1. Monday, January 21, 2002
TUCK­RULE GAME
Pats bask in the afterglow
Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­ ​Author: ​DAVID PEVEAR Sun Staff
FOXBORO ­­ After a glorious Saturday night when Foxboro
Stadium glowed like you imagine angels wings must glow,
when the stadium lights reflected dreamily off falling snow
thick enough to catch by the mouthful (but not thick enough
to keep Adam Vinatieri's kicks from their appointed rounds),
the wrecking ball will bring a tear or two after all.
Standing cold and quiet, Foxboro Stadium passed into NFL
history late yesterday afternoon, some sixteen hours after
seeing its wildest hour.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' 27­10 stomping of the Baltimore
Ravens means the AFC road to Super Bowl XXXVI will go
through Pittsburgh, and not down along Route 1.
As your star­kissed Patriots prepare for the AFC title game in
Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon, the wrecking ball is poised
to strike down any day now that faithful old dog of a stadium
with bad plumbing.
You never thought you'd be sad to see this day.
But after seeing what you still can't believe you saw Saturday
night, an unearthly 16­13 victory over the Oakland Raiders,
won in overtime following a 10­point fourth­quarter rally in a
blinding snowstorm (which caused a traffic jam from hell but
only 272 no­shows), this new gadget of Bob Kraft's, CMGI
Field, better be worth it.

2. "I'm telling you the place was full right up to the end,"
marveled Patriots coach Bill Belichick during a conference
call yesterday afternoon. "I imagine anybody who attended
last night's game will remember it for a long time. It was a
special one."
Belichick and his staff were stuck in the stadium for 2 1/2
hours afterward, and amazingly were not watching film.
"We enjoyed the win around here in the office a little bit," he
said. "In all honesty, as we looked outside (at the traffic) it
didn't look like there was any rush to leave. At 2:30 (a.m.), it
was still backed up. We hung out here a while, enjoyed it,
then made our way home."
After a few hours to sleep and reflect, Belichick called Adam
Vinatieri's 45­yard field goal which tied the game 13­13 with
27 seconds left in the fourth quarter the greatest field goal
he's ever seen "because of the conditions and what was at
stake."
Remember, Belichick was a Giants assistant when Matt Bahr
won the 1990 NFC title game with a final­play 42­yarder to
beat the 49ers, 15­13. But there weren't four inches of snow
on the ground in San Francisco.
Belichick also called the controversial call that referee Walt
Coleman (the anti­Dreith) made on Tom Brady's apparent
season­ending fumble ­­ which Coleman reversed into a
harmless incompletion after watching the video with 1:43 left
in the fourth quarter ­­ "absolutely the (correct) call."
"As soon as I saw the replay (on the scoreboard), I said there
was no way they cannot call that an incompleted pass," said
Belichick, surer than the many fans who started to get up to

3. leave. "The ball was not tucked back in there. That's why I
sent the offense back out there (during the replay review)."
Belichick yesterday referred to "page 12, under article 2,
section 21, note No. 2," which he said stated clearly that any
intentional forward movement with the ball by the
quarterback is not a fumble, even if he loses it trying to tuck it
back into his body.
"If he tucks it into his body, then loses possessions, it's a
fumble," said Belichick. "The way I saw the play, I didn't see
the ball tucked into his body."
Belichick said the same ruling went against the Patriots
earlier this season when Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde
appeared to fumble, but it similarly became an incompletion.
"All I can tell you is what's in the rule book," Belichick said.
"We all saw the play. You can interpret it anyway you want
to."
With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Brady said after the
game that he was trying to pass at the time the ball was
knocked loose by blitzing Oakland cornerback Charles
Woodson. He could have saved himself the trouble of lying.
Coleman said that intent had nothing to do with the call. It
was all about the arm coming forward.
"He was trying to tuck the ball, and (Woodson) just knocked it
out of his hand," said Coleman. "His hand was coming
forward, which makes it an incomplete pass ... He has to get
it all the way tucked back in order for it to be a fumble."
As Coleman announced the ruling, fans who had started to
leave to beat the traffic, scrambled back to their seats, barely

