INDIANAPOLIS — Four years ago, the Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants after a wild pass play. Last night, they nearly pulled off one of their own.
On the final play of the game, Tom Brady launched a Hail Mary pass from his own 42-yard line — and it had a chance. The pass landed perfectly in the middle of the end zone, where it was batted away by one of the Giants defenders surrounding Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.
The ball fell to the turf as the Patriots’ other tight end, Rob Gronkowski, dove for it — and missed it.
COMPLETE GIANTS SUPER BOWL COVERAGE
“That is what it comes down to in football,” Brady said. “That’s one play. You look at our game four years ago, it was a miracle play that they made. Today, we had the chance to make one of those and we couldn’t come up with it. It always comes down to one or two plays in this game and if you make it, you’re celebrating. If you don’t, then you don’t sleep for a week.”
The desperation heave came with five seconds left and the ball on the Patriots’ 49-yard line. Brady lined up in the shotgun and dropped back. Jason Pierre-Paul applied some pressure, but Brady slipped away and was able to set his feet. He lofted the pass into the middle of the end zone. Giants defenders Jacquian Williams, Corey Webster, Kenny Phillips, Deon Grant and Antrel Rolle converged on Hernandez in the back of the end zone.
The ball popped up in the air and Gronkowski made a dive for it.
“I was close, but close doesn’t count,” Gronkowski said.
The Giants ran onto the field to celebrate another Super Bowl title after the ball hit the turf.
“We have a special design for it but we were praying a lot over there, too,” Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. “We thought some of the guys got their hands on it. We wanted to knock the ball down, but the thing I was looking for was that there wasn’t a foul on the play to give them another play at the end of the game. It was clean from that standpoint.”
It wasn’t clear who exactly got their hands on the ball. But it did not really matter in the end.
“I tried to knock it down,” Phillips said. “I saw the ball hit the ground and the rest is history.”