Desmond Howard returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and Brett Favre passed for two touchdowns and ran for a score as the Packers won their first Super Bowl in twenty-nine years.
Howard, en route to garnering the MVP trophy, equaled a Super Bowl record with 244 total return yards.
It was Favre's arm that struck first, as he hit Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown pass on the Packers' second play from scrimmage to take a 7-0 lead. Two plays later Doug Evans made a diving interception of Drew Bledsoe's pass at the 28-yard line, setting up Chris Jacke's field goal and giving the Packers a 10-0 lead just 6:18 into the Super Bowl.
The Patriots answered with touchdowns on their next two possessions. Craig Newsome's pass interference penalty set up the first touchdown and a 44-yard completion from Bledsoe to Terry Glenn preceeding Ben Coates's touchdown gave New England its first and only lead. The 24 combined first quarter points were the most in Super Bowl history.
Green Bay struck again 56 seconds into the second quarter as Favre hit Antonio Freeman with a Super Bowl-record 81-yard touchdown bomb. Jacke booted his second field goal on Green Bay's next possession. After a Mike Prior interception, Favre orchestrated a 74-yard, nearly 6-minute drive that concluded with a diving Favre touching the ball against the pylon to give Green Bay a 27-14 halftime lead.
Curtis Martin brought the Patriots to within a score by running in from 18 yards out with 3:27 left in the third quarter. But Howard broke the Patriots' spirit by returning the ensuing kickoff a Super Bowl-record 99 yards. Favre found Mark Chmura for the 2-point conversion to finish the scoring.
Bledsoe was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter as the Patriots never crossed midfield in four fourth-quarter possessions.
Reggie White set a Super Bowl record with three sacks. Favre completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards, with no interceptions. Bledsoe completed 11 more passes than Favre, but for just seven more yards, and threw four interceptions.
SCORING
New England 14 0 7 0 -- 21
Green Bay 10 17 8 0 -- 35
GB- Rison 54 pass from Favre (Jacke kick),
3:32 1st
GB- FG Jacke 37, 6:18 1st
NE- Byars 1 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick),
8:25 1st
NE- Coates 4 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick),
12:27 1st
GB- Freeman 81 pass from Favre (Jacke kick),
0:56 2nd
GB- FG Jacke 31, 6:45 2nd
GB- Favre 2 run (Jacke kick), 13:49 2nd
NE- Martin 18 run (Vinatieri kick), 11:33 3rd
GB- Howard 99 kick return (2-pt Chmura from
Favre, T-Formation), 11:50 3rd
TEAM STATISTICS N.E. G.B.
Total First Downs 16 16
Rushing 3 8
Passing 12 6
Penalty 1 2
Total Net Yardage 257 323
Total Offensive Plays 66 68
Avg. Gain per Offensive Play 3.9 4.8
Rushes 13 36
Yards Gained Rushing (Net) 43 115
Average Yards per Rush 3.3 3.2
Passes Attempted 48 27
Passes Completed 25 14
Had Intercepted 4 0
Tackled Attempting to Pass 5 5
Yards Lost Attempting to Pass 39 38
Yards Gained Passing (Net) 214 208
Punts 8 7
Average Distance 45.1 42.7
Punt Returns 4 6
Punt Return Yardage 30 90
Kickoff Returns 6 4
Kickoff Return Yardage 135 154
Interception Return Yardage 0 24
Fumbles 0 0
Own Fumbles Recovered 0 0
Opponent Fumbles Recovered 0 0
Penalties 2 3
Yards Penalized 22 41
Total Points Scored 21 35
Touchdowns 3 4
Rushing 1 1
Passing 2 2
Returns 0 1
Extra Points 3 4
Field Goals 0 2
Field Goals Attempted 0 0
Safeties 0 0
Third-Down Efficiency 4/14 3/15
Fourth-Down Efficiency 0/2 0/1
Time of Possession 25:45 34:15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Martin 11 42 18t 1
Bledsoe 1 1 1 0
Meggett 1 0 0 0
Green Bay No. Yds. LG TD
Levens 14 61 12 0
Bennett 17 40 10 0
Favre 4 12 12 1
Henderson 1 2 2 0
Passing
New England Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int.
