Super Bowl XLIX
Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks, 28–24. The game was played on February 1, 2015, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the second Super Bowl held at the stadium and the third in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
"2015 Super Bowl" redirects here. For the Super Bowl that was played at the completion of the 2015 season, see Super Bowl 50.
New England Patriots (1)
(AFC)
(12–4)
February 1, 2015
Pick 'em (even/toss-up)[1]
70,288[3]
Al Michaels (play-by-play)
Cris Collinsworth (analyst)
Michele Tafoya (sideline reporter)
72 (national)
$4.5 million[12]
Kevin Harlan (play-by-play)
Boomer Esiason (analyst)
James Lofton and Mark Malone (sideline reporters)
The Patriots' victory was their fourth overall and first since 2005's Super Bowl XXXIX, ending a 10-year championship drought. They finished the regular season with a 12–4 record en route to their eighth Super Bowl appearance, tying the record held by the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, and sixth under the leadership of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.[13][14] The Seahawks, led by their Legion of Boom defense, also obtained a 12–4 record and were making their third Super Bowl appearance, in addition to their second consecutive after winning Super Bowl XLVIII. As the defending champions, the Seahawks were seeking to become the first to repeat since the Patriots in 2004. For the second consecutive season, both teams were the top seed from their respective conference.[15]
Super Bowl XLIX was kept within a one-possession margin until Seattle took a 10-point lead in the third quarter. New England responded by scoring 14 consecutive points during the fourth to take a 28–24 lead with just over two minutes remaining. The game is most remembered for the Seahawks' last play, in which they threatened to score a winning touchdown from New England's 1-yard line, but were intercepted in the final seconds by Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. Butler's interception is regarded as one of the greatest plays in NFL history, and in relation to Super Bowl win probability, it is analytically the most important single play in NFL history.[16] In contrast, Seattle's decision to pass instead of run the ball is considered one of the worst calls of all time. Brady, who set the Super Bowl record for completions at 37, was named Super Bowl MVP for the third time, tying the record held by Joe Montana. Two years later, Brady would surpass both records in Super Bowl LI.
NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX set the record for most-watched program in American television history and is the fourth-most watched American television broadcast of all time, behind Super Bowl LVII, Super Bowl LVIII, and the Apollo 11 Moon landing.[17] The game was seen by an average of 114.4 million viewers, with it reaching to 118.5 million during the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show featuring Katy Perry[18] and peaking to 120.8 million during New England's fourth quarter comeback.[18] It is considered one of the greatest Super Bowls and was ranked eighth on NFL.com's 100 Greatest Games, the third-highest Super Bowl game.[19] Butler's game-winning interception was ranked fifth on NFL.com's 100 Greatest Plays, the highest defensive play.[20]
Entertainment[edit]
Pregame[edit]
Idina Menzel performed the national anthem and John Legend performed "America the Beautiful".[4]
Game summary[edit]
First half[edit]
After the first two drives of the game ended in punts, New England got the first scoring opportunity with a drive to the Seattle 10-yard line. However, on third-and-six, quarterback Tom Brady threw a pass that was intercepted by cornerback Jeremy Lane and returned to the 14-yard line. Lane broke his wrist and tore his ACL on the play when he tried to break his fall with his arm extended after being tackled by Julian Edelman, and subsequently missed the rest of the game. The game remained scoreless until New England's first drive of the second quarter, which began with Brady's 17-yard completed pass to Danny Amendola. Brady later completed a 23-yard pass to Edelman on third-and-nine, and eventually finished the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brandon LaFell.
