Super Bowl XLIX was a great game. It was back and forth the entire game and came down to a goal line drive to end the game. However, the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in a way no one thought they’d be able to: they passed the ball. Everyone, including myself, thought they were going to have to run the ball up the middle to have a shot. Well, the Patriots proved everyone wrong once again.
LeGarrette Blount, someone I thought had an outside chance of winning Super Bowl MVP, ran the ball 14 times. The Patriots only called 19 run plays all together. Against Seattle’s vaunted secondary, known as the Legion of Boom, Tom Brady threw the ball 50 times. That number is astounding considering how good their secondary is. Brady ended the night completing 37 of those attempts for 328 yards, two interceptions, and four touchdowns. To put that in perspective, no quarterback had more than two touchdowns against this defense since Week 2. Tom Brady threw four. So how did he have so much success through the air?
To start things off, Seattle cornerback Jeremy Lane left the game after his interception with a compound fracture of his wrist. This forced Seattle to play Tharold Simon much much more. It was obvious from the beginning that the Patriots were targeting Simon from the beginning. He was thrown at 11 times, just about twice as much as any other defensive back for Seattle. He allowed seven receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Brady had a quarterback rating of 129.2 when throwing at Simon. Besides picking on Simon Brady also picked on the linebackers in coverage. The Patriots were able to use Seattle’s stubbornness on defense against them. Every time the Patriots would line up tight end Rob Gronkowski on the outside like a wide receiver the Seahawks would put a linebacker on him (usually Bobby Wagner or K.J. Wright). Gronkowski one on one with a linebacker on the outside is an obvious mismatch and a mismatch that Brady took advantage of. Wagner and Wright were also having lots of trouble covering running back Shane Vereen. Vereen and Gronkowski had a total of 12 targets and 11 completions for 90 yards and one touchdown with Wagner or Wright in coverage.
What the Patriots did on defense was equally impressive. While Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch had a good stat line (24 attempts for 104 yards and one touchdown), the Patriots didn’t allow him to take over the game, especially in the second half. Possibly more important than that was how their secondary played in tandem with their defensive line. Their defensive line was able to contain Russell Wilson in the pocket and the times he was able to scramble out of the pocket the New England secondary didn’t break down and kept their receivers covered. While the Patriots defensive line didn’t get a lot of sacks, they were able to stop Wilson from scrambling much. Because of that, he was forced to make a lot of low percentage throws. The Patriots stopped the Seahawks’ offense from doing the two things that usually sucks the life out of their opponents: beat you down with the run and stick the dagger in your heart with long passes after Wilson scrambles to keep the play alive.
On top of that, the Patriots were able to get the Seahawks off the field on third downs. Seattle only converted three of their ten third downs. Getting your defense off the field and having to tackle Lynch less often is a huge deal. Also, the times Seattle got into the red zone, New England held them to a 60% touchdown conversion rate. New England had a 75% touchdown conversion rate. Leaving points on the field against teams as good as either of these teams is a fatal mistake. This time it cost the Seahawks dearly.
A lot of people are pointing to the last drive as the reason why the Seahawks lost. The play call wasn’t a bad call (wasn’t necessarily a good call either) but it’s understandable. Hindsight is always 20/20 and it’s easy for anyone to say they would’ve ran it in with Lynch. However, if Wilson is truly a top level quarterback, there’s no reason to not trust him with that throw. It was bad ball placement on his part, but more importantly, a great play by the defensive back, Malcolm Butler. And the Seahawks were playing with house money on that drive anyway with the catch Jermaine Kearse was able to make two plays prior.
Either way, the game doesn’t boil down to one drive or one play. It was a 60 minute game where both teams had missed opportunities. The better, more complete team won the game in my opinion. It was a great game that people won’t easily forget. The Patriots had a better game plan and they executed it almost flawlessly. When everyone said run the ball, the Patriots passed it. They did what no one expected and it paid off.