Through two possessions in the Super Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks became the first to dodge a major bullet.
On the first drive for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, nothing was shown that anybody didn’t expect.
Brady started out with his very familiar short passing game. He first hit Rob Gronkowski, then Danny Amendola and finally Shane Vereen for the first first-down of the game. They then looked to get the running game going with Legarrette Blount.
On third down, however, an incompletion to Vereen set up the first punt of the game.
As NBC’s Chris Collinsworth pointed out, when a punter’s plant leg is contacted it should automatically draw a 15-yard personal foul.
This would have set up Brady and company in Seattle territory. Instead, Bill Belichick declined the penalty and took the good field position.
Number 23 Jeron Johnson is sure happy referee Bill Vinovich only decided on the five-yard call on this one.
Since the roughing-the-punter penalty occurred, we’ve seen more defense. New England put together a 13-play, 58-yard drive. Unfortunately for the Pats it resulted in a Jeremy Lane interception in the endzone. Brady felt the pressure and made a miserable mistake.
The short passing game for New England is still in full force as we speak.
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