HOUSTON — Sometimes, lives change forever at Super Bowls.
Every year at this time, as much drama is centered on what little-known player might become the unlikely hero as there is for what the actual result of the game will be.
In Super Bowl LI on Sunday night at NRG Stadium, we got a double-dose of drama — a stunning, 34-28 comeback overtime victory by the Patriots over the Falcons and yet another in a long line of unlikely heroes: New England utility running back James White, whose life will change forever after his performance.
In the big picture, what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did en route to yet another Super Bowl MVP was beyond words.
But it was James White who willed the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl title in franchise history. He scored three TDs, including the game-winning walk-off score — a 2-yard rushing touchdown 3:48 into overtime.
White caught a Super Bowl-record 14 passes for 110 yards, breaking the record held by Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas. He, too, rushed for 29 yards on six carries, with two of those carries going for TDs, matching his career total in rushing TDs. White, too, scored a crucial two-point conversion that kept the Patriots’ comeback alive.
His game-winning score was a microcosm of the entire New England record-setting second-half comeback in that he was not going to be denied.
Falcons safety Ricardo Allen had White by the legs first short of the goal line, then cornerbacks Robert Alford and Jalen Collins hit him high. And that still was not enough as he bulled his way across the plane of the goal line to end one of the most thrilling Super Bowls in the game’s 51-year history.
“When I saw the hole, I said, ‘I’ve got to get in,’ ’’ White said. “It was just a great call by [offensive coordinator Josh] McDaniels. The offensive line did a great job of blocking, and I just found a way into the end zone. We went into the locker room at the half and said the game wasn’t over.’’
So it wasn’t.
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Tom Brady seals it: There's no debating who greatest ever is 0:0 HOUSTON — It was somehow overtime now, the first overtime… White’s first score, a 5-yard TD reception from Brady with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter, cut the Atlanta lead to 28-9. After a Brady scoring pass to Danny Amendola, White scored on a two-point conversion to make it a one-possession game at 28-20 with 5:56 remaining in regulation.
White then scored from 1-yard out with 57 seconds remaining in regulation to cut the Atlanta lead to 28-26 before the Patriots converted yet another two-point conversion to send to overtime at 28-28.
That, of course, set up White’s game-winning TD — his third of the Super Bowl after he’d scored five in the previous 18 games.
And so another unlikely, little-known Super Bowl hero was born.
White, who’d scored nine career TDs entering Sunday, now joins the long line of unlikely Super Bowl heroes — Packers receiver Max McGee in Super Bowl I, Redskins running back Timmy Smith, Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown, Giants receiver David Tyree, Rams linebacker Mike Jones, Steelers receiver Antwaan Randle El, Saints safety Tracy Porter, Buccaneers linebacker Dexter Jackson, Packers receiver Desmond Howard and teammate Malcolm Butler, the Patriots cornerback who was the most recent of these special stories to unfold.
Butler, of course, made that game-sealing INT of the pass by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to Ricardo Lockette two years ago.
“I’m a valuable lesson of just be ready when your name is called,” Butler said before Sunday’s game. “We all fantasize and have a vision of making a big play … but sometimes we think if we dream too big and it’s never going to happen.
“I am definitely known for that play — making one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. It helped my career. I got us a ring.’’
And that’s exactly what James White did.
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