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One Yard From Crushing Loss, Patriots Grab Their 4th Title

The seconds ticked off late in the fourth quarter Sunday, and it all must have seemed familiar to Bill Belichick, to Tom Brady, to the New England Patriots and their fans who must have been wondering why, oh why, was this happening again.

In their last two Super Bowl appearances, the Patriots had lost in improbable fashion, on amazing passes and ridiculous catches and here came the Seattle Seahawks, driving down to the New England 1-yard line.

Dynasties are hard to come by in the N.F.L., as the Patriots can attest. They won three championships in four seasons, then none in their next nine. They survived on Sunday, edging the Seahawks, 28-24, in Super Bowl XLIX, when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson’s pass with 26 seconds remaining.

A 3-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Julian Edelman with 2 minutes 2 seconds left provided the decisive points in a victory that vaulted the Patriots into the stratosphere of forever teams and ruined the Seahawks’ repeat bid.

Seattle could not have lost in more disorienting fashion. The team that in its last eight games, all victories, had outscored its opponents by 130-26 after halftime and by 83-13 in the fourth quarter, gave up 14 points in the final 12:10.

Seattle took over with 2:02 to play at its own 20, trailing by 28-24. Three plays after Wilson opened the drive by throwing a 31-yard pass to Marshawn Lynch down the left sideline, Jermaine Kearse made a catch to rival David Tyree’s helmet catch on this same field seven years ago — defended by Butler, Kearse had the ball bounce off both thighs and off his arm before grabbing it at the New England 5. Seattle advanced to the 1, but instead of handing the ball off to Lynch a second straight time, Wilson tried to sneak a pass to Ricardo Lockette. Butler jumped in front, and the Patriots’ sideline erupted.

Returning to the stadium where they were denied perfection seven years ago by the Giants, the Patriots arrived in similar circumstances: under investigation for possible indiscretion, their image stained, all because of footballs that may or may not have been intentionally deflated.

For them, for Belichick and for Brady and for defenders everywhere of the Patriot Way, validation is measured by Super Bowls, and now they have another.

Before the playoffs started, before the Seahawks’ absurd comeback two weeks ago against Green Bay, Wilson and Brady sent emails to a mutual friend. Each quarterback predicted a Seattle-New England Super Bowl, and their telepathy made sense: finishing his third season, Wilson is following the Brady career arc — midround draft pick, immediate success as a starter, a Super Bowl title by age 25.

It was the ultimate young versus old matchup, perceived as a potential changing of the guard, but Brady, at 37, won his third Most Valuable Player award. He completed 37 of 50 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola with 7:55 left and the game-winner, to Edelman.

It was Wilson’s first loss in 11 games against Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, and Brady, who had lost his last two Super Bowls, instead joined Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to win four championships. He has won all four with Belichick.

This matchup had been a matchup of teams with such different personae, of such contrasting styles, in practice and in countenance, as personified by their coaches: the dour Belichick and the spirited Pete Carroll.

All week the Seahawks treated queries about Brady’s brilliance and LeGarrette Blount’s brawn and Rob Gronkowski’s gronkness, about the Patriots’ wacky receiver-ineligible formations and chameleonic offense — 40 rushes one game, 14 the next — and flicked them away like cigarette ash. Not out of arrogance, or disrespect, but the declaration, as stated earlier in the week by linebacker Bobby Wagner that “we do what we do and we do it very good.”

Confusing offenses is not the Seahawks’ style. They just line up in their three-deep coverage, with their thumping secondary, and try to impose their will. Usually successful, the Seahawks were not in the first half. Countering Seattle’s pass-rush, the Patriots ran quick passes, screens and pick plays, and they ran them so well that on their second possession Brady guided New England to the Seattle 10, on a drive that consumed nearly eight minutes.
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Chased by Michael Bennett from the left side, Brady made a miserable red-zone decision — throwing nowhere near a receiver, and right into the hands of Jeremy Lane at the goal line. The interception prevented one touchdown, but it indirectly produced another.

On his return, Lane, the Seahawks’ nickel cornerback, sustained an arm injury. Tharold Simon replaced him, and on the Patriots’ next possession Brady exposed him. First with a 24-yard pass to Edelman, zipping across the middle, and then, two plays later, with a perfect slant to Brandon LaFell, whose 11-yard touchdown put New England ahead, 7-0.

For the Seahawks, their offensive malaise — three series, one first down — evoked the first 58 minutes of their last game, the N.F.C. championship victory against the Packers. Nothing Seattle tried, from Lynch’s interior running to dropbacks by Wilson that were thwarted by the Patriots’ superb downfield coverage, seemed to work.

Until Wilson found a matchup he liked and exploited it, connecting deep down the right sideline with Chris Matthews, whose onside kick recovery two weeks ago proved he had excellent hands. Matthews reached over Kyle Arrington and fell backward while hauling in his first career catch, a 44-yarder that set up Lynch’s 3-yard touchdown run with 2:16 left in the first half.

That was far too much time on the clock for Brady, who dissected the Seahawks as if slowly pulling off a Band-Aid — with short passes to Shane Vereen — before yanking it off with a 22-yard touchdown fade to Gronkowski with 31 seconds remaining.

But that was also far too much time for Wilson, who has developed a reputation for clutch passing himself. He drove the Seahawks 80 yards in 29 seconds, a series keyed by a 23-yard pass to Lockette and 10-yard personal foul on Arrington. With the ball at the New England 11 and 6 seconds left before halftime, Carroll had a choice: attempt a field goal or run one final play.

Nothing about the Seahawks’ aggressive personality suggested they would play it safe, and Wilson whipped a pass on the outside to the 6-foot-5 Matthews, who exploited his 6-inch height advantage over Logan Ryan, for an 11-yard touchdown that evened the score at 14-14 heading into halftime.