A Very Brady Ending

HOUSTON -- Houston, we have a champion. And once again, the New England Patriots have Adam Vinatieri's foot to thank for a Super Bowl victory.\nVinatieri gave New England its second NFL championship in three seasons with a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left for a thrilling 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night.\nVinatieri earlier missed a field goal and had another one blocked. But as he did in 2002 when he kicked the winning field goal to beat St. Louis on the final play of the Super Bowl, he proved he is perhaps the NFL's best clutch kicker.\nFor a contest that was scoreless for a record 27 minutes, this game was one of the all-time offensive shows between two of the NFL's best defenses.\nThere were 37 points scored in the fourth quarter alone, and Tom Brady, who led New England on its winning drive, was 32 of 48 for 354 yards and three touchdowns.\nBrady was voted the game's MVP for the second time in three seasons, although he did throw an interception that prevented New England from winning more easily.\n"There have been some heart attacks, but they've come out on top," said coach Bill Belichick, whose team won its 15th straight game.\nCarolina had tied the game at 29 with its third fourth-quarter TD on a 12-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 left. Then John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds to give New England field position at its own 40.\nBrady moved the Patriots 37 yards in six plays, hitting Deion Branch to set up Vinatieri's winning kick.\n"I looked up, and it was going right down the middle," he said.\nThe kick prevented the Super Bowl from going into what would be the first overtime in its history.\nThe Patriots led 14-10 at the half, and after a scoreless third quarter, they made it 21-10 on the second play of the fourth on a 2-yard run by Antowain Smith. It capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive, featuring a 33-yard pass from Brady to tight end Daniel Graham.\nCarolina wasn't about to give up, though, scoring on DeShaun Foster's 33-yard run on a six-play, 81-yard drive. But the 2-point conversion pass was behind Muhsin Muhammad, and it was 21-16. The decision to go for two would come back to haunt coach John Fox.\nThe Patriots seemed ready to put the game away when they got the ball back, but Brady made a rare mistake -- throwing an off-balance pass that Reggie Howard intercepted in the end zone.\nTwo plays later, Delhomme found Muhammad behind the New England defense for an 85-yard score, the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history, to give the Panthers a 22-21 lead with 6:53 left. Fox again went for the two-point conversion and failed.\nBrady came back with the TD pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel with 2:51 remaining, and Kevin Faulk ran in for the two-point conversion to give New England a 29-22 lead.\nAbout two minutes later, Delhomme and Proehl hooked up to tie the game, setting up Vinatieri's heroics.\nThe game was scoreless longer than any previous Super Bowl -- nearly 27 minutes.\nThen the teams got going -- 24 points in the final 3:05 of the first half that left the Patriots with a 14-10 lead.\nNew England dominated that dormant period and finally took a 7-0 lead on the first of two 5-yard TD passes by Brady. The quarterback found Branch after Vrabel had sacked Delhomme, forcing a fumble and giving New England the ball at the Carolina 20.\nAt that point, New England had outgained Carolina 125 yards to minus-7, and Delhomme was 1 of 9 for 1 yard and had been sacked three times.\nBut the Patriots' touchdown seemed to wake up the Panthers. Delhomme led Carolina on a 95-yard drive, tied for second longest in Super Bowl history, capping it with a 39-yard TD pass to Steve Smith, who beat Tyrone Poole in single coverage. That tied it at 7-7 with 1:14 left in the half.\nBrady came right back, hitting Branch for 52 yards behind Ricky Manning Jr. to set up the second 5-yard TD pass, this time to Givens.\nCarolina wasn't finished, either.\nVinatieri squibbed the kickoff and Kris Mangum returned it 12 yards to his own 47. With 12 seconds and a timeout left, the Panthers crossed up the Patriots by handing the ball to Stephen Davis, who rushed 21 yards to the New England 32.\nAfter a timeout, Kasay kicked a 50-yard field goal to close the half.\nNew England looked as if it might get off to a quick start, shutting down the Panthers on their first possession, then moving to the Carolina 13 after Troy Brown's 28-yard punt return.\nBut Vinatieri's 31-yard field-goal attempt was wide right. It was only the third time he had missed indoors in 34 attempts, all of them in Houston.\nThe Patriots continued to keep the Panthers backed up.\nCarolina got its first first down with just over two minutes left in the first quarter on a holding penalty on New England's Ty Law but had to punt three plays later. Carolina's defense held up its end -- Will Witherspoon ended another Patriots threat by dumping Brown for a 10-yard loss on a reverse to take New England out of field-goal range.\nWith just under nine minutes left in the second quarter, the Patriots reached the Carolina 38. Brady's third-down sneak was barely stopped, then Antowain Smith barely got the six inches on fourth down, a spot that was upheld on replay.\nThe Patriots reached the 18, but Vinatieri's 36-yard attempt was blocked by Shane Burton.\nThree plays later, Vrabel stripped Delhomme and Richard Seymour recovered.\nOn third-and-7, Brady, the self-described "slowest quarterback in the league," scrambled up the middle to the 5. On the next play, he found Branch in the end zone for the game's first score.