4. in time to see Vinatieri's for­the­ages tying kick five plays
later.
Belichick yesterday said that he scrapped about a third of the
gameplan because it wasn't working in the snow. He and
offensive coordinator Charlie Weis pulled out a short­passing
plan they used during a 13­10 overtime victory in a Buffalo
blizzard last season.
The plays weren't specifically designed with the Raiders
defense in mind, but they worked.
Brady finished 32­of­52 for 312 yards, with tight end
Jermaine Wiggins making 10 catches for 68 yards (he had
only 14 catches the entire regular season) and David Patten
making eight catches for 107 yards.
"I give (Brady) and the receivers credit," said Belichick. "They
did a good job throwing it and catching it in those conditions.
It wasn't all play­calling."
The Steelers winning yesterday was the first thing beyond
their control not to go right for the Patriots in several weeks. It
raises concerns whether the greater forces at work may have
been overworked, and Patriot fumbles will remain fumbles
from here on.
Or will the magical mystery tour continue all the way to
Bourbon Street?
​Monday, February 4, 2002
PATRIOTS’ FIRST SUPER BOWL TITLE
Patriots: Against All Odds

5. Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­ Monday, February 4, 2002
Author: ​DAVID PEVEAR Sun Staff
NEW ORLEANS ­­ New England Patriots players frolicked in
a confetti shower as Superdome workers began rolling out
the giant victory platform as soon as Adam Vinatieri's 48­yard
game­winning field goal touched down in dreamland.
Patriots owner Bob Kraft and his son Jonathan jumped wildly
as the ball split the uprights, then in a tight embrace nearly
tumbled together out of their booth.
A few St. Louis Rams players flung their helmets across the
turf in disgust, their invincibility shattered by the better
football team ­­ a 20­17 fact that this morning some
Americans undoubtedly still had difficulty accepting.
"It's a dangerous thing for a favorite when nobody gives that
other team a shot," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady,
Super Bowl MVP one season after being a fourth­string
quarterback. "And nobody gave us a shot."
Yes, it must be said that the New England Patriots were the
better football team than the St. Louis Rams last night,
because fact is no football team is better than the New
England Patriots.
They are the Super Bowl champions.
New England Patriots. Super Bowl champions.
Two terms that you thought would somehow never connect
were linked in the franchise's 42nd season of existence by a
commitment to total togetherness.

6. Such an endearing approach delivered to New England its
first major sports pro sports championship since the 1986
Boston Celtics and probably its most unexpected
championship ever, coming as it did after a 5­11 season in
2000 and a 1­3 start to this season, which began with the
non­believers wondering if Bill Belichick was simply a loser
as a head coach.
"The best deal I ever made was getting this guy," said Kraft,
who gave up a first­round draft pick for this coach, who
escaped Bill Parcells' shadow as victories mounted and the
improbable became probable.
When Vinatieri's 48­yarder lifted the Patriots to a 20­17
victory over the heavily favored Rams in arguably the
greatest Super Bowl ever played (the first ever decided on
the final play), it was indeed a triumph of will and teamwork
over sheer talent.
Though they don't consider it an upset, the Patriots together
here last night in Super Bowl XXXVI forged probably the
biggest Super Bowl upset since the Jets over the Colts in III
and the Chiefs over the Vikings in IV.
They came into the game as 14­point underdogs. "The
underdog is now top dog," said Brady, smiling.
A Wheaties boxes already made up for the occasion ­­
proving that somebody believed a Patriots victory possible ­­
was delivered to strong safety Lawyer Milloy as he stood at a
podium being interviewed after the game. "I made the
Wheaties box. That's sweet," he gushed, his jaw dropping
and his eyes widening over being pictured on the Breakfast
of Champions.

