When Danny Amendola scored to bring the New England Patriots to within 10 points of the Atlanta Falcons late in Super Bowl LI, the Patriots knew exactly what play they would call on the ensuing two-point conversion. They’d run through it on the final play of their final Super Bowl week practice.
Just one problem: In practice, it didn’t work.
The play was a direct snap to running back James White, whose job was to plow his way through the line while quarterback Tom Brady pretended the snap from center David Andrews had gone awry. But in practice, he didn’t need to pretend.
“(Andrews) snapped it over, it was kind of at my head, so James couldn’t get his hand up there to get it,” Brady told The MMQB’s Peter King in an interview published Monday. “So the ball is laying on the ground, rolling around on a two-point play, on a direct snap when it is supposed to be right in James’ breadbasket. We come to the sideline, and it was like the last play of the whole week of practice. …
“We moved the field, we scored the touchdown, it was the last play of the whole day, and we ran the two-point conversion and we had a mistake, so who knows? I don’t think (offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels) lost confidence in that play, and certainly not losing confidence in David, because Dave has been a great player for us, and he has done it a hundred times right.”
In the game, Andrews’ snap was a perfect strike to White, who burrowed his way into the end zone. White went on to score two more touchdowns, including one in overtime, as the Patriots won 34-28 to claim their fifth Lombardi Trophy.
“It is a lot of concentration,” Brady told King. “Don’t give it away, catch a snap when you really don’t know it’s coming, so you have to react to it. Then after you catch the snap, read the blocks and get in at the most critical point in your career. I’d say that is a pretty incredible play.”
As Brady explained, the Patriots entered the game with three two-point plays in their playbook. They ended up using all three: one on White’s two-point conversion, one on another by Amendola in the final minute of regulation and the third on White’s game-winning touchdown — a 2-yard rush off a toss on the first possession of overtime.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
