Wright, and if you read my previous article you would’ve seen my first X factor was the Patriots TE. I said LB’s are too slow and safeties are too small to defend him. Well, the Seattle Seahawks should’ve taken a look at TheLodiRampage last week because Wright ended up being beaten badly for the go-ahead TD. Tisk, tisk.

With 31 seconds to go until Katy Perry took the stage, the Hawks were just looking to run out the clock. A big run by running back Robert Turbin made the coaching staff reconsider just taking a knee. Wilson hit WR Ricardo Lockette for a decent gain, but there were only 6 seconds left, so the field goal was inevitable……or was it? Wilson took to the air, again, hitting the secret weapon Chris Matthews, again, but this time for an 11 yard TD…..the first of his career. Unbelievably, the game was tied 14-14 at the half.

Seattle dominated the third quarter outscoring New England 10-0. The Seahawks initially went up 17-14 after a 27 yard field goal by kicker Steven Hauschka. On the next drive, Brady threw a pick right to middle line backer Bobby Wagner. The Seahawks took it down the field and scored on a three-yard TD from Russel Wilson to WR Doug Baldwin. The Seahawks led 24-14 with just 15 minutes left in the game.

As the 3rd quarter belonged to the Seahawks, the 4th belonged to the Patriots. To start off, Brady threw a 4-yard TD to Danny Amendola to bring it back to a one score game, 24-21. New England’s defense made a stand and gave Brady a chance to either tie the game of take the lead. The Patriots’ offense went on to produce a methodical drive down the field. Huge conversions on the drive were made by Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. With 2:02 left in the game, Brady hit Edelman on a beautiful route design for the TD. The Patriots took a commanding 28-24 lead, but the Seahawks weren’t finished. The first play from scrimmage resulted in a 31 yard pass to Marshawn Lynch. With 1:14 left in the game, Wilson fired deep to WR Jermaine Kearse who made a ridiculously lucky catch for 33 yards. The ball was tipped by Malcolm Butler and it somehow still landed in the body of Kearse who was able to reel it in for the reception. The next play was Lynch taking the ball all the way down to the one yard line. It was all set up for Seattle to win. Wilson dropped back, looked to throw…..INTERCEPTED!!! Ball game, over!

Many people debated why the Seahawks would throw it in that situation rather than give it to BeastMode, but that shouldn’t take any credit away from Malcolm Butler who made the game saving play. Patriots’ coach Bill Belicheck also has a lot to do with that play. After the Lynch run, anyone would’ve figured the Patriots would call a timeout to save time for their offense. Instead, Belicheck let the time run all the way down to 20 seconds. This put pressure on the Seahawks to get it in the endzone soon so instead of running it, they passed it. Belicheck had them right where he wanted them and the perfect defensive play call. All in all, it was a fantastic game and it will forever live in Super Bowl lore.