Robert Kraft: Patriots' 4th Super Bowl win about "legacy"

The New England Patriots' dramatic victory in Super Bowl XLIX was their fourth championship win in the team's history, earned all under the ownership of Robert Kraft. The team hadn't seen an NFL title until he hired head coach Bill Belichick and drafted quarterback Tom Brady in 2000, a year before their first win. It's no wonder Kraft plans to keep them as long as possible.

"As long as the good Lord lets me breathe. That's my objective," Kraft said. "I don't think there's any other head coach-ownership relationship like that. And Tommy is just so special in the way that he takes care of himself, the way that he trains, the kind of leader he is. We're so lucky to have him."

Kraft hopes his playmaker and team leader will be able to stick around for Super Bowl XLX next year. No team has won back-to-back-championships since New England's victories in 2004 and 2005. In order to repeat it and earn their fifth title in 15 years, Kraft said he needs to keep his core group together.

Part of that core group is wide receiver Julian Edelman. At a modest 5 foot 10 inches, he helped complete one of the most important plays of the game. With New England down 24-21 in the fourth quarter, Edelman caught a beeline pass from Brady propelling the team into the lead with a touchdown.

It's no question tight end Rob Gronkowski, with his tie-breaking touchdown, and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, who was on the Patriots roster in their last Super Bowl win in 2005, also helped carry the team to the end.

Then there's the unsuspecting cornerback who might be considered a new member of Kraft's core team.

"You have guys like Malcolm Butler who came to us in May, didn't have a pair of cleats and he makes the great play," Kraft said.

With 20 seconds left in the game, Butler made the pivotal play that secured New England's 28-24 Super Bowl victory. The rookie free-agent intercepted the ball at the 1-yard line.

"Well, we have great confidence in our coach and our team but we were not in a great position since it was second down and one yard to go. And thank goodness this young man, Malcolm Butler, who was born in Mississippi and went to West Alabama, he came and did something -- he forever will be in sports lore in Boston," Kraft said.

Little did Butler know, it would be the play that beat him in practice the Wednesday before, that would be the focal point of the game.

"Bill Belichick came up to him and said, 'Look Malcolm, when they line up stacked, and as soon as you see that ball centered, don't wait to see which way they're going, because you're going to get picked... You go for the ball,'" Kraft said. "Sure enough, with 40 seconds and second down, the play came up, he didn't let himself get picked, he went right for the ball. I thought it was a well-thrown ball, he picked it off, he held onto it, and he's forever going to be remembered very fondly."

So far, Butler has been given much more than reverence. Brady said he'll be giving his MVP truck to Butler and Kraft took him to a Celtics game.

"We have a close camaraderie in Boston with the sports teams. They honored us," Kraft said. "He had never been to an NBA game ... and he got great accolades."

But one former member of the Patriots team wasn't celebrating Butler's interception. If not for him, former New England coach and current Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll would have likely been celebrating his own victory.

"We had two Super Bowls in the past seven or eight years where we lost right at the end," Kraft said. "It's sort of cruel ... no one knows what's going to happen, it goes right to the end."

Kraft is familiar with that unforgiving history after losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. With just under three minutes in the fourth quarter, New York upset New England, a team that had come to the game with an 18-0 season record.

But like others in the past, this Super Bowl win didn't come without controversy. The "deflate-gate" investigation sparked after New England's AFC Championship continues to follow the team.

Just less than a week before the big game, Kraft spoke to reporters and said the league owed him and his team an apology.

"Whenever you're privileged to get to this big game, there's always lots of distractions that come about. Bottom line is, we won our championship game 45-7 and we won the Super Bowl 28-24, and the league pretty much had full charge of the footballs," Kraft said. "So they're looking into it, and I'm very comfortable with the people and organization we have."

While the league continues their investigation, Kraft is focusing on their win, which he said is "about legacy."

"We have so many things in this world today that are divisive, and when we went and had this parade, 36 hours after coming home, on such a cold day and so much snow, and the mayor of Boston and the Department of Public Works and the police there all did an outstanding job," Kraft said. "It brings the community together, it makes people feels good, it lifts the spirits. It's pretty special."