It Keeps Getting Better

I think I may have seen the Malcolm Butler interception over a thousand times as of right… now. Seriously. I was at a business dinner with co-workers from Belfast, New York and yes, Seattle at the local Buffalo Wild Wings last night. Butler intercepted that Russell Wilson pass multiple times on multiple screens. It was that guy from Seattle’s glimpse of pigskin Hell, I’m sure. I rather enjoyed it. It feels good. It feels real good.

I want to thank God, my accountant, my beautiful wife and above average children, my mom and dad and everyone who helped me get here but most of all I want to thank the haters. You made this game so much more than even I could've ever imagined.

Thank you.

Thank you so, so much.

It keeps getting better.

Looking back at Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft dropping the mic on the NFL and Roger Goodell, knowing the stakes for the legacy of the Patriots, Kraft, Belichick and Tom Brady, considering the stage, the competition and the 4th quarter deficit, this was an incredible, unbelievable, improbable, can’t make this stuff up, astounding, dumbfounding, cried like I did at the end of “Silver Linings Playbook,” astounding (worth saying twice), amazing, wonderful and deeply satisfying win.

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are the King and Warrior Prince of Football.

The Hoodie

Belichick is now (if he wasn't before) in the conversation with Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh and Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown and George Halas. He's won and he's done it like Frankie said. 

We may never know what was going through Belichick's head as Patriots Nation was screaming at their television sets, “Call the timeout!”

I've read a few pigskin pundits and bobbleheads say Carroll's boneheaded call and Butler's interception bailed Belichick out. He should've tried to save as much time as he could for Tommy to pull a rabbit out of his ass (a trick play that's completely within the rules) in a last ditch effort to win the game after the Marshawn Lynch TD that was sure to come on the very next snap of the football.

I'm going to sign onto the minority position that thinks Belichick is a little bit smarter than those pigskin pundits and bobbleheads think he is. This is not Andy Reid or Mike McCarthy we’'e talking about. Here's how I think it went down.

Belichick had already done the “let them score and see if we can re-take the lead in the 45 seconds that will be left on the clock” stratagem in a Super Bowl loss to the Giants. He wasn't going to do that again because he'd figured out it was a loser's play, both experientially and (I'm making an assumption here) statistically. He was going to win or lose with his defense this time. You know what defense wins...

He knew Pete Carroll couldn't afford to call his last timeout to talk things over and realize the read option was the smart play from the 1-yard line. The Seahawks had burned two precious 2nd half timeouts and Belichick wasn't going to bail them out. Carroll and OC Darrell Bevell have said the time remaining and the fact they only had one timeout were factors in the decision to throw on 2nd down; they would score and win or the pass would fall incomplete and it would stop the clock. It was a decision made quickly, under stressful conditions; in the fog of war, if you will.

Then, critically, the Patriots’ coaches recognized Seattle’s offensive personnel included three wide receivers and subbed in Malcolm Butler. The Seahawks then ran a play that Butler had seen in practice. When Russell throws the ball, Ricardo Lockette is wide open but Butler is already closing... 

While everyone in the stadium and half the country assumed it was the Seahawks and Pete Carroll that were in control of the moment, it was actually Belichick and the Patriots.

Now backed up to their 1-yard line, with Brady standing in the end zone, the Patriots won the mental battle one more time, drawing the Seahawks offside, moving the football out to the six where it would be safe to take a knee and run out the clock.

Belichick. Playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

Perfect Tommy
With the Deflategate controversy still swirling, with the “haven’t won since Spygate” trolls shaking their asses at him for seven years, with his coach’s and his owner’s reputation on the line, with the prospect of every jackass he would run into the rest of his life asking him how his balls felt, Brady was playing for, well, everything. He had to be pulling 20 G's just running out on the field.

Clutch.

I know it doesn’t really exist. It’s a small data sample. Small data samples can look clutchy (or chokey). Small data samples are funny like that.

Still.

Tom Brady is clutch. Down by 10 in the 4th quarter against the Legion of Boom. He puts the two interceptions in the rear view. He misses Edelman on a sure touchdown and comes back with a dart to Amendola to pull the Patriots within a field goal. He completes 8 of 8 on the game-winning drive, this time connecting with Edelman for the go ahead score. He utterly destroys the best defense in the NFL.

He plays his best Super Bowl in his most important Super Bowl.

The Patriots first Super Bowl win in 2002 will always be special but let’s face it. The Patriots were playing with house money in Super Bowl XXXVI. It was The Greatest Show on Turf. We'd seen the Patriots lose big to the Bears in SB XX so we were emotionally ready for what was going to happen. In the 2nd half, as the Rams mounted their comeback, we were thinking, “Well, it's been a great ride…” 

Then Tom Brady happened. 

And Adam Vinatieri happened. 

Good times.

But this was bigger for all the reasons noted above.

Brady steadfastly refused to discuss his place in NFL history after the game but you know he had to think about his legacy. Listen to that pre-game sound bite (if you haven't already). It's about honor. And respect. 

Honor. 

Super Bowl XLIX was going to be a referendum on Brady's legacy. He's not a dumb guy. He knew what was at stake. I would say that no quarterback since Bart Starr and Lenny Dawson in Super Bowl I has had more pressure on him than Brady did last Sunday. 

And all he did was play like a boss.

Greatest. Of. All. Time.

I don't care if you think Joe Montana is the best ever. You've got a case but I just don't care. Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning, Otto Graham, Brett Favre - I really don't care. For me, it's Tom Brady and everyone else is playing for second. There are plenty of numbers to back me up but I don't even care about that. 

I know what I saw in Super Bowl XLIX. 

I know what I've seen, time and time again since 2001. He's Tom Terrific, TB12, the Icy Commander, Young Odin, Perfect Tommy; he's the answer to the question, "You've got one football game to win to save your life; who's your starting quarterback?"

That's right.

Tom Brady.

What's next?
Even with geezers like Brady and Vince Wilfork, the New England Patriots became the youngest team to take home the Lombardi Trophy in winning Super Bowl XLIX. Think about that for a moment. Let it sink in. This is a team poised to make yet more history over the next three years. Assuming they can keep the band together, another Super Bowl run is a distinct possibility.

But I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I can let this moment play out for another day or two. It feels so, so good. 

And then we're on to 2015!