By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
On February 1, 2015 in the University of Phoenix Stadium, the New England Patriots (14-3) coached by Bill Belichek and with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel met the defending champion Seattle Seahawks (14-4) coached by Pete Carroll.
New England was led by quarterback Tom Brady who passed for 4109 yards and 33 touchdowns and had a 97.4 passer rating. They were led in rushing by Shane Vereen (391 Yards, 2 TDs) and Jonas Gray (412 yards, 5 TDs).
Brady’s favorite receivers were Rob Gronkowski (1124 yards, 12 TDs), Julian Edelman (972 yards, 4 TDs) and Brandon LaFell (953 yards, 7 TDs).
Their defense was led by Jamie Collins with 74 tackles and Rob Ninkovich with eight sacks and the place kicker was Stephen Gostkowski who made 35 of 37 field goal attempts.
The Seahawks offense was directed by quarterback Russell Wilson who passed for 3475 yards and 20 touchdowns for a passing rating of 95.0 and rushed for 849 yards and 6 touchdowns.
The leading rusher was Marshawn Lynch (1306 yards, 13 TDs) and Wilson’s main receivers were Doug Baldwin (825 yards, 3 TDs) and Jermaine Kearse (537 yards, 1 TD).
Defensively, K. J Wright with 73 tackles, Earl Thomas with 71, Bobby Wagner with 67 and Kam Chancellor with 60 tackles in addition to Michael Bennett with 7 sacks and Bruce Irvin with 6.5 sacks led the team while place kicker Stephen Hauschka converted 31 of 37 field goal tries.
The game opened with a scoreless first quarter but both teams got on the board in the second quarter.
The first scoring play of the game was an 11-yard touchdown play from Tom Brady to Brandon LaFell. The extra point was good and the Patriots lead 7-0.
The Seahawks answered back on a three-yard TD run by Marshawn Lynch set up by a Russell Wilson to Chris Mathews 44-yard pass play. The extra point was converted and the score is 7-7.
Then just before halftime, Tom Brady compiled a 22-yard TD pass to Rob Gronkowski and the Pats lead 14-7 with 36 seconds left on the clock.
The Seahawks weren’t done as Russell Wilson, with the help of a face mask penalty, moved his team down the field and completed an 11-yard TD pass to Chris Mathews and the teams went into their locker rooms with the score knotted at 14 each.
The Seahawks did all of the scoring in the third quarter as Stephen Hauschka kicked a 27-yard field goal and Russell Wilson directed his team to a TD as after starting at the New England 41 yard line. He alternated runs between himself and Marshawn Lynch to get to the New England three-yard line and completed a TD pass to Doug Baldwin and Seattle led 24-14 after three quarters.
The two teams battled in the fourth quarter until the Patriots scored on a four-yard TD pass from Brady to Danny Amendola which was set up by two 21-yard completions from Brady to Julian Edelman and the score is 24-21 Seahawks.
Then in one of the more exciting finales in Super Bowl history, with 2:06 left in the game Brady connected with Julian Edelman for a three-yard TD play and after Stephen Gostkowski kicked the extra point the Patriots led 28-24.
Seattle got the ball and with 1:14 left on the clock, Wilson connected with Jerome Kearse on a 33-yard play to set up a first and goal at the New England five-yard line with 1:05 left in the game.
Marshawn Lynch rushed for four yards to the one yard line. The Seahawks need only to go one yard and they win the game and had three tries to do it with one of the most punishing running backs in the NFL in Marshawn Lynch to do it.
And the top rushing quarterback in Russell Wilson as an alternative.
But a pass play that had worked earlier in the game in that situation and coach Pete Carroll called for it again, but this time Malcolm Butler made the interception and New England ran out the clock to win their fourth Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era 28-24.
Tom Brady got his third game MVP and New England was back in 2017 while Seattle has not been back to the Super Bowl.
Statistics for this article were from football-reference.com