Bledsoe 48 25 253 2 4
Green Bay Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int.
Favre 27 14 246 2 0
Receiving
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Coates 6 67 19 1
Glenn 4 62 44 0
Byars 4 42 32 1
Jefferson 3 34 14 0
Martin 3 28 20 0
Meggett 3 8 5 0
Brisby 2 12 7 0
Green Bay No. Yds. LG TD
Freeman 3 105 81t 1
Levens 3 23 14 0
Rison 2 77 54t 1
Henderson 2 14 8 0
Chmura 2 13 8 0
Jackson 1 10 10 0
Bennett 1 4 4 0
Interceptions
New England No. Yds. LG TD
None -- -- -- --
Green Bay No. Yds. LG TD
Brian Williams 1 16 16 0
Prior 1 8 8 0
Evans 1 0 0 0
Newsome 1 0 0 0
Punting
New England No. Avg. LG Blk.
Tupa 8 45.1 53 0
Green Bay No. Avg. LG Blk.
Hentrich 7 42.7 58 0
Punt Returns
New England No. FC Yds. LG TD
Meggett 4 2 30 20 0
Green Bay No. FC Yds. LG TD
Howard 6 1 90 34 0
Kickoff Returns
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Meggett 5 117 26 0
Graham 1 18 18 0
Green Bay No. Yds. LG TD
Howard 4 154 99t 1
New England Patriots Green Bay Packers
== Offense ==
Wohlabaugh, Dave C Winters, Frank C
Roberts, William G Taylor, Aaron G
Rucci, Todd G Timmerman, Adam G
Armstrong, Bruce T Dotson, Earl T
Lane, Max T Wilkerson, Bruce T
Byars, Keith TE Chmura, Mark TE
Coates, Ben TE Freeman, Antonio WR
Glenn, Terry WR Rison, Andre WR
Jefferson, Shawn WR Bennett, Edgar RB
Martin, Curtis RB Henderson, William FB
Bledsoe, Drew QB Favre, Brett QB
== Defense ==
Sagapolutele, Pio DT Brown, Gilbert DT
Wheeler, Mark DT Dotson, Santana DT
Collons, Ferric DE Jones, Sean DE
McGinest, Willie DE White, Reggie DE
Collins, Todd OLB Simmons, Wayne OLB
Slade, Chris OLB Williams, Brian OLB
Johnson, Ted MLB Cox, Ron MLB
Law, Ty CB Evans, Doug CB
Smith, Otis CB Newsome, Craig CB
Clay, Willie FS Robinson, Eugene FS
Milloy, Lawyer SS Butler, LeRoy SS
== Substitute ==
Bartrum, Mike Beebe, Don
Brisby, Vincent Dellenbach, Jeff
Brown, Corwin Harris, Bernardo
Bruschi, Tedy Hayes, Chris
Burke, John Hentrich, Craig
Eaton, Chad Holland, Darius
Gisler, Mike Hollinquest, Lamont
Graham, Hason Howard, Desmond
Grier, Marrio Jacke, Chris
Henderson, Jerome Jackson, Keith
Jones, Mike Jervey, Travis
Kratch, Bob Jones, Calvin
Lucas, Ray Knapp, Lindsay
McGruder, Mike Levens, Dorsey
Meggett, Dave McKenzie, Keith
Moore, Marty Michels, John
Ray, Terry Mickens, Terry
Sabb, Dwayne Mullen, Roderick
Sullivan, Chris Prior, Mike
Tupa, Tom Thomason, Jeff
Vinatieri, Adam Wilkins, Gabe
Whigham, Larry Williams, Tyrone
== Did Not Play ==
Reynolds, Ricky McMahon, Jim