Read an Excerpt

Pumped

The Patriots are Four-Time Super Bowl Champs

Triumph Books

Superbowl XLIX

By Christopher L. Gasper / Globe Staff

Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo, Calif., looking up to San Francisco 49ers great Joe Montana. After Super Bowl XLIX, Brady can now look him square in the eye and ask him to compare ring collections.

It's all even because Brady conducted the largest fourth-quarter comeback in Super Bowl history, rallying his team from a 10-point deficit to a pulsating 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium. ›› The 70,288 in attendance and billions more watching on television bore witness to Brady taking a jack to his historical pedestal and cranking it up a few notches by winning his fourth Super Bowl, joining Montana and Pittsburgh Steelers great Terry Bradshaw on the Super Bowl summit. ›› This was the essence of Brady's career — beating the odds, refusing to quit, staying calm under pressure, and delivering when it mattered most. The 37-year-old quarterback everyone said was in decline after a disastrous Monday night in Kansas City in September lifted the Patriots back to the top of the football world in February, one pass at a time.

No one has won more with less or done it more consistently than TB12, who dropped the boom on the Seahawks' Legion of Boom secondary in the fourth quarter, going 13 of 15 for 124 yards and two touchdowns. His 50th and final toss of the night was a 3-yard pass to Julian Edelman with 2:02 left that put the Patriots up for good and gave him a Super Bowl career-record 13 TD passes.

Finally armed with a defense that could close the deal, Brady captured his first Super Bowl in 10 seasons and won his third Super Bowl MVP award, tying Montana.

It had been a tough week for Brady. He had a cold. He was dogged by the allegations that he had something to do with the deflated footballs the Patriots played with in the AFC Championship game against the Colts. Even his idol, Montana, pointed the finger at Brady in Deflategate.

The only thing Brady deflated in Super Bowl XLIX was the hopes of the Seahawks, who had humbled Brady's QB contemporary, Peyton Manning, last year in the Super Bowl.

It was clear from the beginning that the Patriots were winning or losing this game on Brady's gilded right arm, and he finished with a Super Bowl- record 37 completions for 328 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions.

The comeback Brady led was in part his own creation.

He threw two interceptions, one in the Seattle end zone in the first quarter. The other led to a Russell Wilson-to-Doug Baldwin touchdown toss that gave the Seahawks and their boisterous 12th Man backers a 10-point lead.

"I never feel I'm out of the game with Tom," said Brandon LaFell, who caught one of Brady's four TD passes. "If we're down, 7 or 14 or whatever, we're two plays from being back in the game at any time. With Tom with the ball in his hands we've always got a chance."

Saint Thomas of San Mateo led the Patriots on a nine-play, 68-yard march to pull within 3, capping it with a 4-yard touchdown toss to Danny Amendola.

After the Patriots forced a three-and-out, Brady took the Patriots 64 yards in 10 plays, completing all eight of his passes for the win.

This was the third time in the Patriots' last three Super Bowl appearances that Brady had left the field late with the lead.

Both of the previous times against the Giants, in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, he ended up back on the field, chasing victory. It looked like it could be headed that way again when Seattle got an improbable catch from wide receiver Jermaine Kearse that gave the Seahawks first and goal at the 5.

But inexplicably Seattle eschewed using human battering ram Marshawn Lynch and called a pass on second and goal from the 1. It was intercepted on a slant pass by undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler, a player as far from Brady on the spectrum of the Patriots' roster as possible.

Brady isn't the Greatest of All Time today without Butler's play, just like David Tyree's miracle catch in '08 has nothing to do with Brady's personal oeuvre.

He knows that.

"I never put myself in those discussions," Brady said. "That's not how I think. There are so many great players that have been on so many great teams, and we've had some great teams that haven't won it. I think you just enjoy the moment."

In this moment or any other, there is no quarterback who has ever played the game better than Thomas Edward Patrick Brady.

Super Bowl by the Numbers

Glendale, Ariz. • February 1, 2015

0: Career receptions entering the Super Bowl for Seattle's Chris Matthews, who had 4 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in the game.

2: Interceptions thrown by Tom Brady against the Seahawks. He had a total of two interceptions in his five previous Super Bowl games, against nine touchdowns.

4: Super Bowl victories for New England coach Bill Belichick, which ties him with Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll for the most ever.

4.3: Average yards per rush for Seattle's Marshawn Lynch, who ran for 102 yards on 24 carries in the game with a touchdown.

10: Points the Patriots trailed by in the fourth quarter, the largest deficit a team has ever overcome in the second half of a Super Bowl.

10: Years between Super Bowl victories for Tom Brady, whose last win came in 2005 vs. Philadelphia, the longest span between wins for a Super Bowl QB..

0:29: Seconds it took the Seahawks to go 80 yards in five plays for the tying touchdown at the end of the first half, helped by a 15- yard penalty vs. the Patriots.