7. Defying the NFL's pregame Super Bowl routine, the Patriots
had stuck to their routine. Their defensive players refused to
be introduced individually after the Rams' offensive players
had strutted individually for the cameras. The Patriots came
out as one.
"It's not an individual thing for us," said Patriots linebacker
Tedy Bruschi, "and we weren't going to change just for the
Super Bowl."
"This is the ultimate team sport," said Milloy. "We showed
that to all the young kids out there running around. If you
believe in the guy next to you, you can win the ultimate
prize."
Brady won the Cadillac as the MVP after passing for only 145
yards, 220 fewer yards than did the Rams' Kurt Warner.
Really, there was no MVP in this game. There were only
Patriots.
Vinatieri is the one who hit the winning field goal. Troy Brown
is the one who had the 23­yard reception that put the Patriots
in long field­goal range. Jermaine Wiggins is the East Boston
kid who made the six­yard catch to make the game­winning
kick a stronger possibility. Brady is the former fourth­stringer
who drove the team 53 yards in nine plays in 1:21 with no
timeouts.
And the Patriots defense is the one­for­all that refused to be
introduced individually, and for a while looked as if it would
beat one of the greatest offense's ever assembled with little
help from its own offense. The defense forced three
turnovers that were turned into the Patriots' first 17 points.

8. "The whole team is the MVP," said Brady. "It's going to be
the team car."
The Super Bowl pregame and halftime shows were filled with
patriotic themes as America's greatest sporting spectacle
reflected the nation's mood following the tragic Sept. 11
awakening. So it was perhaps patriotic that the team calling
itself the Patriots won the game.
"The fans of New England have been waiting 42 years for
this day," said Kraft, the former season­ticket holder who
bought the team in 1994, after he accepted the Vince
Lombardi Trophy. "We are World Champions.
"The fact that our players and coaches at this time in our
country when people are banding together for a high cause
... we're proud to be a symbol of that in a small way," added
Kraft. "We are all patriots. And tonight the Patriots are world
champions."
"America was founded by Patriots who were underdogs
trying to make their own country," said Bruschi. "And we were
underdogs against the Goliath St. Louis Rams."
Really they have never bought into being a Cinderella or a
Team of Destiny or even an underdog. They only bought into
each other and their common belief that they were a good
football team.
And now they're simply the best.
Monday, February 4, 2008
FINISHING 18­1

9.
Patriots' final chapter was a horror story
Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­
Author: ​David Pevear , dpevear@lowellsun.com
Eighteen and one is pretty good. But unfortunately it is not
history. It does not even make the 2007 Patriots a champion.
In four hours' time last night, the Patriots fell from the
Greatest Team Ever to a Super Bowl runner­up. Only the
three Super Bowl rings Bill Belichick's team has won this
decade will prevent the word "choke" from slinking into
conversations about the shocking events in Glendale, Ariz.
"The bond we have will always be there," said Patriots
linebacker Junior Seau. "We came up short. We realize that."
Having known only victory this season, Belichick could not
stand to witness the final second of near­perfection. The
Patriots coach glumly acknowledged New York coach Tom
Coughlin and fled a Giant commotion ahead of Eli Manning's
final kneel­down on New York's stunning 17­14 victory in
Super Bowl XLII.
When Fox reporter Chris Myers asked Belichick what he
could say to a team that was perfect until last night, the
genius succinctly summed it up.
"Well, we're disappointed," said Belichick.
The record­breaking 2007 New England Patriots in the end
were slightly imperfect.
And stoppable after all.

10.
"(We) probably need time to reflect on the game and
season," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. "But it is
disappointing. It is not something any of us was prepared for.
You do go into a game knowing that some team has to win,
some team has to lose. We're usually on the better side of
those three­point wins."
Was this the biggest upset in the history of the Super Bowl?
Not according to the point spread. But certainly on the shock
o' meter this outcome is on a par with Jets quarterback Joe
Namath's guaranteed victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III.
Patriot haters will attribute it to Giant toughness and to moral
justice being served as a result of Spygate. The Patriots in
their vulnerable state can expect gleeful shots being lobbed
at them. Pile­on time is here. The Belichick Patriots have
gone three seasons without a ring. The Manning Dynasty has
replaced the Belichick­Brady Dynasty atop the football world.
Peyton Manning ended New England's 2006 season in the
AFC title game on his way to winning the Super Bowl. His
little brother Eli ended the Patriots' 2007 season last night in
the Super Bowl.
Belichick apparently never got to spend quality time in this
Manning's head. Eli shooed away the scary man from the
start. His game­winning 13­yard touchdown pass to Plaxico
Burress with 35 seconds remaining one­upped even the
ultra­cool Brady on football's biggest stage.
Everyone agreed the Giants needed to pressure Brady to
win. But nobody really thought the Giants could pressure
Brady to the extent that they did last night. Brady was
smacked, sacked and hurried by a New York defensive line

