BRADY BRINGS IT HOME -- AGAIN Madden Sees the Pats Winning it All Maybe it just took the New England Patriots a little while to defrost. After playing two home playoff games in frigid weather, the Pats faced off against the Carolina Panthers in a simulation of Super Bowl XXXVIII -- and needed two late Tom Brady touchdown passes to win their second crown in three years, 23-20. The simulation, which was run using Madden NFL 2004 for the PlayStation®2, pitted the teams against each other in Houston's Reliant Stadium, home of this year's big game. Carolina, which rode a stingy defense and some timely offense all the way to the championship contest, put up a valiant fight, but couldn't close it out in the end.

Brown grabs the winning touchdown pass Brady, who was named the game's MVP for the second time in three years, had a very pedestrian performance up until the final period. The Panthers' swarming defense rattled the Patriot signal-caller for most of the game, but as the fourth quarter got underway and his team trailed 20-9, he found his bearings and marched the Pats on a 10-play, 68-yard drive that culminated in a two-yard TD toss to tight end Christian Fauria to cut the Carolina lead to 20-16. Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, who had been solid but not spectacular throughout the contest, got the ball with just over seven minutes remaining, which was more than enough time to engineer a game-securing touchdown drive. Indeed, for six plays it looked like he was going to do just that -- but an errant pass on third-and-four from the Panther 46 was intercepted by Tyrone Poole, and the Pats got the ball at midfield with four minutes left. Brady proved that he had more magic left in him, adeptly mixing runs and short passes in getting his team down to the 20-yard line with just under two minutes left. A play-action pass let receiver Troy Brown slip to the corner of the end zone and although Brady's pass was off-target, Brown made a diving grab to give his team the lead.

Davis rumbles for yardage From there, it was up to the Patriot defense to hold tight, which they did. The Panthers got down to the New England 44-yard-line with three seconds left, but kicker John Kasay's 61-yard field goal attempt to tie the game fell far short, and New England claimed the Lombardi Trophy as its own. The second-half theatrics came after a mediocre first half of play, which was dominated by defense and featured five total field goals, two from Kasay and three from New England kicker Adam Vinatieri, which gave the Pats a 9-6 margin at halftime. Delhomme rallied his team in the second half, though, getting a quick score on Carolina's opening possession of the third quarter by connecting with Steve Smith on a 42-yard touchdown pass to bump the Panthers to the lead, 13-9. The third quarter passed without any further scoring, but when Reggie Howard intercepted Brady at the Patriot 25 near the end of the period -- his second INT of the day -- the Panthers took advantage of the amazing field position, upping the lead to 20-9 on a Delhomme-to-Muhsin Muhammad TD strike from 10 yards out. That set the stage for Brady's late-game theatrics. The Patriot MVP ended 20-37 for 218 yards with two scores and two interceptions, while Delhomme finished the day 26-44 for 257 yards and two picks along with his two TDs. Stephen Davis gained 110 yards on the ground for the Panthers but could not crack the end zone, while Muhammad had nine catches for 71 yards to lead Carolina. New England got 94 rushing yards from Antowain Smith and Brown led the team with five catches for 75 yards. The Virtual Box Score: CAROLINA        - 3 3 7   7 - 20 NEW ENGLAND - 3 6 0 14 - 23 1 - NE: Vinatieri 35 FG, 10:30 1 - CAR: Kasay 42 FG, 2:46 2 - CAR: Kasay 37 FG, 13:10 2 - NE: Vinatieri 38 FG, 6:00 2 - NE: Vinatieri 29 FG, 0:00 3 - CAR: Smith 42 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 12:30 4 - CAR: Muhammad 10 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 14:13 4 - NE: Fauria 2 pass from Brady (Vinatieri kick), 7:22 4 - NE: Brown 20 pass from Brady (Vinatieri kick), 1:42