James White’s direct-snap two-point conversion was a throwback to Kevin Faulk
Whoever thought James White would be the unexpected star of Super Bowl LI?
While it was quarterback Tom Brady who was named the game’s MVP, it was White who put up a Super Bowl-record 20 points, including the game-winning touchdown.
Eighteen of those points came in White’s three touchdowns. And two of them came in a play that evoked memories of another do-it-all Patriots running back — in another Super Bowl in Houston.
After cutting the Falcons’ lead to 10 on a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, the Patriots needed a two-point conversion to make it a one-score game Sunday. White, who was originally sent out wide, came back in motion before the snap to line up next to Brady. Instead of snapping the ball to the quarterback, White took the snap and dived ahead for the conversion.
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While the play perhaps surprised the Falcons’ defense, the direct snap is nothing new for longtime Patriots fans.
In fact, the play was eerily similar to Kevin Faulk’s two-point conversion in the 2004 Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers (which was also played in Houston’s NRG Stadium, then called Reliant Stadium). Just like White, Faulk lined up next to Brady in the shotgun and directly received the ball, as the quarterback faked taking the snap.
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It was not the last time the Patriots used Faulk in a direct-snap play on a two point conversion.
“It’s a play that we practiced every day, every week,” Faulk told Boston.com last year. “But we only ran it one time a year. It was that type of play.”
So let this be a warning to future Patriots opponents: On a crucial two-point conversion, watch for the direct snap.
