(USA TODAY Sports)
The game was over. The Seattle Seahawks were staring at 2nd-and-goal on the New England Patriots’ one-yard-line with 20 seconds left trailing 28-24. Marshawn Lynch would punch the ball in because that’s the only thing Marshawn Lynch does. The Seahawks would win back-to-back Super Bowls. Tom Brady would lose his third.
That’s how Super Bowl XLIX was supposed to end.
Of course, we know this morning that script didn’t reach the Patriots undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler, who jumped Russell Wilson’s 2nd-down pass, literally stealing victory from the jaws of defeat. Butler’s play won New England a fourth Super Bowl title, and there are people calling it the best play in Super Bowl history. It very well may be the greatest play, but we are only beginning to see the ripple effect of that interception.
Butler rewrote history Sunday night for both teams. That play didn’t just win a Super Bowl.
It solidified Tom Brady’s legacy
Brady was down 10 points heading into the fourth quarter, facing what was being called one of the greatest defenses the NFL has ever seen. Brady went 8-for-8 on the Patriots final drive, which ended with a touchdown to Julian Edelman with 2:02 remaining.
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Brady put the game in his defenses hands. He wouldn’t set foot on the field again, and fair or not, much of his legacy was out of his hands. If Butler doesn’t pick off Wilson, how is Brady remembered? Touchdown Tommy would still hold a place near and dear to the Boston faithful but to the rest of the world, the veneer has worn over the past 10 years.
Brady started his career winning three titles in four seasons. He was for all intents and purposes, golden. The next 10 years saw him return twice to the biggest stage, and fall both times. Brady was on the precipice of losing a third Super Bowl in as many trips. This time, it would be on the wings of deflated footballs and controversy.
But Butler intercepted that pass.
Now, Brady has won four Super Bowls like Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw before him. No one is talking about age, or wear, or deflation. Only about his incredible fourth quarter comeback.
(USA TODAY Sports)
The Legion of Gloom
The impenetrable Seattle defense fell apart Sunday night. All of the talk, all of the swagger – all of it seemed pretty hollow in the fourth quarter. Before the Seahawks even had the opportunity to throw the ball away on the goal line, Seattle had the chance to stop the Patriots in their tracks.
Instead, the Legion of Boom blew a 10-point lead.
Butler’s interception solidified that, but even if Seattle had won this game, they would have done so on the power of their offense and not the strength of their defense. Coach Pete Carroll will be blamed for his boneheaded play call at the end, as he should, but the game was lost before then. It was lost when the Seahawks secondary couldn’t figure out Brady’s dinking and dunking over the course of four quarters, and failed to make a stand on New England’s final drive.
The Seahawks defense finished their abysmal fourth quarter by starting a brawl instead of staying onsides, which in many ways, is fitting. At the end of the day, Seattle went out in style over substance.
(USA TODAY Sports)
You don’t come back from this
Dynasties in the NFL are a myth. They don’t exist. Players are paid too well and salary caps are too small for teams to retain all of their talent. Too many players can get paid leaving rather than staying. It’s true for New England, Seattle, and 30 other teams in the NFL.
That’s what made Seattle’s return to this game so impressive, and so rare. The Seahawks were on the cusp of the first true dynasty since the Patriots in the early 2000s. Seattle has the talent and the youth.
Now they have some hard decisions.
Wilson is about to sign a massive contract extension. Seattle already locked up Earl Thomas III and Sherman last year. So where does that leave Lynch?
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Remember that the heart and soul of the Seahawks’ offense sat out the start of preseason over contract negotiations. He’s due a non-guaranteed $7 million in 2015. He’ll also be 29 in a few months. Does Seattle reward him as they will Wilson? And if they do, what type of impact does that have on the rest of the roster? After the last year’s Super Bowl, Seattle cut Chris Clemons and Red Bryant, lost receiver Golden Tate, cornerbacks Brandon Browner and Walter Thurmond, defensive tackle Clinton McDonald and tackle Breno Giacomini to other teams, traded receiver Percy Harvin, and put 15 players on injured reserve.
The turnover is impossible to stop.
The same goes for New England. Brady will be 38 at the start of next season. Ask Peyton Manning how difficult being 38 in the NFL. This could very well have been the last time Brady is in a Super Bowl. If that’s true, he’s going out on top, regardless of what the next season brings.
(USA TODAY Sports)
There isn’t a quarterback in this generation more accomplished. There isn’t a duo that can rival what Bill Belichick and Brady have done. And for all that went into the Patriots’ season, one play changed the narrative. One moment rewrote history.