11. that pushed around a Patriots offensive line boasting three
Pro Bowlers.
The highest­scoring team in the history of the NFL scored 14
points in the biggest game of these Patriots players' lives.
Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, a Grafton,
Mass. native and Springfield College grad, can now probably
have any NFL head coaching job he wants. His game plan
for last night belongs in Canton in a glass case beside the
one Belichick drew up as a Giants assistant 17 years ago
before New York shut down Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills.
"We just didn't get the ball in the end zone enough," said
Brady, who completed 29 of 48 passes for 266 yards,
including a 6­yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss to put the
Patriots up 14­10 with 2:42 left. "Fourteen points is our lowest
total of the year and it got us beat."
Give Burress his due. Whether bothered by a sore ankle, a
sore knee or the burden of his 23­17 predicted victory, the
Giants' big­play receiver had only one reception for 14 yards
entering the final minute last night. Patriot fans were thinking,
"When will these big­talkers ever learn?"
Burress finally backed up his smack, burning Ellis Hobbs (no
surprise there) for the winning score.
And just before their latest batch of champagne went flat, the
1972 Miami Dolphins raised a toast to perfection
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Top 10: The craziest moments in Pats history
Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­
Author: ​David Pevear , dpevear@lowellsun.com
Adam Vinatieri this, Bill Belichick that.

12.
The dull half of the Patriots' story.
Fans have since July 1 logged on to patriots.com to examine
a ballot loaded with last­minute field goals and landmark
moments, all part of the celebration of the Patriots' upcoming
50th season. Voting on the Top 10 Moments in Patriots
history ends Aug. 1.
I dutifully voted online.
But history is such a long time. The Patriots being the NFL's
model franchise still sometimes seems preposterous to those
who recall when this model franchise defined dysfunctional
and bizarre.
To fully appreciate the memorable moments ­­ which tilt
heavily toward Belichickian confetti ­­ a counter "Bottom
10/Ridiculous 10" Moments is probably necessary.
These are my respectful suggestions, in chronological order.
Many ridiculous moments occurred in close proximity to top
moments. Such was the yin and yang of the survival saga
launched by an under­funded and overdrawn former
sportswriter from Lowell, determined to give us a pro football
team to cherish.
Sept. 22, 1968 ­­ The nomadic Patriots play a home game in
Birmingham, Ala. Their opponent is the Jets, whose
quarterback Joe Namath starred at the nearby University of
Alabama. Patriots patriarch and Lowell native Billy Sullivan
figures the location will be good for the gate. The game at
Legion Field draws 29,129 fans, all rooting for Namath and
the Jets, who prevail 47­31.

