GLENDALE, Ariz. — The end of Super Bowl XLIX featured a brawl in the end zone that resulted in a player getting ejected and the Patriots gaining 15 yards to get out of the shadow of their own end zone.
After the Patriots got the ball back on Malcolm Butler’s interception with 20 seconds remaining, they set up to take a knee from their own 1. The Seahawks jumped offsides, moving the ball to the 6. Then Brady took a knee, and a melee broke out. Players were fighting in the end zone as photographers ran onto the field, thinking the game was over. Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin was ejected for throwing a punch.
“I was protecting a teammate,” Irvin said. “Emotions flew. I saw somebody hit [defensive end] Mike Bennett, so I went and backed up my brother. I went about it wrong. Emotions were flying high and I apologize. But if it happened again, I would go protect my teammate. That’s just how it is.”
Report: Only one Pats football deflated
Deflategate could be turning in the Patriots’ favor, if the latest media leak in the NFL’s investigation proves true.
According to an anonymously sourced NFL Network report Sunday morning, just one of the 12 footballs used by New England in the first half of the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago was judged by league officials to be 2 pounds of air per square inch below the NFL’s 12.5 PSI minimum.
The league’s official network reported 11 of the 12 balls were underinflated, but contradicted an ESPN report from last week that all 11 of the suspect balls were 2 psi below the limit.
NFL Network reported “many of the underinflated balls were just a few ticks under the minimum.”
The network also reported the ballboy caught on video dipping into a Gillette Stadium bathroom with the balls for 98 seconds was “elderly.”
The NFL Network report was just the latest twist in a controversy the league has turned over to an outside investigator for a probe it says will not be completed for several more weeks.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said during his state-of-the-league press conference Friday the NFL has “made no judgments so far” and won’t publicly comment until investigator Ted Wells is finished with his work.
Baldwin flagged for lewd gesture
Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin, after scoring a third-quarter touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Russell Wilson, made a lewd gesture, appearing as if he were pulling down his pants to, well, poop the football.
He was hit with a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Baldwin said he directed the gesture at a Patriots player but would not single him out. “That’s between me and the guy it was directed at,’’ Baldwin said.
History made at U. of Phoenix Stadium
With the roof open, University of Phoenix Stadium became the first venue to ever host an indoor and outdoor Super Bowl. The roof was closed when the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVII. … The Patriots have gone scoreless in the first quarter of all six Super Bowls in the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era.
Among the records set in this Super Bowl: Most completions, game, 37, Brady. Most first downs passing, 21, Patriots. Largest second-half deficit overcome to win the game, 10 points, Patriots.
Only the Patriots: RB Jonas Gray was the leading rusher this season for New England with 412 yards, he is completely healthy and yet he was not active. Of course, Gray had nearly half that production in a 201-yard eruption in a November victory over the Colts that landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Early officiating blunder
It did not take long for the officials to come into play. Three minutes into the game, referee Bill Vinovich threw a flag on Seattle’s Jeron Johnson for running into punter Ryan Allen , a 5-yard penalty that did not give the Patriots a first down. But Johnson actually hit Allen’s plant leg, which is supposed to be a 15-yard roughing-the-punter penalty.
Report: Sherman played with torn elbow ligaments
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman played with torn ligaments in his left elbow that may require Tommy John surgery, according to an ESPN report.
Sherman injured the elbow in the NFC Championship, but never missed time. He showed no effects of the injury in the Super Bowl. He made tackles and used the arm throughout the game. During the NFC title game, he could barely move the arm.
“In football, you’re never 100 percent,” Sherman said after the game. “We were good enough to go. We went out there and played. There’s no excuse.”
LaFell happy with choice
A year ago, Brandon LaFell was finishing up his fourth season with the Panthers and thinking about free agency. In March, he found a new home when he signed with the Patriots for three years and $9 million. On Sunday night, he said his decision was validated.
“Man, it definitely does,” LaFell said. “When I chose to come here, I chose to come somewhere I can get more passes, I can get more opportunities and also I had a chance to win a Super Bowl. I’m not saying I didn’t have a chance to win one in Carolina if I stayed, but I feel like coming here and playing with a Hall of Fame quarterback in Tom Brady, that was the best decision for me and my family.”
LaFell caught the first touchdown of the game, an 11-yard pass from Brady. He finished with four catches for 29 yards in the game.
More history for the Patriots
The Patriots are the sixth NFL franchise to win four Super Bowl championships. … The Patriots are the first team in Super Bowl history to trail by at least 10 points during the second half and come back to win. Teams that entered the fourth quarter trailing by 10 or more points had been 0-29 in Super Bowls. … Teams were 1-62 in the playoffs when trailing by 10 or more entering the fourth quarter before Sunday night. … Belichick joins Chuck Noll as the only coaches to win four Super Bowls. … All six of the Patriots’ Super Bowls under Belichick have been decided by three or four points. … A total of 13 years have passed between Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl victory and Sunday’s. That matches Ted Hendricks for the longest time between a first title and most recent. A linebacker, Hendricks won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts in 1971 and the Oakland Raiders in 1983.