37: Completions by Tom Brady vs. the Seahawks, which broke the Super Bowl record of 34, set in 2014 by Peyton Manning in the Broncos' loss to Seattle.

The Gatekeepers

Ben Volin / Globe Staff

Vince Wilfork was on the field when the Patriots defense let the Giants drive for the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl seven years ago. He was on the field again three years ago when New England's defense again couldn't stop Eli Manning from leading the Giants for the game- winning score in the final minutes.

This time, Wilfork and the defense finally got their redemption.

"To be a defensive player, to be on the field and put a stamp on it for us, that's the most amazing feeling right now," said Wilfork. "All year, we talked as a defense that we wanted to make plays when it counted. We wanted our teammates to count on us."

And they delivered.

The Patriots managed to keep Seattle off the scoreboard for the final 19:54 of the game. After the Seahawks took a 24-14 lead, they gained just one first down on their next three possessions and punted all three times.

But the key play — the one Patriots fans will tell their grandkids about — was rookie Malcolm Butler's interception in the end zone on second and goal from the 1 with 26 seconds left in the game.

"He just went down in history," safety Patrick Chung said.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll will be second-guessed for eternity for calling a pass on second down from the 1-yard line, especially with Marshawn Lynch (104 yards, 1 TD) running so well.

"I think everybody was expecting run," linebacker Dont'a Hightower said.

Everyone except Carroll and Butler, that is. Carroll said that he didn't like the matchup against New England's goal-line package. Carroll viewed second and 1 as almost a throw-away play.

Credit Butler and the Patriots for doing their homework. They noticed the Seahawks came out in their three-receiver set, with Jermaine Kearse and Ricardo Lockette stacked on the right.

"In preparation I remembered the formation they were in — two-receiver stack. I just knew they were running a pick route," Butler said.

Sure enough, Kearse ran a clear-out, and Lockette tried to run a quick slant underneath him. But Butler jumped the play perfectly and beat Lockette to the football, hauling in the interception and holding on for dear life. It was the first NFL interception for Butler, an undrafted rookie.

"Goal line, three cornerbacks, you know they're going to throw it," Butler said. "I had a feeling I was going to make a big play, but not that big."

Just two plays before his interception, Butler allowed a 33-yard pass to Kearse that he tipped in the air, was bobbled several times, and miraculously fell into Kearse's lap. This was David Tyree, all over again – before Butler flipped the script.

"We call him 'Scrap,' because the first time we saw him, he was just so scrappy, around the ball the whole time," Wilfork said of Butler. "That moment with him making that play, it's just a fairytale end to the book because of what he's done all year for us."

AFC Championship

By Kevin Paul Dupont / Globe Staff

The only question remaining, even with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, was what would be the size of the winning margin. The Patriots already were in front, 45-7, and over on the sideline Tom Brady and Julian Edelman shared a handshake, smiles, and confident nods. ›› They were going back to the Super Bowl, gifted a playoff E-ZPass by the eager-yet-not-ready-for-prime-time Indianapolis Colts. ›› "You don't expect this kind of result," said special teams star Matthew Slater, following yet another patented thrashing of the Colts. "It kind of catches you off guard ... but we'll take it, don't get me wrong." ›› Past performance indeed may not predict future results, but such was not the case at soggy Gillette on a January night fitting for Duck Boats as transit. The Colts, who could have used lifeboats, were unable to muster much offense, but their greatest fault, again, was their inability to stop the run. In the week leading up to the AFC title game, they had talked proudly about improvement in their tackling game, only to show up unable to get a grip. ›› Exhibit A: a total of 40 Patriot rushes that produced 177 yards and three touchdowns, most of that haul logged by powerhouse returnee LeGarrette Blount. Already the owner of a four-TD run effort against the Colts last year, he added three more, rushing a club-record 30 times for 148 yards (4.9 average). ›› The Colts earlier in the playoffs had dismissed Cincinnati and Denver, but they had no answer for New England's Blount force.

"I just wanted to come and run as hard as I can," said Blount. "My offensive line is amazing. To be honest, I probably should have had more out there — I think I missed a couple of holes. We came in and planned to run the football, and whatever was working, we were going to do it."

Truth was, there was precious little that didn't work, including yet another sleight-of-hand move on the offensive line in which the Pats made behemoth tackle Nate Solder an eligible receiver for a play and then promptly turned Solder into the owner of his first and only TD pass from Brady.

Solder, left wide open on the left side, collected Brady's soft-serve toss (hold the sprinkles) into his mammoth hands, and hauled toward the goal line like a barreling 18-wheeler. After crashing over for what would be a 24-7 lead early in the third, he was met in the end zone by rejoicing fellow linemen Dan Connolly and Sebastian Vollmer.

