Remembering Malcolm Butler's game-winning interception ahead of Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch
If you listen closely at the Patriots Hall of Fame in Foxboro, Massachusetts, you can still hear echoes of 2015 and (arguably) the greatest play in Super Bowl history.
The last time the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks met in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks had the ball down four points on the Patriots goal line with 34 seconds left.
Malcolm Butler's interception against Seahawks
Who could forget what happened next? On second down, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson hiked the ball and went to make a quick pass, when Malcolm Butler, an undrafted rookie cornerback jumped the route, picked off the throw and sealed the Patriots fourth Super Bowl victory.
"I jumped up off that chair and I couldn't believe it. I almost knocked my TV over," said Pats fan Henry Fernandez, recalling the moment. "It was the greatest thing. It was a greatest thing."
The moment is now immortalized in the Patriots Hall of Fame and in the memories of a fan base preparing for another Super Bowl matchup against Seattle.
"We were just jumping up and down, hugging each other, and crying, and screaming. It was just unbelievable," said Lauri Bourikas, who watched the game at a Super Bowl Party from a different floor than her husband, George.
George said the delay between the two floors only heightened the drama.
"They got the feed before we did of the interception, so all of a sudden they start screaming and we're all not knowing what's going on," he said. "It was like probably a 20-second delay."
In that brief span, one play changed not only the game, but the trajectory of two franchises.
"My son would probably kill me because he was kind of crying and going, 'Not again. We lost to the Giants twice. It can't happen again,'" Bourikas said. "And then all of a sudden, Malcolm Butler intercepts the ball, and it was just spectacular."
The Patriots, led by then-head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, would go on to win two more Super Bowls, ending their run with six total together.
Ernie Adams on the defensive call
You can't tell the story of that play without Ernie Adams, a legendary figure among Patriots fans. A righthand man and longtime friend of coach Belichick, Adams was the team's director of football research.
Adams said the Patriots were prepared for a pass based on Seattle's personnel, and their tendency to run that quick pass play in that situation. The team practiced that exact scenario in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
"If they had run the ball against that defense with Marshawn Lynch, we would have had somebody unblocked in the backfield," he said. "If you're on offense and you got three wides in there in goal line, you really pretty much have to throw the ball."
When the Seahawks did throw, Patriots defensive backs coach Josh Boyer was focused on Butler.
"He was the one who had a clear shot," Adams said, recalling Boyers voice on the headset.
Asked where the play ranks among Super Bowl moments, Adams didn't hesitate.
"Oh, it's got to be for sure right up at the top," he said, noting the tackle made right before by linebacker Dont'a Hightower to stop Lynch at the goal line was also a major play.
While Adams jokingly refers to the moment as "ancient history" compared to the current rosters, fans say the memory is still fresh, especially with another Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl ahead.
"Never count us out," Bourikas said. "And don't count us out this year, either."