13.
Jan. 30, 1969. ­­ Eighteen days after helping to devise the
plan that stunned the Colts in Super Bowl III, Jets assistant
Clive Rush is hired to be the Patriots' head coach. Sullivan
chooses Rush over Chuck Noll, soon to be a dynasty­builder
in Pittsburgh. At a press conference a few days later, Rush
grabs a microphone and ZAP! A five­second electrical shock
nearly saves him from the misery that follows ­­ a 5­16 record
before he resigns with an irregular heartbeat.
July 31, 1971 ­­Remember when good players did anything
they could not to play in New England? In his first practice
after being acquired from the Cowboys, running back Duane
Thomas refuses coach John Mazur's instruction to get into a
three­point stance. A wonderful talent adverse to discipline
and instruction, Thomas prefers the two­point stance. He
doesn't budge, and is immediately sent back to Dallas, where
he had been the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year the
previous season, prompting a contract dispute. The Patriots
invent a story about Thomas failing his physical.
Dec. 18, 1976 ­­ Roughing the passer. A rough call at a
rough time sinks a team as talented as any of the Patriots
championship teams of this century. But watch the replay,
folks. Ray Hamilton hits Ken Stabler in the head. Ben Dreith
didn't have to throw his yellow flag. But at least it provided
Patriots fans a quarter­century of self­pity about a Super
Bowl title that should have been, until the Tuck Rule evened
the score.
Dec. 18, 1978 ­­ Moments before a Monday night game in
Miami, Sullivan storms into the locker room and suspends
coach Chuck Fairbanks. The owner is incensed that
Fairbanks, the Patriots' best coach pre­Parcells, agreed to
coach the University of Colorado the following season, even
as the dysfunctional Patriots are headed to the playoffs.
"We're a fatherless child," All­Pro guard John Hannah says.
Fairbanks is allowed to return to coach the talented team's

14. first­ever home playoff game 13 days later ­­ a 34­14 loss to
the Houston Oilers.
April 30, 1985 ­ On draft day, the Patriots overreach their
brain capacity. They trade the 16th overall pick to the 49ers
in a two­picks­for­three swap. Now choosing 28th in the first
round, the Patriots take Trevor Matich, who will prove a
serviceable offensive lineman during his 12 NFL seasons,
best used as a long­snapper. With the "Patriots'" pick, the
49ers take the player who has scored the most touchdowns
in NFL history. The Patriots didn't think Jerry Rice was fast
enough.
Jan. 26, 1986 ­­ Hallelujah! The Patriots are in the Super
Bowl for the first time. They are the first team to win three
road playoff games to reach the NFL's ultimate game. They
end a 19­year Orange Bowl jinx along the way, squishing the
fish. Now the bad news: Bears 46, Patriots 10. The next day
the team acknowledges it has a cocaine problem.
Nov. 23, 1986 ­­ Not sure if this has happened to anyone in
the NFL before or since. Wide receiver Irving Fryar gets into
an auto accident during a game in which he played. Fryar
separates his shoulder, then leaves Sullivan Stadium without
the team's permission. A few miles down the road, Fryar
drives into a tree during the third quarter of a 22­19 victory
over the Bills. (Picked from an array of Fryar incidents.)
Sept. 17, 1990 ­­ Patriots tight end Zeke Mowatt allegedly
dares Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson to touch his private
parts while she is interviewing his teammate Maurice Hurst.
Teammates Bob Perryman and Michael Timpson allegedly
join in. The Patriots and owner Victor Kiam, who calls Olson
a "classic bitch," attract worldwide attention as an
embarrassment to civilization ­­ and then they finish 1­15.

15. Jan. 26, 1997 ­­ Hallelujah. The Patriots are in the Super
Bowl for the second time. Once again, the game is in New
Orleans, but their coach is in a New York state of mind
before kickoff. Intent on shopping for the Jets' groceries, Bill
Parcells doesn't even fly home with his team after its 35­21
loss to the Packers. This leads to the Pete Carroll three­year
interruption before Bill Belichick quits as "HC of NYJ"
moments before his introductory press conference. Belichick
flees Parcells and builds a model franchise in New England.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Patriots quiet the skeptics
Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­
Author: ​David Pevear , dpevear@lowellsun.com
FOXBORO ­­ Its blue­chip performance for more than a
decade prior to that crash in Kansas City made it wise to wait
another week or two before dumping your Brady & Belichick
stock.
Patriots 43, Bengals 17
Just so to be absolutely, positively, no­doubt­about­it certain
that the Patriots were no more.
And sure enough, after five days of mind­numbing talk about
how great the Patriots used to be, the Patriots on Sunday
night summoned the fight for which Bill Belichick's teams are
famous, yanking hysterical New Englanders back from the
window ledges.
Quarterback Tom Brady ­­ the recently declared
"over­the­hill" Tom Brady ­­ completed 23 of 35 passes for

