American Football Super Bowl XXXVIIIInspired, perhaps, by Janet Jackson's partial disrobing in the half-time show, the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers turned what had all the makings of the dullest Super Bowl in history into one of the most thrilling."It was like there were two completely different games out there," marvelled Carolina's coach John Fox.
For the first 27 minutes Super Bowl XXXVIII had been an error-plagued defensive struggle, but with the half-time performers waiting in the wings both teams abruptly switched gears, transforming a scoreless draw into a wild-west shoot-out.
Over the final 33 minutes Tom Brady and Jake Delhomme threw three touchdown passes each, the teams combined for 62 points, and Adam Vinatieri's 41-yard field goal with four seconds left sealed the bargain, giving the Patriots a second NFL championship in three years.
With his kick Vinatieri also shed the goat's horns. While the Patriots were pushing the Panthers all over the field in the early going, he flubbed one easy field-goal attempt and had another blocked.
Until half-time drew nigh, the Patriots defenders had manhandled Delhomme unmercifully. The Cinderella quarterback completed only one of his first nine passes and was sacked three times in the first 20 minutes.
Then after the Patriots broke the ice with a five-yard Brady-to-Deion Branch touchdown with 3:05 left in the half. Delhomme came roaring back, completing four passes on a 95-yard drive, the last of them to Steve Smith for a 39-yard touchdown.
Brady retaliated with a touchdown drive of his own, connecting with David Givens to retake the lead, but following Vinatieri's short kick-off the Panthers manoeuvred into position for a field goal to make the score 14-10 at the intermission.
Justin Timberlake produced the climax to the half-time show when, at the conclusion of his duet with Jackson, he pulled down the top of her outfit, exposing her right breast to the audience of 71,125, along with millions of television viewers. He later apologised for what he called "the wardrobe malfunction".
Moments later, as the teams prepared for the second-half kick-off, an extra body lined up with the Panthers: a man wearing nothing but a jock strap and a pair of sneakers danced about on the field. The NFL and CBS apologised for Jackson's exposure, but no mention was made of the more troubling security breach.
After a scoreless third period, the teams matched touchdowns, but then with just under seven minutes left Delhomme lofted an 85-yard bomb to Muhsin Muhammad that gave Carolina a 22-21 lead.
Brady moved the Patriots back down the field, throwing to Mike Vrabel - a linebacker on secondment to the offence - for a touchdown and then feinting to help set up Kevin Faulk's two-point conversion, but the 29-22 lead lasted only until Proehl's touchdown catch tied the score a minute later, setting the stage for Vinatieri's redemption.
