Bryant - Game Recaps

With this Super Bowl win their third in four years, this New England Patriots team has cemented themselves a place as one of the premiere teams in NFL history.

The Patriots started the first quarter slowly, and were forced to punt on their first four possessions of the game. But Tom Brady began to get into a rhythm despite losing a fumble on the fifth possession to the Eagles. Brady's fumble is the only turnover that the Patriots give up to the Eagles in the game. He connected for a 4 yard touchdown pass to David Givens on the next drive. Brady's favorite target in the game was Deion Branch, whose outstanding and consistent performance earns him the MVP award. Branch finished the game with 11 receptions for 133 yards. And though he himself did not find the end zone, he made a number of key catches on all of the Patriots' scoring drives.

In the third quarter, Mike Vrabel lined up in the tight end spot and made a 2 yard touchdown reception.

Corey Dillon was not flashy but effective. He scored a 2 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, giving the Patriots the lead over the Eagles.

Rodney Harrison led the Patriots' defense in stopping the Eagles with his two interceptions and one sack of McNabb. While giving up 357 passing yards and 3 touchdowns to the Eagles, it was the turnovers that made the difference against Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Eagles

Donovan McNabb had an up and down evening. Looking at just touchdowns and yardage, he had a great game, finishing with 30 completions out of 51 attempts for 357 yards. He connected for three touchdown passes to L.J. Smith, Brian Westbrook, and Greg Lewis. But some of his passing attempts were poorly thrown, resulting in three interceptions and what would have been a fourth was brought back on a defensive penalty against the Patriots.

Brian Westbrook had a difficult time maintaining a rushing attack against the Patriots. He finished the game with only 44 yards on his 15 carries. And half of those rushing yards were on one 22 yard rush that brought the first half to an end. Westbrook was effective in the Eagles' passing game though with his 7 receptions for 60 yards that included a 10 yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.

Terrell Owens started the game, playing his first game since injuring his ankle and turned in a tremendous performance making a number of great catches, and ending with 9 receptions for 122 yards on his 15 targets.

The Eagles failed to maximize the clock in the 4th quarter failing to quicken the tempo in breaking the huddle and getting to the line as the clock was ticking down.

WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW

New England Patriots

QB: Tom Brady (23-33-236, 2 TD, 1 for -1 rushing 1 fumble lost) Brady started the game slowly, and the Patriots were forced to punt on their first four possessions. The Patriots began to gain momentum following the Eagles' scoring drive and Brady completed 4 passes for 45 yards, but that momentum was squelched by Brady's lost fumble recovered by Darwin Walker. The Eagles went 3 and out following the fumble and Brady showed his cool competence on the next drive completing 5 out of 6 passes, finishing with a 4 yard touchdown pass to David Givens. He maintained his composure with the opening drive of the second half. All but one of his completions on the drive went to Deion Branch, the highlight of the drive a 27 yard completion. The drive ended with a 2 yard touchdown pass to Mike Vrabel.

RB: Corey Dillon (18-75, 1 TD rushing, 3-31 receiving on 4 targets) Corey Dillon made an excellent block picking up a blitzing Jeremiah Trotter giving Brady the time to complete his first pass of the game. Dillon made two back to back screen catches gaining 13 and 16 yards respectively in the second quarter. He gained 25 yards on a carry taking the ball to the 7 yard line, his longest of the game on that same drive. Dillon rushed in to score a 2 yard touchdown in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. He was not flashy but he was physical and effective.

Kevin Faulk (8-38 rushing, 2-27 receiving on 2 targets) Kevin Faulk was stopped for no gain on his only carry of the first quarter. He gained 13 yards on 2 carries in relief of Dillon. Faulk found success against the Eagles and was a big part of Dillon's touchdown scoring drive. He rushed for 20 yards on 2 carries and made 2 receptions for 27 yards on the drive.

WR: Deion Branch (11-133 receiving on 12 targets) Deion Branch earned the award of MVP of the game with his 133 receiving yards performance. He was Brady's favorite target in the game. Wide open, he made a 16 yard reception over the middle for the Patriots on their first drive. Branch made the first third down conversion of the game for New England with a 3 yard catch in the second quarter. Branch was wide open and made a 27 yard catch during the opening drive of the third quarter. He received 5 of Brady's 7 targets during that drive which ended with Mike Vrabel's touchdown. Branch made a fantastic catch right over the hands of Sheldon Brown.

David Givens (3-19, 1 TD receiving on 7 targets) David Givens made a 2 yard reception but was tackled by Lito Sheppard and prevented from gaining the additional 2 yards needed to make a third down conversion. Givens made a 13 yard reception but fumbled the ball at the end. The call was challenged and the fumble overturned as Givens knee was down. Givens scored the first touchdown of the game for the Patriots.

Troy Brown (2-17 receiving on 2 targets) Troy Brown made a 12 yard reception to the 7 yard line setting up David Givens' touchdown. Brown had a 44 yard punt return nullified with a holding penalty.

David Patten (0-0 receiving on 4 targets) David Patten was targeted on a deep pass during the opening drive, and simply was unable to make the catch in double coverage.

TE: Daniel Graham (1-7 receiving on 1 target) Daniel Graham made his first catch of the game for 7 yards late in the second quarter.

Mike Vrabel (1-2, 1 TD receiving on 1 target) Mike Vrabel came into the offensive scheme and lined up as a tight end on the opening drive of the second half and made a 2 yard touchdown reception. He tipped it off of his hand and then pulled the ball in to make a great catch. This should have been no surprise to Philadelphia as Vrabel also scored a touchdown in the Patriots' Super Bowl win over the Panthers last year.

