The New England Patriots went into halftime tied 14-14 with the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX and Tom Brady—save for one pass—has gotten it done.
Tom Brady’s second touchdown pass of Super Bowl XLIX pulled him into a tie with Joe Montana for the all-time lead in Super Bowl play with 11. It also had the New England Patriots tied 14-14 with the Seattle Seahawks at halftime.
The 37-year-old Brady is 20-for-27 for 177 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He threw an 11-yard scoring pass to Brandon LaFell with 9:47 to go in the second quarter, and a 22-yard touchdown to NFL Comeback Player of the Year Rob Gronkowski with 31 seconds remaining in the half.
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Seattle tied the game with two seconds to go in the half, driving 80 yards in just five plays and 29 seconds.
New England dominated time of possession — holding the ball for more than 18 minutes and picking up 14 first downs — outgaining the Seahawks 222-167 yards in the half.
But Brady helped orchestrate the Patriots playing keep away.
The short passing game was key, with running back Shane Vereen catching seven passes for 42 yards, Gronkowski hauling in three for 28 yards, and Danny Amendola making four grabs for 44 yards.
The one mistake Brady made was an interception at the goal line by Seattle nickelback Jeremy Lane.
The running game for the Patriots hasn’t been overly effective — LaGarrette Blount has 37 yards on 10 carries. Vereen lost a yard on his only carry and Edelman had seven yards on one carry.
The Patriots defense was solid … until the final drive, anyway. Even with that quick 80 yards, the Seahawks were held to 167 first-half yards.
The second touchdown culminated an eight-play, 80-yard drive, with Brady hitting the final three passes to finish the drive — 16 and five yards to Vereen, and then the toss to Gronkowski, who drew single coverage from linebacker K.J. Wright.
That’s a matchup New England will win 11 times out of 10.
The Patriots are throwing into the Legion of Boom secondary, but one that is banged up. Safety Earl Thomas is playing with a dislocated shoulder, safety Kam Chancellor has a bruised knee and cornerback Richard Sherman has an elbow injury.
Lane was also injured on his interception, leaving the game with a gruesome arm injury sustained when he was tackled at the end of the play.
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