Seattle began to make progress when Russell Wilson completed his first pass of the day, a six-yard completion to Jermaine Kearse on third-and-six and with 5:36 left in the second quarter. After a five-yard run by Marshawn Lynch, Wilson completed a 44-yard pass to receiver Chris Matthews on the Patriots 11-yard line, setting up Lynch's three-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Only 2:16 remained in the half after Lynch's touchdown, but the scoring was far from over. Brady completed 5/6 passes for 59 yards on New England's ensuing possession, the last one a 22-yard touchdown completion to tight end Rob Gronkowski with 31 seconds remaining. Taking the ball back on their own 20, Seattle started off their drive with a 19-yard burst from Robert Turbin and a 17-yard scramble by Wilson. Then Wilson completed a 23-yard pass to Ricardo Lockette, with a facemask penalty on defensive back Kyle Arrington adding additional yardage that gave the team a first down on the Patriots 11-yard line. Only six seconds remained until halftime at this point, but coach Pete Carroll decided to take a shot at the end zone rather than kick a field goal, a gamble that paid off as Wilson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Matthews on the next play, tying the game at 14 with just two seconds showing on the clock.[86]
Second half[edit]
Seattle took the second-half kickoff and drove 72 yards to the Patriots' eight-yard line, featuring a 15-yard run by Lynch and a 45-yard reception by Matthews. After Lynch was stopped on third-and-one in the red zone, Steven Hauschka finished the drive with a 27-yard field goal, giving Seattle their first lead of the game at 17–14.[87] On New England's next possession, linebacker Bobby Wagner's interception of a Brady pass and six-yard return gave the Seahawks the ball at midfield. Just as with their last interception, Seattle lost a key defensive player due to injury. Defensive end Cliff Avril lay on the field motionless. After finally getting to his feet, he entered concussion protocol and did not re-enter the game. Seattle's pass rush, particularly Bennett inside and Avril outside, had hurried Brady into several drive-ending incompletions as well as the first interception. "At times that night in the desert Bennett and Avril controlled the line of scrimmage almost by themselves."[88] With Avril out, the Patriots were able to double-team Bennett and give Brady more time in the pocket.
Following Wagner's interception, Seattle's offense took advantage of the turnover, driving 50 yards in six plays and scoring on Wilson's three-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin, who was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for an improper end-zone celebration.[89] This made the score 24–14, and it would remain this way going into the fourth quarter. Until this game, no team in Super Bowl history had come back to win after facing a fourth-quarter deficit of more than seven points.
With 12:10 left in the game, New England mounted a 68-yard drive to cut their deficit to 24–21 on Brady's four-yard touchdown toss to Amendola. The drive included two 21-yard completions from Brady to Edelman, the first one converting a third-and-14 in what was described by Bleacher Report as "the NFL's worst nightmare". Edelman was clearly concussed by Chancellor's helmet-to-helmet hit, "suffering an apparent brain injury, staggering around on the field in plain view of the biggest television audience ever, per Deadline.com, and receiving no treatment."[90] Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reported that "a medical observer was overheard radioing someone a second time saying Edelman needed to be examined."[91] "I thought he was going to go to sleep the way he was running," fellow Patriots receiver Brandon LaFell told Matt Pentz of The Seattle Times. Nevertheless, Edelman remained in the game and eventually caught the game-winning touchdown pass.
Following a three-and-out for Seattle, New England got the ball back on their own 32 at the 6:52 mark. Brady started off the possession with two completions to running back Shane Vereen for 13 total yards, and followed it up with a nine-yard pass to Edelman. Following a penalty against New England, Gronkowski caught a pair of passes that moved the team up 33 yards to the Seattle 19. Over the next three plays, Vereen rushed for seven yards, Brady passed to LaFell for seven more, and Blount ran the ball two yards to the three-yard line. Finally, with 2:02 left in the game, Brady gave his team a 28–24 lead with a three-yard touchdown toss to Edelman.[92]
After a touchback gave Seattle the ball on their 20, Wilson started off the Seahawks' drive with a 31-yard completion to Lynch. Then after two incompletions, he picked up another first down with an 11-yard pass to Lockette. The following play gave Seattle an opportunity to win the game. Wilson threw a deep pass down the right sideline to Kearse, who was covered by rookie reserve cornerback Malcolm Butler. Both players dove through the air for the ball, and Butler managed to deflect it with one hand, but the pass fell right into the hands of Kearse, who tipped it to himself and caught the ball while he was lying on his back. Butler managed to recognize the catch and recover in time to shove Kearse out of bounds as he got up, preventing a Seattle touchdown, but the play netted 33 yards and gave the Seahawks a first down at the Patriots' five-yard line with 1:05 left in regulation. Announcer Cris Collinsworth compared the play to two other acrobatic receptions by Patriots opponents that had defeated them in prior Super Bowls: David Tyree's Helmet Catch in Super Bowl XLII (which took place at the same stadium) and Mario Manningham's sideline catch in Super Bowl XLVI. Al Michaels also compared it to Antonio Freeman's famous Monday Night Football catch known as "He did what?" (a play that Michaels had himself called).