Seattle’s banged up defense turned in a Super Bowl performance that was good enough to win the game.
The unit, coordinated by incoming Falcons coach Dan Quinn, led the way to Seattle’s 43-8 victory over Denver in last season’s Super Bowl. Despite some injuries, they were strong against the Patriots until New England’s clinching interception in the last minute led to their 28-24 victory.
The Seattle defense got off to a strong start. The Seahawks forced New England to punt and then came up with an interception on the Patriots’ second possession of the game.
They gave up touchdown drives of 65 and 70 yards in the second quarter before linebacker Bobby Wagner stepped in front of a Tom Brady pass intended for tight end Rob Gronkowski in the third quarter.
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson converted the turnover into a touchdown for a 24-14 lead.
Seattle’s secondary entered the game with consequential injuries to strong safety Kam Chancellor (left knee), free safety Earl Thomas (shoulder) and cornerback Richard Sherman (torn elbow ligaments). They then lost cornerback Jeremy Lane, who appeared to break his left forearm after his interception of Brady in the first quarter.
Seattle reserve Tharold Simon replaced Lane. He promptly missed a tackle on a key 23-yard pass play and he then yielded inside position on Brandon LaFell’s touchdown on the night’s first score.
Chancellor, who was injured on the second to last play of practice on Friday, tested out a new knee brace before the game. The Seahawks said that Chancellor had merely suffered a bruise, but normally a brace wouldn’t be needed for such an injury.
Brady on mark: Brady tossed four touchdown passes to gave him 13 in Super Bowls to break Joe Montana's record of 11.
He had touchdown passes to LaFell, Gronkowski, wide receiver Danny Amendola and wide receiver Julian Edelman
Clutch drive: With the Seahawks trailing 14-7 late in the first half, wide receiver Ricardo Lockette made a nice catch on a 23-yard gain.
New England’s Kyle Arrington grabbed Lockette’s face mask and that penalty moved the ball down to the Patriots’ 11-yard line. With :06 left before halftime, Wilson found Chris Matthews in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The improbable drive covered 80 yards in 29 seconds.
All tied up: Seattle's late touchdown tied the game up 14-14 at halftime. It marked the third time in Super Bowl history that the game was even at halftime.
Super Bowl XXXIII between San Francisco and Cincinnati was tied 3-3 at the half and Super Bowl XXXIX between Philadelphia and New England was also tied at the half, 7-7.
Super bits: New England linebacker Dont'a Hightower left the game with an elbow injury after Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch scored on a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. … The Patriots have now gone scoreless in all six of their Super Bowl first quarters in the Bill Belichick/Brady era. … Brady broke the first-half record for most completions in a Super Bowl with 20. … The record for fewest completions in a first half remains at two, set by the Patriots in Super XX. Russell Wilson completed his third pass in the final minute of the second quarter. … Belichick joined Don Shula with a record six Super Bowl appearances as a head coach. He also tied Dan Reeves for his ninth overall Super Bowl appearance as a player or coach. … Brady became the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls. He had been tied at five with John Elway.
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