09:52 AM EST on Monday, February 2, 2004

By TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- There are simply no more superlatives.

For the second time in three years, Patriots kicker Adam Vinateri kicked the game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl, drilling a 41-yarder with four seconds remaining to deliver the Patriots a 32-29 win in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

This win, in the greatest Super Bowl ever played, caps one of the greatest NFL seasons ever as the Patriots finished the season with 15 straight wins and a 17-2 record.

Teetering on the brink of an unthinkable loss to the resilient Panthers, the Patriots took over at their own 40 with the score tied at 29 and 1:08 remaining.

With their two starting safeties -- Eugene Wilson and Rodney Harrison -- injured, the Patriots couldn't afford to go to overtime.

That's where Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady (32 for 48 for 354 yards, three TDs and an interception) took over. Moving the Patriots out to midfield, the drive was in trouble when a completion to Troy Brown in Carolina territory was wiped out by pass interference. But Brady hit Brown again, and then -- on the drive's key play -- hit wide receiver Deion Branch for 17 yards down to the Carolina 23 with nine seconds left.

"Tom's is a winner," said head coach Bill Belichick. "That's what a quarterback's job is, to make the team win. Tom does that as well as anybody."

Said Pats offensive coordinator Charlie Weis: "Who would you rather have run a two-minute drive at the end of the game than Tom Brady?"

"He's the two-time Super Bowl MVP," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "But I think the good thing about Tom is he'll always call it a team victory."

Carolina burned a timeout, then Vinatieri -- with thousands of camer strobes flashing -- ripped the 41-yarder down the middle to end it.

"Put it up there with our win two years ago," said Bruschi. "It started out living up to its billing, but then the floodgates opened and it turned out we just needed one more play and it came down to Tom and Adam.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach WORLD CHAMPS: With running back Antowain Smith at left, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady holds the Lombardi Trophy following last night's 32-29 win over the Panthers.

"There was no doubt it was going to go through," Bruschi said of Vinatieri. "He could miss the previous 10 kicks but he's got mental toughness and time and time again he's come through for us."

In a game that began with nearly 27 scoreless minutes, the fourth quarter ended with 37 combined points being scored as the lead changed hands twice.

"It was a great game to watch; it wasn't a great game to coach," said Belichick. "I was having a heart attack there."

For months, as the Patriots extended their winning streak, Belichick bristled at talk of his team's place in history.

Asked last night, he said, "You win 15 in a row and then win a Super Bowl championship, that's pretty good. I think it can be talked about with some of the other teams that have had good accomplishments. Right now, I'm still kind of on Cloud 9."

New England appeared to have the game sealed when Antowain Smith scored from 2 yards out on the second play of the fourth quarter to make it 21-10. But Carolina, whose running game had been bottled up, returned serve on a 33-yard DeShaun Foster touchdown to make it 21-16 with 7:06 left.

Again, the Patriots looked to have the Panthers in a headlock when they drove to the Carolina 9 with 7:53 left, but Brady -- getting pressure in his face -- couldn't step into a throw to tight end Christian Fauria and was picked off by Reggie Howard. Three plays later, Carolina made it 22-21 on a stunning 85-yard pass from the brilliant Jake DelHomme to Muhsin Muhammad. The two-point conversion failed, but still, the Patriots trailed for the first time since Nov. 23.

Taking over with 6:53 left at their own 32, the Pats went 68 yards in 11 plays with key completions of 25 and 18 yards to David Givens. The Pats capped it with Brady's 1-yard flip to Mike Vrabel with 2:55 left. The Pats got the conversion on a direct-snap to Faulk and it was 29-22.

But again, the Panthers wouldn't stay dead. They got two runs for 16 yards on a drive that started with 2:43 left and New England -- which was having a Super Bowl for the ages defensively -- suddenly couldn't stop Delhomme.

He hit Muhammad for 19 and Ricky Proehl for 31 before hitting Proehl on third-and-8 from the Pats 12 with 1:13 left.

Turns out, they left too much time.

Bruschi was asked if he'd have to watch the game again to process everything that happened he said, "I was on the field saying, 'What's going on? What's going on?!' They were moving the ball up and down the field, our offense is going up and down the field. It happened before the half and then, all of a sudden, in the fourth, here we go again. The fans got their money's worth."

The fourth-quarter flurry was foreshadowed by an outburst at the end of the first half. The New England defense forced Delhomme to start 1-for-9. At one point late in the half it hadn't allowed the Panthers positive total yardage. The Pats were still struggling to forge ahead as Vinatieri missed a field goal, had another blocked and the Pats backed out of field-goal range with a 10-yard loss on a reverse.

But New England finally broke through when linebacker Mike Vrabel strip-sacked Delhomme and Richard Seymour recovered. The Pats went up, 7-0, on a 5-yard toss to Branch. But Delhomme answered with a 39-yard strike to Steve Smith over Tyrone Poole to tie it with 1:14 left.

Back came the Patriots, as Brady hit Branch for 52 yards and then -- on third-and-1 from the 5 -- Brady hit Givens on play-action.

The Pats then squibbed the kickoff with 18 seconds left and that turned out to be a mistake as Davis (13 carries, 49 yards) went for 21 to set up a 50-yard John Kasay field goal with no time left in the half.