Seahawks’ Matthews distinguishes himself
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Whenever Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews searched online for news about himself, he always had to add the word football.
Any other search for Chris Matthews almost always ended up with political talk show host Chris Matthews.
That will likely change after Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Despite his team losing to the New England Patriots, Matthews made a name for himself with a breakout game in the Super Bowl, catching four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.
“This is huge for me to finish a game and do what I did,” Matthews said. “Now I feel like I should come back and work extremely hard.”
During the Super Bowl, Matthews made a spectacular 44-yard catch to jumpstart Seattle’s offense in the second quarter and hauled in an 11-yard touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half.
Closing brawl
The end of the Super Bowl was marred by a brawl in the closing seconds.
Instead of accepting defeat, the Seahawks tried to rush the line and get to the ball before Brady could take a knee, setting off pushing and shoving from both sides.
Skirmishes broke out across the line and a couple of players hit the ground, including New England tight end Michael Hoomanawanui, who was wrestled down by Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin.
Irvin was ejected.
“I was protecting a teammate, emotions flew,” Irvin said. “I saw somebody hit Mike Bennett, so I went and backed up my brother. I went about it wrong. Emotions were flying high and I apologize. But if it happened again, I would go protect my teammate. That’s just how it is.”
Pats pick on Simon
Long before the end of a wild Super Bowl, Seattle cornerback Jeremy Lane made a big play, then went down with a gruesome arm injury.
The Patriots immediately went after Lane’s replacement, Tharold Simon, and beat him again and again and again. Two of Tom Brady’s touchdowns were thrown to receivers that were being defended by Simon – to Brandon LaFell and Julian Edelman. He also allowed a long play that set up a third score.
“Simon was out there back-to-back-to back, and I was like ‘We should take advantage of this,’ ” LaFell said. “Simon is a good guy. He’s going to be great. We’re a team that’s all predicated on finding the mismatch. We just kept finding the mismatch and kept going at it.”