Things got off to a fairly even start, with each team hitting field goals to open the scoring. Philadelphia landed the first big shot when Nick Foles hooked up with Alshon Jeffery on a fantastic 34 yard touchdown pass. New England had a chance to answer with points, but surprisingly Stephen Gostkowski missed a chip shot field goal, after a muffed snap. One of the big plays from a Patriots perspective came with 13:11 left in the opening quarter, when Brandon Cooks got popped with a hit, which appeared to be a helmet to helmet contact hit, and was lost for the rest of the game. Once Cooks went down, some weren't sure how New England could possibly overcome from it. Four minutes later, Philadelphia increased their lead on a LeGarrette Blount 21 Yard scamper for a score. New England fought back and managed to cut the Philadelphia lead to three. As we came down to the end of the first half, Philadelphia managed to pull this beauty play out of the bag to increase their lead again:
This was a play that was made in response to New England trying the exact same thing earlier in the 2nd quarter, but the Patriots came up short on the play. So Philadelphia goes into the half up 22-12. Once the second half got rolling, it looked like the Patriots did what they do best, make the proper in game adjustment.
New England marched down the field to start the 2nd half with a touchdown drive that saw Tom Brady hook up with Rob Gronkowski four different times on the drive, including the touchdown from five yards out. The teams traded off scoring drives the rest of the half, Philadelphia scored a touchdown (tight end Corey Clement from 22 yards out and it had to be reviewed to make sure he held the ball). Then Brady hit Chris Hogan from 26 yards out to cut the Eagles lead to three. Jake Elliott hit a 46 yard field goal to up the lead to six. New England wouldn't go away and Brady found Gronkowski again with a little over nine minutes left in the game to give the Patriots a one point lead. Philadelphia wasn't phased. Philadelphia chewed seven minutes off the clock and Foles found Zach Ertz from 11 yards out to give the Eagles a 38-33 lead.
New England's next drive lead to the biggest defensive play of the game. With 2:16 left in the game, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham stripped the ball from Brady and Derek Barnett managed to come up with the football. One minute later, Jake Elliott hit a 46 yard field goal to put the game out of reach and clinch the title for the Eagles.
Nick Foles walked away with MVP honors, finishing the game going 28 of 43 for 373 yards three touchdowns and one pick. The rest of the Eagles had a pretty good game too. Blunt finished with 90 yards on 14 carries, Jefferry had three catches for 74 yards, Nelson Agholor had nine catches for 84 yards, Zach Ertz had seven catches for 67 yards and Corey Clement had four catches for 100 yards. New England had a pretty impressive day too. Brady finished the day going 28 for 48 for 505 yards and three touchdowns. James white had seven carries for 45 yards, Rob Gonkowski had nine catches for 116 yards, Chris Hogan had six catches for 128 yards and Danny Amendola had eight catches for 152 yards.
There were a few records set in this game. The 1,151 yards gained in this game were the most yards by both teams in a game, regular season or playoffs, in NFL history. The 42 passing first downs were the most in a Super Bowl as was the 847 total combined passing yards. New England's 33 points was the most points scored in a Super Bowl by a losing team.
In one of the wildest Super Bowls of all time, the Eagles of Philadelphia flew the highest. Congratulations to the Eagles on winning Super Bowl 52!
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