In Super Bowl LII, the AFC champion New England Patriots faced off against the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles in Minnesota. The Patriots reached the Super Bowl by defeating the Titans and they also rallied back from a fourteen point deficit to beat the Jaguars. The Eagles held off the Falcons and upset the top ranked Vikings to move on to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots won the coin toss, and decided to start one of the largest offensive Super Bowls in history on defense. The Eagles seized their opportunity and drove down the field. However, the Patriots got a stop deep in the red zone, and the Eagles settled for a 25 yard field goal, putting them up 3-0 just seven minutes into the game. Despite being down, Tom Brady took his team down the field and into the same position, and Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 26 yard field goal, evening out the score 3 – 3.

Less than two minutes later, Eagles WR Alshon Jeffery caught a 34 yard pass, but after a missed PAT, of which there would be many, the Eagles were up 9-3. The Patriots responded by marching back down the field, setting up a 26 yard field goal. Despite the short distance, Gostkowski missed after a botched hold.

The Eagles took over, and two drives later, RB LeGarrette Blount rushed for a 21 yard Eagles touchdown. After failing to convert a two point conversion, they were up 15-3. The Patriots proceeded to get a field goal on the next drive, this one from 45 yards.

The Eagles started driving down the field, but the possession was quickly stopped by an interception deep downfield by Patriots’ safety Duron Harmon. The Patriots then went 90 yards in three minutes and scored a touchdown, only to mimic the Eagles and miss the PAT, putting the score at 15-12.

With 2:04 left, the Eagles took the ball and went down deep into Patriots territory. On 4th and goal, the Eagles pulled out a trick play, and Eagles WR Trey Burton threw a touchdown pass to QB Nick Foles. The Eagles converted the first PAT of the night and went up 22-12 at the half.

After Justin Timberlake performed the halftime show, the Patriots received the kickoff to start off a nearly defenseless second half. They went down the field and scored a touchdown off of a five yard touchdown pass to TE Rob Gronkowski, only to have the Eagles respond with a 22 yard touchdown pass to Corey Clement that put the Eagles up 29-19 with 7:18 left in the third quarter. Patriots WR Chris Hogan scored the next possession on a 26 yard pass, cutting the Eagles’ lead to just 29-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Eagles kicker Jake Elliott started off the fourth quarter with a 42 yard field goal, putting them up by 6. The Patriots then went up 33-32, and took their first lead of the night with 9:22 left in the game after Gronkowski used his height advantage to pull down the ball in the corner of the endzone. The Eagles took the ball and drove downfield to their own 45 yard line with 4:52 left in the game. After a timeout, they made the gutsy call to go for it. Immediately following the snap, Foles was under heavy pressure, and just got the ball out to TE Zach Ertz before he was brought to the ground. Ertz made the catch just beyond the first down marker, and continued the drive for the Eagles. Two and a half minutes later, Ertz was thrown to again, and ran it into the end zone. After a review, the officials ruled that Ertz had possession of the ball when it broke the plane of the end zone, and the touchdown was confirmed. Trying to go ahead by seven, the Eagles went for two, and came up empty once again, making it a 38-33 Eagles lead with 2:21 left.

The Patriots received the kickoff and looked to Brady to lead them down the field. Instead, on 2nd and 2, Eagles DE Brandon Graham forced the first and only sack of the game. The sack caused a fumble which was recovered by the Eagles. The Eagles managed to convert this into a field goal, extending their lead to 41-33 with 1:05 left. The Patriots took the ball, and drove to midfield with nine seconds left. Brady threw up a hail mary, and, like most hail marys, it fell to the ground, and the Eagles clinched their first Super Bowl in the history of the franchise.

Nick Foles was named the Super Bowl MVP. He threw for 373 yards and had 4 total touchdowns. This Super Bowl also set the record for total yards of offense with 1151 total yards, including an astounding 505 passing yards by Tom Brady.