"Amazing to be part of a game like that," said the smiling Solder, "and a cool play like that ... just amazing. I practiced that for years and ... there it is. It was just the right moment. The stars were aligned. Amazing."

"Nate's a good athlete," added defensive back Devin McCourty. "There are a lot of times he'll walk through here and you cannot tell the difference between him and Gronk walking through the locker room. The thing I loved was Nate got up like he knew he was going to score, like he'd been there before."

Be ready for anything, said Solder, when asked what he was told during the week while preparing for the Colts.

"Catch the ball," he said, when asked what he was thinking when the play was called. "Catch the ball. Hold it. Don't fumble it."

The Patriots' clever use of eligible and ineligible receivers had helped them dismiss Baltimore a week earlier and it equally flustered the Colts, who time and again heard No. 71, offensive lineman Cameron Fleming, was reporting in as the dodge artist du jour. As the night played out, the Colts' futility mounted, to the point that one half expected to hear over the PA, "The Colts, Nos. 1 through 99, report ineligible."

"We had all three phases of the game going," said Slater. "We got off to a good start. There was that big turnover there by the special teams, and that gave us a boost."

The early turnover came via the Pats' first punt, after a drive stalled out at midfield. The Colts' returner Josh Cribbs muffed the punt, the Pats taking over at the Indianapolis 26, and only six plays later Blount crashed over from the 1-yard line for the first of his TDs.

"We didn't expect it to go the way it did," said Slater, even though history once again proved precursor. "We were fortunate to get up early, put our foot on the gas, and play the game we were all looking for."

AFC Round by the Numbers

Foxborough • January 18, 2015

6: Number of Super Bowl appearances for the Patriots in 14 years, making them the first NFL team to reach 6 in a 14-year period.

7: Career playoff touchdowns for LeGarrette Blount after he scored three times against the Colts, tying him with David Givens for most TDs in Patriots playoff history.

9: Starts in a conference championship game by Tom Brady, most in NFL history. Brady broke a tie with Charlie Waters (Dallas) and Jack Reynolds (LA Rams/SF).

10: Interceptions by the Patriots in the four games they have played against Andrew Luck of the Colts.

11: Conference championship games for New England. The Pats improved to 8-3, including 5-1 at home.

28: Tom Brady played in his Patriot record 28th postseason game. Tedy Bruschi is second with 22. Vince Wilfork tied Troy Brown and Matt Light for third-most (20).

38: Margin of victory over the Colts, the largest in franchise history for a playoff game, topping the 45-10 victory over Denver in 2012.

51: Game-time temperature at Gillette Stadium (relative humidity 71%), 31 degrees warmer than the 20 degrees for the Divisional Round game vs. Baltimore.

Deflate Gate

Kevin Cullen / Globe Staff

They call it Deflategate. Get it? We're supposed to think it's like Watergate, as if a professional football team trying to cheat a little is the same as a president doing to the Constitution what Mitt Romney's poor dog did to the car roof.

If this wasn't all being taken so seriously, it would be funny. Actually, it is funny, watching grown men from the Viagra Generation go on national TV and talk about deflated balls without a hint of irony.

The stentorian tone of some of these clowns calls to mind Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy. Except that Ferrell looks too much like Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, which sort of ruins the whole vibe. Roethlisberger was suspended for four games a few years back after a 20-year-old college student said he plied her with drinks, then raped her in the bathroom of a bar.

But, then, what's sexual assault compared with deflating footballs?

Funny, but I don't remember nearly as much a hullabaloo ensuing when it became obvious that retired NFL players are killing themselves because of the repeated concussions that are endemic to a game in which players, armored up like Army Humvees, act as guided missiles.

True, there seemed to be some incandescent rage, especially from people who wouldn't know a post pattern from a post office, after Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punched out his then fiancee in an elevator last year. But then the NFL pulled a Rosemary Woods (Watergate!) by not erasing, but instead not finding the tape. They put out some public service announcements about how it's not cool to hit women and moved on. And so did most fans, to the next game.

Given the usual stuff that passes for scandal in the NFL — sexual assault, domestic violence, illegal gun possession, assorted felonies — the luxury of being able to obsess about how many pounds per square inch are pumped into or out of a football smells like ... victory.

For the NFL, this is Deflectgate, an opportunity to pretend it cares more about the integrity of the game than its $45 billion net worth.

As for our beloved hometown Patriots, they get what they deserve. Their record of being the best franchise in the NFL this millennium speaks for itself. You don't get to six Super Bowls in 14 years without being a great organization.

But the national obsession with hating the Patriots goes well beyond wins and losses. When you strip away all the bells and whistles and self-aggrandizing critics, the hyenas are baying because the Patriots, especially their head coach, are seen by much of the country as arrogant.

---

Excerpted from Pumped by Janice Page. Copyright © 2015 The Boston Globe. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---