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We’re still three more sleeps from Super Bowl Opening Night, which unofficially kicks off Super Bowl hype week.
While Super Bowl 60 will be the Seattle Seahawks’ fourth appearance on Super Sunday, the New England Patriots are making an NFL-best 12th Super Bowl appearance. With a win in ‘The Big Game’ on Feb. 8, the Patriots can break their tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins (seven).
The last time the Patriots and Seahawks played in the Super Bowl, it was a classic with a game-deciding moment that will be debated for as long as football is played. But, was it the best Super Bowl that the Patriots ever played in? Here we rank the previous 11 Patriots Super Bowl games:
- Super Bowl 51: Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (OT) — The all-time classic game that spawned a meme. The Falcons famously led 28-3 in the third quarter, only to squander that lead as Tom Brady led an epic comeback — the largest in Super Bowl history — to force overtime, where what seemed totally inevitable happened … a Patriots victory. This was the signature Super Bowl win for both Brady — who cemented his G.O.A.T. status — and Bill Belichick — who had more Super Bowl wins than any other head coach after this dramatic triumph. Together the famed coach-quarterback combo won their fifth title together in what is considered by many to be the greatest Super Bowl game ever.
- Super Bowl 42: Giants 17, Patriots 14 — 18 and d’oh! The Patriots entered this one 18-0 and were one win away from matching the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams in the Super Bowl era to finish a season unbeaten. Instead, the Giants played spoiler. The dramatic win was made possible by an improbable play … David Tyree’s ‘helmet catch.’ That absurd play set up the winning touchdown in the Giants’ upset win, relegating the 2007 Patriots to ‘greatest team to not win the Super Bowl’ status.
- Super Bowl 49: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24 — What was a thrilling back-and-forth tussle will be forever remembered for one critical play call. Trailing by four in the game’s waning seconds and facing a second-and-goal from the 1-yard line, the Seahawks opted to throw the ball rather than give it to bulldozer running back Marshawn Lynch. It was a colossal mistake. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Ricardo Lockette and made a game-saving interception.
- Super Bowl 52: Eagles 41, Patriots 33 — A backup quarterback taking down the G.O.A.T.? This high-scoring and action-packed Super Bowl had it all. While Brady dropped a pass thrown his way on a trick play, Nick Foles caught his for a touchdown on what would go down in lore as the ‘Philly Special.’ Brady had a Super Bowl-record 505 yards passing in a game that had a Super Bowl-record 1,151 combined yards of offense. In the end, though, it was a defensive play that sealed Philadelphia’s first Super Bowl win … a strip sack of Brady by Brandon Graham.
- Super Bowl 36: Patriots 20, Rams 17 — It’s hard to believe after all that’s happened in the last quarter century, but this was a massive upset at the time. The ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ Rams were heavy favorites entering Brady’s first Super Bowl. Brady was just growing into stardom after the early-season injury to Drew Bledsoe. His Cinderella Patriots faced an offensive juggernaut led by 1999 and 2001 MVP Kurt Warner and 2000 MVP Marshall Faulk. Instead, the Patriots prevailed in the final seconds on a 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.
- Super Bowl 38: Patriots 32, Panthers 29 — This was one of the wildest Super Bowls ever — and not just because of the halftime show. Despite no scores in the first and third quarters, the two teams combined for 61 points. Two years after the upset of the Rams, Brady led another game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter capped by a long field goal by Vinatieri.
- Super Bowl 46: Giants 21, Patriots 17 — Eli Manning forever holds bragging rights over Brady: he never lost to TB12 in a Super Bowl. Like Super Bowl 42 before it, this Giants upset also featured an incredible catch. This time, it was Mario Manningham doing the honors with a 38-yard acrobatic catch along the sidelines that helped set up the winning touchdown.
- Super Bowl 31: Packers 35, Patriots 21 — The Packers were a tour de force in 1996, becoming the first team to lead the league in both scoring offense and defense since the ’72 Dolphins. For a while, however, the Patriots made a game of it, holding the lead through one quarter of play after touchdowns from Keith Byars and Ben Coates. However, big plays by Antonio Freeman (a then-Super Bowl record 81-yard touchdown pass play) and Desmond Howard (99-yard kickoff return touchdown) assured Green Bay would be victorious in what was Bill Parcells’ final game as Patriots head coach.
- Super Bowl 39: Patriots 24, Eagles 21 — This victory secured ‘dynasty’ status for the Patriots, who had won three Super Bowls in a four-season span (the second team to do so). What was a tightly contested contest throughout would be decided by four Eagles turnovers and some questionable late-game time management by Philly. Rodney Harrison made the game-sealing interception (his second pick of the game), and wide receiver Deion Branch was named MVP after an 11-catch, 133-yard performance.
- Super Bowl 20: Bears 46, Patriots 10 — After a remarkable postseason run to reach the Super Bowl, the Patriots ran into the buzzsaw that was the 1985 Bears. The Patriots held an early 3-0 lead, but it was all downhill from there. As things were snowballing out of control for New England, starting quarterback Tony Eason was benched in favor of veteran Steve Grogan. It didn’t matter. The Bears were putting an emphatic cap on what was one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.
- Super Bowl 53: Patriots 13, Rams 3 — This might have been the most dull Super Bowl of the last 30-plus years. There were nearly more punts (14) than points; the game was tied 3-3 entering the fourth quarter (exciting!). The Patriots matched the Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins with this victory, but it was an aesthetically unpleasing way to make history.
HOT READS
Bill Belichick: Hall of Fame snub. This was an unexpected development this week, as the coach with the most Super Bowl wins (eight total; six as head coach, two as an assistant) will not be a first-ballot entrant into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of course, this development left people around the NFL mystified. Tom Brady, Belichick’s partner in league domination in New England, was shocked: ‘If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a Hall of Famer.’
Seriously, how does this even happen? Jarrett Bell is a Hall of Fame voter and was stunned and embarrassed by the snub.
There’s another big name who won’t be part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026: Eli Manning. This is the second straight year that the engineer of two Super Bowl upsets of Belichick’s Patriots missed out on enshrinement. Those two Super Bowls are the highlights, but some of Manning’s numbers (117-117 record as a starter, 244 career interceptions, 84.1 career passer rating) don’t help his cause.
Eight of the 10 NFL head-coaching vacancies have been filled following the Cleveland Browns’ hiring of Todd Monken. Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz ranks the head coach hirings so far. Spoiler alert: Browns-Monken does not rate high.
ON THIS DAY IN NFL HISTORY
32 years ago today, on Jan. 30, 1994, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills, 30-13, in Super Bowl 28 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. While it was back-to-back championships for Dallas, Buffalo suffered its fourth consecutive Super Bowl defeat. The two teams also met in the previous season’s Super Bowl, in which Dallas dominated, 52-17.
Super Bowl 28 also is notable for being the last game that Jimmy Johnson was head coach of the Cowboys. The Netflix documentary ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys’ does a deep into the resentment that was growing between Johnson and team owner Jerry Jones. In March 1994, the two agreed to part ways. It took decades for Johnson and Jones to patch things up.
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