In the dying moments of Super Bowl XLIX, the New England Patriots seemed destined to lose. 

The team found istelf backed up against its own goal line and desperately trying to  cling to a thin four-point lead over the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. 

Less than two minutes after quarterback Tom Brady found wide receiver Julian Edelman in the end zone to take the lead, the Seahawks found themselves on the cusp of scoring after a marvelous tumbling catch. Seahawks wide receiver Jermaine Kearse reeled in a ball that bounced off his own legs, setting Seattle up inside the New England red zone. 

After the catch, Kearse seemed destined to go down in Super Bowl history with the likes of David Tyree and Santonio Holmes, receivers who came up with big catches in the biggest stage’s final moments.

Following a run by Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks lined up at the half-yard line but elected to try to complete a pass instead of hand the ball off too Lynch. On the ensuing pass, Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler stepped in front of the ball and intercepted Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, taking the ball out to the two yard-line and sealing the victory for the Pats.

“I was so emotional,” Butler said after the game ended. “I had a feeling I was going to make a big play, but not that big.” 

Though the Patriots needed to be rescued by their defense, the team had little trouble moving the ball against the top-ranked Seahawks defense. Brady—who won his fourth title with coach Bill Belichick and third Super Bowl MVP award—carved up a weakened Seattle defense to the tune of 328 passing yards, four touchdowns and a 101.1 Quarterback Rating. He was, however, picked off twice in the entirety of the game.

Meanwhile, Edelman caught nine passes for 109 yards and caught a first-quarter touchdown. Edelman was just the fourth receiver against the Seahwaks this season to record more than 100 yards in a game. 

Tight end Rob Gronkowski hauled in six catches for 68 yards and a second-quarter touchdown that gave New England a 14-7 lead.

Knotted at 14 after halftime, the Seahawks raced out to a 24-14 lead within the first seven minutes of the third quarter. 

The Patriots became just the third team to come back after being down by 10 points in a Super Bowl. 

Early in the fourth quarter, Brady found wide receiver Danny Amendola for a score to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 24-21. 

The New England defense forced Seattle into a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, using up just 55 seconds of game clock and got the ball back to Brady with 6:52 left in the game.

Brady found Gronkowski twice on the game-winning drive, picking up almost half of Gronkowski’s receiving yards on the final drive. 

Just before the two-minute warning, Edelman spun off his defender and was wide open in the end zone, hauling in the eventual game-winning score.

It took Seattle six plays to set up shop inside the New England one yard line, poised to become the first back-to-back champions since the Patriots repeated in 2004 and 2005. But Wilson elected to throw the ball on second down, and Butler made an athletic, diving interception, leaving many to question why Seattle did not give the ball to Lynch.

“[We] didn’t want to run against their goal-line group,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll after the game. “We had plenty of time to win the game and … we were playing for third and fourth down, giving [New England] no time left.” 

Instead of repeat championships, Seattle is left to ponder what could have been while Boston fires up the duck boats for the fourth time in the Brady-Belichick era.