16. 292 yards and two touchdowns as the Patriots knocked off
the previously unbeaten Cincinnati Bengals, 43­17.
"Well, that was obviously a satisfying night tonight," said
coach Belichick.
While one win does not constitute a lasting recovery, neither
did a 2­2 start punctuated by a nationally­televised 41­14
debacle mean that New England's Great Post­Dynasty
Depression was upon us.
On a nice fall night for football, Belichick had his hoodie
pulled on. So you knew his Patriots meant business. The
setting was punctuated with frequent chants of "Brady!
Brady!" from a crowd that roared like it was 2004.
"(Brady) came back strong and showed them that he's still a
young buck and has a lot left in his tank," said Patriots tight
end Rob Gronkowski (6 receptions, 100 yards, 1 TD).
Gillette Stadium also seemed to get its mojo back: Bengals
quarterback Andy Dalton overthrew open receivers in the first
half. Bengals tight end Jermaine Gresham dropped a
touchdown pass.
Meanwhile, the Patriots' previously wobbling offense exuded
great purpose during a game­opening 10­play, 80­yard drive
to a 7­0 lead. It seemed like the liveliest drive since 2007.
Yes, given time, Brady can hit whatever targets his bosses
choose to provide him, so kudos to his ridiculed offensive
line. The Patriots also rushed for 220 yards, which is always
a sure way to lighten the load on a quarterback who too often
shoulders too much of the burden.

17.
Brady's bounce­back night included a 17­yard touchdown
pass to tight end Tim Wright, the former undrafted free­agent
from Rutgers acquired in the August trade that sent guard
Logan Mankins to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Belichick
preaches to his players to ignore the "noise" swirling beyond
the walls of Fortress Foxboro. But it seemed Belichick
scripted this particular response to the invective about his
personnel moves not providing Brady proper support: Who
needs Mankins to block when you have Wright to catch (5
receptions, 85 yards)? Wright's touchdown put New England
up 14­0 with 3:12 left in the first quarter.
"(We) ran the plays we ran," Belichick said about Wright's
breakout game. "Tom hit the guys that were open. Plays
aren't designed to go to one receiver."
Danny Amendola even had a catch in this game, his first
since Week One. And it came not long after Amendola's
return was deemed "questionable" because of a head injury
that had the wide receiver walking sideways to the sideline.
Like these 2014 Patriots, Amendola's bearings were
restored.
During New England's second TD drive in the first quarter,
the 37­year­old Brady became the sixth quarterback in NFL
history to surpass 50,000 career passing yards. The other
quarterbacks on that list are Brett Favre, Peyton Manning,
Dan Marino, Drew Brees and John Elway. That is certainly
more fitting company for Brady than the Geno Smiths, Jake
Lockers and Josh McCowns with whom he has been
associating near the bottom of the 2014 NFL passer
rankings.
"Well, we were in first place going into the night (tied for first
in the AFC East), so things weren't all that bad," said Brady.

18. New England's defense bent and broke and scrapped. In the
end, New England's defense, after being humiliated in
Kansas City, held the Bengals to 17 points.
"The best way to answer (critics) is to win," said Patriots
defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. "If we were sitting here
undefeated, everybody would be blowing smoke (about) how
great we are. That's why we don't pay attention to anything
outside of here."
The night's most reassuring sight came after the Bengals
scored early in the third quarter to cut New England's lead to
20­10. Brady & Co.'s response to restlessness in the crowd
was a 10­play, 86­yard drive, culminating with a Gronkowski
16­yard touchdown catch.
On the ensuing kickoff, Brandon Bolden forced a fumble and
Kyle Arrington scooped it up and scored for a 34­10 lead.
As Belichick is certain to say, now it's on to Buffalo. While
this victory Sunday night had great restorative powers, it was
still just one victory that improved New England to 3­2.
As fans filed into Gillette Stadium before the game, the giant
video board showed for a while the Denver Broncos running
roughshod over the previously undefeated Arizona Cardinals.
Let's not kid ourselves. Now that is an offense.
But given time to throw, Brady is still good enough to make
do with what he has been given ­­ 220 rushing yards always
help, too
Monday, February 2, 2015
Greatest Super Bowl in history solidifies the Brady­Belichick legacy

