An oral history of the ‘unreal’ ending to the final drive of Super Bowl XLIX

Sicilian · Feb 4, 2016

Patsrock said:
Every time I see the INT I see Hightower grabbing at Butler and worry that one of these times it will all be a dream and that Hightower actually knocks it out of Butlers hands.

And have the same dream that Asante actually catches the ball in SB 42.

I'd make that trade.

brdmaverick · Feb 4, 2016

Patsrock said:
Every time I see the INT I see Hightower grabbing at Butler and worry that one of these times it will all be a dream and that Hightower actually knocks it out of Butlers hands.

And have the same dream that Asante actually catches the ball in SB 42.

I'm glad you said this. I've thought that too (no, don't drop it). Stupid, I know.

Pat the Pats Fan · Feb 4, 2016

brdmaverick said:
Dan Connolly was doing an autograph signing on the day of the season opener this year. It was a rainy Thursday and not many people went. That, however, turned out to be fortunate for me. I got his autograph but also got to talk to him a little bit about the Super Bowl.

One of the questions (and responses) that stuck with me was this.......

After the Butler interception you had the ball on the shadow of your own goal line. Ultimately the Seahawks jumped offsides, but what play were you about to run?

He said they actually didn't even have a play called when they went to the line. They lined up with the sole intention of trying to 'hard count them' and get them to jump offsides. If it didn't work they were prepared to use one of their remaining time outs.

cool, thanks for sharing

juxtapoz15 · Feb 4, 2016

The article touched on this briefly, but the two timeouts misused by the Seahawks were so huge on that final drive. That forced the Hawks to throw at least once on 2nd or 3rd down in order to be able to play all 4 downs. That allowed BB to dictate defensive personnel and not allow Pete to substitute.

BostonWolverine · Feb 8, 2016

Frank Schwab of Yahoo wrote a great counterpoint column arguing that Butler INT should have been ranked #1 of all time:

Football Outsiders, in its fantastic annual almanac, broke it down statistically. Football Outsiders wrote that the Patriots had a 12.6 percent chance to win before that second-and-goal play. New England's win probability rose to 100 percent after Butler's interception. That's an 87 percent win probability swing. The second most influential play in determining a championship during the Super Bowl era, according to Football Outsiders and Football Perspective, was Scott Norwood's miss in Super Bowl XXV. That miss resulted in a 45 percent swing in the Buffalo Bills' win probability, as it fell from 45 percent to 0. Butler's interception was almost two times more influential on determining a championship than any other play in the Super Bowl era.

Butler’s play also elevated Super Bowl XLIX from a really, really great game to perhaps the greatest game in NFL history.

And as long as we watch football, the name Malcolm Butler will be remembered. He made the most important play in the history of the Super Bowl. It might be the most impactful play in the entire history of the league.

50 Most Memorable Super Bowl Moments Counterpoint: Why Malcolm Butler should be No. 1

gronkykong · Feb 8, 2016

that one play cemented Bb and TB12 legacy esp post spygate and on brink of Deflategate. I dont want to think how would the story be if they had lost otherwise.

An oral history of the ‘unreal’ ending to the final drive of Super Bowl XLIX

Sicilian

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