Christian Fauria (0-0 receiving on 0 targets) Fauria did not factor into the Patriots' offensive game plan. But he did recover the Eagles' onsides kick attempt near the end of the fourth quarter.

K: Adam Vinatieri (3-3 XP, 1-1 FG) Adam Vinatieri made a 22 yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.

Pass Defense: The Patriots did give up 357 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns to Donovan McNabb. But what was the key in the game were the 3 interceptions that they recorded on him. Roman Phifer was called for illegal contact and what would have been counted as a fourth interception by Asante Samuel was given back to the Eagles. Rodney Harrison made up for it on the next play, intercepting McNabb. Harrison was shaken up on the play but was back in the game on the next series. Tedy Bruschi intercepted McNabb in the fourth quarter. The Patriots brought pressure onto McNabb sacking him 4 times throughout the course of the game.

Rush Defense: The Patriots held the Eagles' rushing game in check with only 45 total rushing yards. Willie McGinest forced a McNabb fumble on the third play of the opening drive. Teddy Bruschi recovered the fumble. The play was challenged and the call was reversed and recorded as a sack as McNabb's knee was down before the fumble. Rodney Harrison held L. J. Smith up after he made a 10 yard reception, allowing Randall Gay to force a fumble recovered by Eugene Smith.

Philadelphia Eagles

QB: Donovan McNabb (30-51-357, 3 TD, 3 Int, 1-0 rushing) Donovan McNabb threw the ball very inconsistently. Sometimes right on target, other times overthrowing his receivers. He fumbled the ball on the opening drive of the game. Fortunately for McNabb, his knee was down before the fumble and the play was challenged and the call reversed as simply a sack and not a fumble. What would have been a potential second turnover, an interception thrown by McNabb in the end zone, was called back with an illegal contact play against the defense. But on the very next play he threw an interception on a poorly thrown pass. McNabb was very sharp during the second quarter. He completed 3 out of 4 passes for 63 yards finishing with a 6 yard touchdown pass to L.J. Smith. The other two passes of the drive were great throws to Todd Pinkston. McNabb threw a second interception on a poorly thrown pass during the fourth quarter. McNabb completed 8 out of 12 passes culminating with a 30 yard touchdown strike to Greg Lewis near the end of the fourth quarter. With only 45 seconds left in the game and a slight chance to tie with a field goal sending the game into overtime, McNabb and the Eagles' offense faltered. He threw a 1 yard pass to Brian Westbrook, and then misconnected with Terrell Owens. And finally threw an interception which brought the game to an end.

RB: Brian Westbrook (15-44 rushing, 7-60, 1 TD receiving on 11 targets) Brian Westbrook made a first down conversion of the first quarter for the Eagles with a great 14 yard reception. Westbrook was the target on the Rodney Harrison interception. Westbrook found very little running room throughout the first quarter and wasn't until the second that he gained 18 yards on 5 carries during the Eagles' scoring drive. Westbrook's longest carry of the game for 21 yards came with the waning seconds of the first half. Westbrook made a 10 yard touchdown reception that tied the game in the third quarter. He was a huge part of that drive with 3 receptions for 29 yards and 2 carries for 11 yards.

Dorsey Levens (1-1 rushing, 0-0 receiving on 1 target) Levens was not a factor in the game at all. The Eagles were unable to sustain any rushing attack at all against the Patriots.

WR: Terrell Owens (9-122 receiving on 15 targets) Terrell Owens started the game and was an impact player for the Eagles from the very first play finishing with 122 receiving yards on his 9 receptions. He made a 7 yard reception during the first drive of the game. Owens made a fantastic grab over the middle and ran to gain 30 yards. He later made a reception and turned to break a tackle and gained 36 yards. He looked to be less than 100% in his cuts, but he was effective and productive.

Todd Pinkston (4-82 receiving on 7 targets) Todd Pinkston was targeted deep in the first quarter. He made his first reception for 17 yards over the middle in the second quarter. He followed that with a great leaping 40 yard reception. Pinkston left the game with cramps.

Greg Lewis (4-53, 1 TD receiving on 5 targets) Greg Lewis made 2 receptions for 19 yards in the third quarter. He made a 30 yard touchdown reception with less than 2 minutes left in the game.

Freddie Mitchell (1-11 receiving on 4 targets) Despite calling Rodney Harrison out during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Mitchell contributed minimally to the game.

TE: L.J. Smith (4-27, 1 TD receiving on 8 targets, 1 fumble lost) L.J. Smith reached and dove to pull in a 10 yard reception and gain a first down for the Eagles. His second target was thrown too high by McNabb. Smith made a 10 yard reception but Randall Gay forced a fumble, turning the ball over to the Patriots. Smith made a 6 yard touchdown reception in the second quarter to score the first points of the game.

K: David Akers (3-3 XP) David Akers converted all 3 of his extra point attempts.

Pass Defense: The Eagles gave up 2 passing touchdowns and 236 passing yards to Tom Brady. Darwin Walker recovered Tom Brady's fumble when the Patriots were threatening to score in the second quarter. Brady was sacked once in the game.

Rush Defense: The Eagles allowed a total of 112 rushing yards to the Patriots. Corey Dillon rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown. And 25 of his rushing yards were on 1 carry alone.