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GREEN BAY 35, NEW ENGLAND 21Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, La., Sunday, Jan. 26, 1997; Attendance: 72,301; Time: 3:21; Weather: (indoors)Using several momentum-turning bigplays, the Packers held off resilient NewEngland to capture their first world championshipin 29 years. For Green Bay, thevictory also marked its league-high 12thNFL championship as well as its thirdSuper Bowl triumph.The Packers jumped to an early 10-0lead. Brett Favre, sensing a Patriots blitz,audibled on Green Bay’s second play fromscrimmage, hitting late-season pickupAndre Rison on a wide-open post pattern for a 54-yard touchdownpass. On the ensuing New England possession, Doug Evans interceptedDrew Bledsoe at the Patriots’ 28, which led to a 37-yard fieldgoal by Chris Jacke.New England then was able to turn the tide in its favor, however,as Bledsoe took his club on two long drives for touchdowns. Thefirst, which covered 79 yards and culminated in a short pass toKeith Byars, was aided by two long throws to Pats running backsand a 26-yard pass interference penalty. The second, starting atthe New England 43, was spurred by a leaping, 44-yard receptionby rookie Terry Glenn. When Ben Coates caught a 4-yard TD passfrom Bledsoe, the Patriots momentarily had their only lead of thegame and had completed the highest-scoring first quarter in SuperBowl history.Green Bay rebounded to retake the lead when Favre, seeingPatriots’ strong safety Lawyer Milloy at the line of scrimmage intight coverage on Antonio Freeman, watchedFreeman elude Milloy’s “bump” and lofted aperfect aerial to Freeman along the right sideline.Freeman, able to outrun New England’slate-arriving free safety, covered 81 yardsfor the longest reception in Super Bowlhistory at that time. After another Jacke fieldgoal, Favre took advantage of a Mike Priorinterception and escorted his troops on anine-play, 74-yard march just before halftimewhich ended when, on a bootleg left, helunged the ball over the goal line as he wasrolling out of bounds.1 2 3 4 TotalNew England. . . . . 14 0 7 0 — 21Green Bay . . . . . . . 10 17 8 0 — 35SUPER BOWL XXXITeam Qtr Time Play Description (Extra Point) (Drive Info) NE GBPackers 1 11:28 A.Rison 54 yd. pass from B.Favre (C.Jacke kick) (2-55, 0:51) . . 0 7Packers 1 8:42 C.Jacke 37 yd. Field Goal (4-9, 1:58) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 10Patriots 1 6:35 K.Byars 1 yd. pass from D.Bledsoe (A.Vinatieri kick) (6-79, 2:07). . 7 10Patriots 1 2:33 B.Coates 4 yd. pass from D.Bledsoe (A.Vinatieri kick)(4-57, 2:11). . 14 10Packers 2 14:04 A.Freeman 81 yd. pass from B.Favre (C.Jacke kick) (1-81, 0:10) . . 14 17Packers 2 8:15 C.Jacke 31 yd. Field Goal (8-33, 2:58) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 20Packers 2 1:11 B.Favre 2 yd. run (C.Jacke kick) (9-74, 5:59). . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 27Patriots 3 3:27 C.Martin 18 yd. run (A.Vinatieri kick) (7-53, 3:25). . . . . . . . . 21 27Packers 3 3:10 D.Howard 99 yd. kickoff return (M.Chmura-B.Favre pass). . . 21 35Taking a 27-14 edge out of the locker room at halftime, GreenBay maintained that lead until late in the third quarter, when thePatriots’ Curtis Martin made a magnificent 18-yard run up themiddle of the Packers’ defense to pull New England to within sixpoints at 27-21.That margin was short-lived,though, as Desmond Howardreturned the ensuing kickoff 99yards for a back-breaking touchdown(the longest kick return inSuper Bowl history at the time),bursting through the center of thePackers’ well-blocked wedge, thenjuking kicker Adam Vinatieri to boltfree. Howard, who had 244 totalreturn yards in the game includingkey punt runbacks of 32 and34 yards, was voted the game’smost valuable player, becomingthe first special teams player to beso honored. A subsequent, successful two-point conversion, whereFavre found Mark Chmura along the back of the end zone, gave theGreen and Gold an insurmountable two-touchdown lead.The top-ranked Green Bay defense, which had four interceptionsof Bledsoe, was led by Reggie White, who sacked the New Englandquarterback a Super Bowl-record three times, including twice ina row on the possession immediately following Howard’s scoringreturn.Favre, playing less thanan hour from his hometownof Kiln, Miss., completed 14of 27 passes for 246 yardsand two touchdowns withoutan interception, whilehis counterpart, Bledsoe,threw for 253 yards andtwo scores on 25-of-48passing.New England PatriotsGreen Bay PackersOffense Defense Offense DefenseWR 84 S.Jefferson LE 92 F.Collons WR 86 A.Freeman LE 92 R.WhiteLT 78 B.Armstrong LT 97 M.Wheeler LT 64 B.Wilkerson DT 71 S.DotsonLG 76 W.Roberts RT 75 P.Sagapolutele LG 73 A.Taylor NT 93 Gi.BrownC 64 D.Wohlabaugh RE 55 W.McGinest C 52 F.Winters RE 96 S.JonesRG 71 T.Rucci LLB 53 C.Slade RG 63 A.Timmerman LLB 59 W.SimmonsRT 68 M.Lane MLB 52 T.Johnson RT 72 E.Dotson MLB 54 R.CoxTE 87 B.Coates RLB 59 T.Collins TE 89 M.Chmura RLB 51 B.WilliamsWR 88 T.Glenn LCB 24 T.Law WR 84 A.Rison LCB 21 C.NewsomeQB 11 D.Bledsoe RCB 45 O.Smith QB 4 B.Favre RCB 33 D.EvansRB 28 C.Martin SS 36 L.Milloy RB 34 E.Bennett SS 36 L.ButlerFB 41 K.Byars FS 32 W.Clay FB 30 W.Henderson FS 41 E.RobinsonReferee: Gerald Austin (34)FIELD GOALS (made ( ) & missed)C.Jacke (37) (31) 47WRCOMMUNITYPACKERS SUPER BOWLSADMIN. &COACHESDRAFT &VETERANS FREE AGENTS 2012 REVIEWSUPERBOWLSLAMBEAUFIELD MISC.continued on next page463