50 Most Memorable Super Bowl Moments, No. 2: Malcolm Butler picks off Seahawks
As the NFL approaches its highly anticipated golden anniversary Super Bowl, Yahoo Sports takes a look back at some of the most memorable moments in the game’s history.
In our rankings, the moments go beyond the great scores and plays. We also take a look at entertainment performances, scandals/controversies and other events associated with corresponding Super Bowls.
Here’s a look at moment No. 3:
Butler intercepts Wilson
The young man who delivered that title was walking off the field, surrounded by his defensive teammates, tears streaming down his face.
It’s an oft-repeated cliché, especially by the desperate: all I need is a chance. Well more than a decade earlier, Brady, the 199th pick in the NFL draft who has always worn that chip like one of his impeccably tailored suits, got his chance, though it came at the expense of a scary injury to teammate Drew Bledsoe.
Early in 2014, Malcolm Butler was calling Frantzy Jourdain, a New England Patriots scout whom he’d been talking to for weeks, begging Jourdain to get him a chance with the Patriots. A small corner (he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 190 pounds) from an even smaller school (Division II West Alabama), Butler had garnered some interest from teams during the pre-draft process, but it disappeared after he ran an unacceptably slow 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash at his pro day. So Butler called Jourdain, and after the draft, the Patriots offered Butler a chance: a tryout during their first post-draft spring camp.
Butler made an immediate impression, knocking down passes and intercepting Brady, endearing himself to a tight-knit defensive backs group in New England. The audition led to a contract, and Butler earned a spot on the 53-man roster. By the end of his rookie season, he was a regular member of the defense.
At Super Bowl XLIX, though, Butler thought his chance to be the hero had turned into him becoming the goat, when Seattle Seahawks’ receiver Jermaine Kearse made a logic-defying catch, corralling the ball after it bounced between his legs as he fell, tapping it to himself as he lay on his back on the University of Phoenix grass.
For Patriots fans, and for the players and coaches who had been on the team during Super Bowl XLII, in the same building, Kearse’s catch brought back bad memories, of the New York Giants’ David Tyree making another near-impossible grab for one of the most iconic plays in the game’s history.
Butler was crestfallen, convinced the 33-yard catch he’d “allowed” – though, really, there was no way to pin it on him – giving Seattle first-and-goal from the 5-yard line, would lead to the Patriots losing.
Except teammate Dont’a Hightower, playing with one good arm after completely tearing his labrum weeks earlier, stopped Marshawn Lynch at the 1. New England’s chances were still alive.
Butler and Brandon Browner lined up for the next snap on the left side of the defense, and as soon as the ball was snapped, Butler cut sharply inside. He knew exactly where quarterback Russell Wilson was going with the ball, and got to it a blink before Ricardo Lockette. Interception.
Given another chance, Butler became the hero.
Brady started jumping up and down, hooting and hollering, grabbing his helmet, and then offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for a hug. Butler couldn’t contain his emotions, overwhelmed by the enormity of the moment and what he’d just done, enveloped by his teammates.
“I just had a vision,” Butler said, according to the Denver Post, “that I was going to make a big play.”
In the nearly 50-year history of the Super Bowl, it was quite possibly the biggest play, the capper to one of the greatest games the NFL has ever seen. And it was made possible by an undersized player from a tiny school who, just 10 months earlier, was begging for a chance.
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