Super Bowl XXXI Packers 35 Patriots 21

The Packers dominated the Patriots on both sides of the ball, outgaining New England 323 yards to 257 and intercepting quarterback Drew Bledsoe four times. Packers defensive lineman Reggie White set a Super Bowl record with three sacks, including back-to-back takedowns in the 3rd quarter.

Green Bay forced New England to punt on the opening possession of the game and started their first drive with great field position after receiver Desmond Howard returned the ball 32 yards to the Packers 46-yard line. Green Bay then opened up the scoring with Brett Favre's 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison on their second offensive play of the game. Then on the Patriots' ensuing drive, Packers defensive back Doug Evans intercepted a pass from Bledsoe at the New England 28-yard line. On the first play after the turnover, New England lineman Ferric Collons sacked Favre for a 10-yard loss, but running back Dorsey Levens rushed for 4 yards and caught a pass for 14 over the next two plays, setting up Chris Jacke's 37-yard field goal to make the score 10–0.

New England stormed back, scoring touchdowns on each of their next 2 possessions. On the second play of the Patriots ensuing drive, Bledsoe completed a 32-yard screen pass to fullback Keith Byars and followed it up with a "dump-off" pass to running back Curtis Martin, who caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and ran 20 yards to the Packers 27-yard line before being tackled. Bledsoe then threw three straight incompletions, but on the third one, Packers defensive back Craig Newsome was called for a 26-yard pass interference penalty, giving New England a first down at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Bledsoe completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Byars to cut his team's deficit to 10–7.

New England's defense then forced the Packers to punt from their own 17-yard line after a three-and-out, giving the Patriots the ball back after running back Dave Meggett received Craig Hentrich's 39-yard punt at the New England 43-ya...

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.

Return to Glory

After suffering through a week of Patriots blather, the Packers got on with the business of winning their first NFL title in 29 years

by Michael Silver

In the heat of a moment that will forever define Super Bowl XXXI, Desmond Howard couldn’t escape the chill of wounded pride. Even as Howard, the Green Bay Packers’ nonpareil return man, raced down the Louisiana Superdome field on Sunday with the New England Patriots’ kickoff-coverage team in his wake, he carried a Tuna-sized chip on his shoulder. With an estimated 800 million people worldwide watching him seize the day, Howard thought only of one man—Patriots coach Bill (Tuna) Parcells—and said to himself, I can’t believe he’s rolling the dice and kicking me the ball. After the game Howard said, “I knew that sooner or later I was going to scorch ’em.”

As he reached the midpoint of his Super Bowl-record 99-yard kickoff return, Howard ran right past Parcells, who at that juncture probably had as good a chance of tackling him as anyone. But as Howard raced for the touchdown that turned a tense game into an emphatic Green Bay triumph, Parcells could only stand helplessly on the sideline and watch.