New England Patriots quarterback, and Superbowl XLIX MVP Tom Brady is planning on giving the truck he won for earning the award to safety Malcolm Butler who made arguably the most critical play of the Superbowl when he intercepted a Russell Wilson pass intended for Ricardo Lockette that would have given the Seahawks a late, go-ahead tocuhdown.
“I’d love to [give Malcolm the truck],” Brady said on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “We’re going to figure out how to make that happen.”
The game was closely contested throughout, with the Patriots completing a comeback from a 10 point deficit in the 4th quarter to earn Tom Brady and Bill Belichick their 4th Superbowl championship. All of those comeback efforts would have been for nothing, however, had Butler not made the game clinching interception.
A circus catch by Jermaine Kearse and a solid run from Marshawn Lynch put the Seahawks on the 1 yard line as they were looking to come from behind and earn their 2nd consecutive Superbowl Championship. The Seahawks were in perfect position to do so, but head coach Pete Carroll strangely elected to pass the ball on 2nd down as opposed to hand the ball to Lynch who had been barreling the Patriots front all game=. That decision cost the Seahawks the game.
Butler was an undrafted safety and simultaneously secured the victory for the Patriots and crushed the hopes of Seattle fans everywhere. Butler gives credit to practice, as the scout team had run that play in the practices leading up to Superbowl XLIX.
“At practice, the scout team ran that same play and I got beat on it. [Coach] Bill [Belichick] told me, ‘You’ve got to be on that.’ At that time [of the play], memorization came through,” he said. “I just jumped the route. I just made a play. Just do your job — do it the best way you can. I just did my job.”
Butler is on top of the world, and it looks like he’ll have a new truck to go along with it.