19. Sun, The (Lowell, MA)​ ­
Author: ​The Lowell Sun
It was the greatest Super Bowl ever played, won by the
single­minded team featuring pro football's version of the
Greatest Story Ever Told ­­ Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Legacy update: Totally off the charts.
Duck Boat update: Ready to roll. Pump up the snow tires. A
fourth Lombardi Trophy is coming home.
Deflategate update: Who the heck cares?
Ten years is a long time in the normal course of living. In
football years, 10 years is more aging than in doggie years,
no matter how much avocado ice cream a quarterback eats.
But 10 years after his most recent championship ring, Brady
on Sunday night at age 37, taking his third shot at a fourth
title, led the Patriots to two storybook touchdown drives in the
fourth quarter to deflate the defending champion Seattle
Seahawks, 28­24, in Super Bowl XLIX.
It was left to the Patriots, the team America hates, to stick a
shining gold star on the NFL's season to forget off the field,
demonstrating on the field why America unconditionally loves
the NFL.
His football immortality secured regardless of the heartache
to which he seemed headed in this game, Brady's two
fourth­quarter drives against THAT defense were the finest
moments of his career.

20. He joined Terry Bradshaw and his boyhood idol Joe Montana
as the only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls, and
Montana as the only quarterbacks to win three Super Bowl
MVP awards.
Brady was 37 of 50 for 324 yards and four touchdowns,
including 8­for­8 on the go­ahead drive, which culminated
with a 3­yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman with 2:02 to
play.
"I never put myself in those discussions. That's not how I
think," Brady said about the greatest­ever­QB talk about to
go turbo.
Belichick meanwhile joined Chuck Noll as the only head
coaches to hoist four Lombardi Trophies.
Yet it was an undrafted rookie cornerback out of Division 2
West Alabama whose last name also begins with "B," and
who was in there only because nickel corner Kyle Arrington
was having a difficult time, who made this latest Brady and
Belichick history­making possible.
Malcom Butler?
Another demonstration of why football is the ultimate team
sport.
Moments after victimized by an improbable juggling 33­yard
catch by Seattle's Jermaine Kearse that sent unsettling
thoughts of David Tyree racing through New England, Butler
intercepted a Russell Wilson pass from the 1­yard line to
keep all the Brady and Belichick stories from being rewritten.

21. "I just had a vision I was going to make a big play and it
came true," Butler told NBC's Michele Tafoya on the field
afterward. "I'm just blessed. I can't explain it right now."
It seemed evening­out time for the Patriots for all the funny
bounces and near misses of their two Super Bowl losses to
the New York Giants. With the ball on the Patriots' 1­yard line
and Seattle seemingly bleeding the clock until Marshawn
Lynch would no doubt slam in for the winning score ... Wilson
passed. Butler intercepted. On the sideline, Brady jumped for
joy.
Patriots owner Bob Kraft said he never thought another
Super Bowl title could feel as good as the surreal first one 13
years ago in New Orleans. But in unspoken reference to the
NFL's accusations that the Patriots doctored their footballs'
air pressure prior to routing the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC
title game, Kraft on the victory stand said this one was just as
good.
When NBC's cameras peeked in on Kraft and his son
Jonathan Kraft early in the fourth quarter, they had blank
stares which suggested they had seen this Super Bowl movie
twice before. The Pats trailed 24­14.
The magic earlier this century of three Super Bowl titles in
four years seemed gone. There was a nagging feeling the
Patriots hadn't turned their early edge in this game into
enough points. The Seahawks were the reigning Super Bowl
champs, and the team with the NFL's best defense, which is
almost always the team that wins these things.
But then came the touchdown drive nobody saw coming
against a Seattle defense that seemingly had flipped the
switch to nuclear.

22. And then another touchdown drive. Brady at his all­time best.