Green Bay Sends Patriots Packing
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Say “cheese.”
The Green Bay Packers, considered the best team in football for most of the season, confirmed it Sunday with a 35-21 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans.
The Packers were awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach who led them to the first two Super Bowl titles.
Desmond Howard, the game’s MVP, set up the first touchdown with a punt return, and his 99-yard kickoff return clinched the victory, thrilling Green Bay “cheesehead” fans.
The Packers took control less than four minutes into the game on a 54-yard pass from Brett Favre to Andre Rison, and it looked as if the NFC would cruise to its 13th consecutive victory over the AFC. But then New England’s Drew Bledsoe threw two touchdown passes to give the Patriots a 14-10 lead.
Favre later found Antonio Freeman for an 81-yard score, the longest touchdown pass in Super Bowl history, but Green Bay couldn’t put the Patriots away until Howard’s kickoff return in the third quarter.
That return, the fourth for a touchdown in Super Bowl history, was also a record.
* SUPER BOWL SECTION
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