Leading into to the Super Bowl, people thought of how Katy Perry would perform in comparison to past halftime performances, how the Patriots would address “deflate-gate,” or how Seattle’s Kam Chancellor would perform with a knee brace. However, after the game thoughts quickly turned into “Why did they throw it?!”
The underdog seemed to be the Seattle Seahawks going into the game, even though they had won the previous year, because the New England Patriots had one of the best receivers in the league, the Seahawks best safety was hurt, and, as a team, they had performed better during the regular season. When the game got started, the ESPN correspondents and NBC sportscasters seemed to have a bias slant towards the Seahawks, and the first quarter was a good representation why, when they were able to defend the Patriots star receiver Rob Gronkowski.
The second quarter made the game interesting as the free-agent filled receiver line-up of the Seahawks was able to progress and get touchdowns, especially by Chris Matthews, who is sure to be resigned by the Seahawks based on his performance. The Patriots did not let this underdog squad perform well for long and came back to even it up before the half.
Seattle took the 3rd quarter, and it started to seem that they were about to pull off a back-to-back Super Bowl win. Richard Sherman, Seattle’s ace defensive player who is known for his cockiness, bragged about the score and is most likely regretting it now due to numerous memes being created regarding his boasting.
Richmond’s own Russell Wilson was a probable MVP candidate going into the 4th before Tom Brady got into gear. Gronkowski and Edelman of the Patriots brought them back to a 28-24 score in the final minutes of the game.
Some of the previous Super Bowls hardly live up to their hype, but Super Bowl 49 reached it in the final quarter. The first dramatic moment was the superb catch by Seattle’s Jermaine Kearse, when he caught a long catch after it hit him and the defender and bobbled 3 times eventually into his arms to put the Seahawks in the red zone.
Seahawks were smart to use Marshawn Lynch to push them closer to the end zone, and with the time running down, it was almost certain that the Seahawks would drive it in to win. Then, only a yard away from the end zone, the Seahawks chose to run a passing play, and this has to be one of the worst calls in all of professional football. Although it seemed that they might be able to finish out the game in the air, they were stopped by Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception.
While America stood in awe of the play call, the Patriot offense was worried about whether or not they would be able to get it out of the end zone in order to avoid a safety, and on the snap Seattle’s Michael Bennett jumped early and gave the Patriots plenty of room after the penalty call. With the end in sight, the Seahawks threw in the towel and started a fight causing a 15-yard penalty.
The Patriots won after a jaw-dropping finish, and Seattle’s coaching staff is in question by the entire country. Even though they had lost the game, in dramatic fashion, Seattle is still a remarkable and upcoming franchise. Tom Brady received the MVP award for the 49th Super Bowl, and after having won 4 Super Bowls alongside Bill Belichick, he is certainly on track to become one of the best quarterbacks in history.
