HOUSTON – Houston, we have a champion. And once again, the New England Patriots have Adam Vinatieri’s foot to thank for a Super Bowl victory.
Vinatieri gave New England its second NFL championship in three seasons with a 41-yard field goal with 4 seconds left for a thrilling 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night.
Vinatieri earlier missed a field goal and had another one blocked. But as he did in 2002 when he kicked the winning field goal to beat St. Louis on the final play of the Super Bowl, he proved he is perhaps the NFL’s best clutch kicker.
For a contest that was scoreless for a record 27 minutes, this game was one of the all-time offensive shows between two of the NFL’s best defenses.
There were 37 points scored in the fourth quarter alone and Tom Brady, who led New England on its winning drive, was 32-of-48 for 354 yards and three touchdowns.
Brady was voted the game’s MVP for the second time in three seasons, although he did throw an interception that prevented New England from winning more easily.
”There have been some heart attacks, but they’ve come out on top,” said coach Bill Belichick, whose team won its 15th straight game.
Carolina had tied the game at 29 with its third fourth-quarter TD on a 12-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to Ricky Proehl. Then John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds to give New England field position at its own 40.
Brady then moved the Patriots 37 yards in six plays, hitting Deion Branch to set up Vinatieri’s winning kick.
”I looked up and it was going right down the middle,” he said.
The kick prevented the Super Bowl from going into overtime for the first time ever.
The Patriots led 14-10 at the half, and after a scoreless third quarter, they made it 21-10 on the second play of the fourth on a 2-yard run by Antowain Smith. It capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive featuring a 33-yard pass from Brady to tight end Daniel Graham.
Carolina wasn’t about to give up, though, scoring on DeShaun Foster’s 33-yard run on a six-play, 81-yard drive. But the 2-point conversion pass was behind Muhsin Muhammad and it was 21-16. The decision to go for 2 would come back to haunt coach John Fox.
The Patriots seemed ready to put the game away when they got the ball back, but Brady made a rare mistake – throwing an off-balance pass that Reggie Howard intercepted in the end zone.
Two plays later, Delhomme found Muhammad behind the New England defense for an 85-yard score, the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history, to give the Panthers a 22-21 lead with 6:53 left. Fox again went for the 2-point conversion and failed.
Brady came back with the TD pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel with 2:51 remaining, and Kevin Faulk ran in for the 2-point conversion to give New England a 29-22 lead.