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The Seattle Seahawks had greatness in their grasp, the end zone in their sights, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on the ropes and Marshawn Lynch in their backfield.
What could go wrong?
Super Bowl 49 between the two teams who are playing again Sunday in Super Bowl 60 came down to this: Trailing 28-24, Seattle had the ball at the Patriots 1 with 26 seconds, a timeout and three plays to try to win the game and hoist their second straight Lombardi Trophy.
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Lynch had just bulled his way to the 1 after Jermaine Kearse’s juggling 33-yard catch bounced off his legs and into his arms while he was on the ground at the Patriots 5-yard line.
“I tipped the ball and Kearse still caught it,” former cornerback Malcolm Butler recounted this week in a radio row interview with Boston’s WEEI-FM. “I said this game is over. We lose, it’s my fault, even though I made a great play. It wasn’t good enough.”
On the New England sideline sat Brady, who had witnessed two other improbable catches that led to devastating Super Bowl defeats: David Tyree’s 32-yard helmet-pinning catch that helped the New York Giants deny the Patriots a perfect season, and Mario Manningham’s 38-yard sideline reception four years later that again helped Eli Manning prevail.
“And then I got another opportunity,” Butler said.
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A second chance
Second-and-goal from the 1, the stage was set for the unknown, undrafted rookie out of West Alabama to become the unlikely hero.
There are a handful of iconic moments in sports that live in glory or infamy, or both.
Tiger’s chip-in on 16. Auburn’s kick-six. Gibson’s pinch-hit homer. LeBron’s chase-down block. The Miracle on Ice. Vince Carter’s Dunk of Death. Kobe’s 81 points. Brandi Chastain’s penalty kick.
The calls live in our heads.
“Down goes Frazier.”
“Havlicek stole the ball!”
“Do you believe in miracles?”
Bill Belichick sent in a three-cornerback personnel grouping he hadn’t used all season and Pete Carroll decided eight big guys would be hard to score against if Russell Wilson handed the ball to Lynch again, so he called for a quick slant to Ricardo…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/stunning-play-secured-patriots-win-184850332.html
Author : ARNIE STAPLETON
Publish date : 2026-02-06 18:48:00
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