Get Patriots game stats and the inside scoop on the season with The Boston Globe's Point After newsletter delivered for free to your inbox.
Super Bowl LI produced a lot of memorable plays. But there’s one that stuck with Tom Brady, which most Patriots fans might not remember.
In an interview Sunday with Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King, Brady recalled this 18-yard first-down pass to Chris Hogan during overtime as a symbol of the chemistry he had developed with his receivers this year through more than a hundred practices.
“It’s such a Peyton Manning-type throw,” the quarterback said, referring to the pass his former rival would throw during his years playing for the Indianapolis Colts.
“I watched him for so many years make those throws,” Brady told King. “I used to be in amazement. Marvin [Harrison] and Reggie [Wayne], they’d cut their route off, turn around, ball was in the air, in stride, 15-, 18-yard gain. How the heck did they do that? There’s so much trust from the quarterback to the receiver. The DB can’t get to the ball faster than the receiver can. You got to believe your receiver is going to get to the ball faster than their guy. That’s what that play came down to.”
Advertisement
During that game-winning drive in the Super Bowl, the Patriots were lined up at their own 45-yard line. Hogan, who was being covered by Atlanta Falcons cornerback Jalen Collins, ran a route straight down the field. When Brady released the ball, Hogan was running downfield, facing the other direction. It wasn’t until the ball was already about 10 yards out of Brady’s hand that Hogan planted at the Falcons’ 37-yard line, and turned around just in time to make the catch.
First down — and, if executed correctly, practically indefensible.
“That’s 111 practices that we had,” Brady told King. “That’s however many games. Films, meetings. It’s got to be like clockwork. You’re throwing it to a spot, he’s turning, those are the ones the DBs have been covering all year too. It ended up being a really tight play. But it took great execution.”
The drive would eventually lead to James White’s Super Bowl-winning touchdown run.
Click over to the full interview on SI’s Monday Morning Quarterback, in which Brady (from the remoteness of Montana) dissects the Patriots’ Super Bowl comeback play by play.