GLENDALE, Ariz. – Chris Matthews’ first time touching the football in the NFL was a pretty big deal. So was his second. And his third.
Matthews, who recovered an onside kick for the Seattle Seahawks that helped send them to the Super Bowl, had never caught a pass in the NFL before Sunday. The onside kick recovery late in the NFC championship game against the Packers was the first time he had touched the ball in the NFL. But when the Seahawks desperately needed someone to get open in the first half, they called his number and the 6-foot-5 rookie delivered. Twice.
Matthews made a beautiful 44-yard catch late in the second quarter, despite great coverage by Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch to tie Super Bowl XLIX 7-7. Then when the Seahawks put together a long drive in the final half-minute of the first half, Matthews finished it with an 11-yard touchdown catch with two seconds left to send the Super Bowl into halftime with a 14-14 score.
Of all the possible Super Bowl storylines, nobody expected Matthews to be the hero of the first half.
The story for most of the first half was Seattle’s inability to move the ball. Before the drive that ended with Lynch’s touchdown, the Seahawks had one first down and 22 yards of offense. Russell Wilson didn’t have a completion until about 5:30 remained in the second quarter. It was similar to his struggles against the Packers in the first half, when he didn’t complete a pass until 3:30 remained in the first half. Matthews helped give them a boost.
Neither team moved the ball much until late in the first half. They played the seventh scoreless first quarter in Super Bowl history, and it was scoreless mostly because Tom Brady threw a terrible third-down interception with the Patriots in field-goal range to Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane.
Brandon LaFell got the Patriots on the board first with an 11-yard touchdown, Lynch answered for the Seahawks, then Rob Gronkowski made a nice 22-yard touchdown grab with 31 seconds left in the half. It looked like that would be good enough to give the Patriots a halftime lead, but the Seahawks had a great drive, capped off by their unexpected hero's touchdown catch.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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