Super Bowl XXXI

**Super Bowl XXXI** was an American football game. It was between the American Football Conference (AFC) winner New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) winner Green Bay Packers. The winner would be the National Football League (NFL) winner for the 1996 NFL season. The Packers beat the Patriots 35–21. This was the Packers' 3rd win in the Super Bowl. Their last win was in Super Bowl II in 1968. The Packers also beat their record for most NFL championships. They were now in 12 championships. The game was on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This was the first Super Bowl broadcast by Fox. Fox made a contract to air NFL games. This was the highest-rated program ever on Fox at the time.

## Final statistics

Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXI, Super Bowl XXXI Play Finder GB, Super Bowl XXXI Play Finder NE

### Statistical comparison

||**New England Patriots**|**Green Bay Packers**|
| --- | --- | --- |
|First downs|16|16|
|First downs rushing|3|8|
|First downs passing|12|6|
|First downs penalty|1|2|
|Third down efficiency|4/14|3/15|
|Fourth down efficiency|0/2|0/1|
|Net yards rushing|43|115|
|Rushing attempts|13|36|
|Yards per rush|3.3|3.2|
|Passing – Completions/attempts|25/48|14/27|
|Times sacked-total yards|5–39|5–38|
|Interceptions thrown|4|0|
|Net yards passing|214|208|
|Total net yards|257|323|
|Punt returns-total yards|4–30|6–90|
|Kickoff returns-total yards|6–135|4–154|
|Interceptions-total return yards|0–0|4–24|
|Punts-average yardage|8–45.1|7–42.7|
|Fumbles-lost|0–0|0–0|
|Penalties-total yards|2–22|3–41|
|Time of possession|25:45|34:15|
|Turnovers|4|0|

### Individual statistics

|colspan="6" style=";"|Patriots Passing|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Drew Bledsoe|25/48|253|2|4|46.6|
|Curtis Martin|11|42|1|18|3.82|
|Drew Bledsoe|1|1|0|1|1.00|
|Dave Meggett|1|0|0|0|0.00|
|Ben Coates|6|67|1|19|8|
|Terry Glenn|4|62|0|44|7|
|Keith Byars|4|42|1|32|7|
|Shawn Jefferson|3|34|0|14|8|
|Curtis Martin|3|28|0|20|5|
|Dave Meggett|3|8|0|5|6|
|Vincent Brisby|2|12|0|7|4|

|colspan="6" style=";"|Packers Passing|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Brett Favre|14/27|246|2|0|107.9|
|Dorsey Levens|14|61|0|12|4.36|
|Edgar Bennett|17|40|0|10|2.35|
|Brett Favre|4|12|1|12|3.00|
|William Henderson|1|2|0|2|2.00|
|Antonio Freeman|3|105|1|81|6|
|Dorsey Levens|3|23|0|14|5|
|Andre Rison|2|77|1|54|7|
|William Henderson|2|14|0|8|2|
|Mark Chmura|2|13|0|8|3|
|Keith Jackson|1|10|0|10|2|
|Edgar Bennett|1|4|0|4|1|
|Terry Mickens|0|0|0|0|1|

<sup>1</sup>Completions/attempts
<sup>2</sup>Carries
<sup>3</sup>Long gain
<sup>4</sup>Receptions
<sup>5</sup>Times targeted

### Records set

These records were set in Super Bowl XXXI

|colspan=3|Player Records Set||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Longest pass|81 yards (TD)|Brett Favre (Green Bay)|
|Longest reception|81 yards (TD)|Antonio Freeman (Green Bay)|
|Longest scoring play|99 yards kickoff return|Desmond Howard (Green Bay)|
|Longest kickoff return|99 yards||
|Highest kickoff return average, career (4 returns)|38**.**5 yards (4–154)||
|Most punt return yards gained, game|90 yards||
|Most combined yardage<sup>†</sup> gained, game|244|Desmond Howard (Green Bay)|
|Most kickoff returns for touchdowns, game|1||
|Most punt returns, game|6||
|Most punt returns, career|6||
|6|David Meggett (New England)||
|Most interceptions thrown, game|4|Drew Bledsoe (New England)|
|Most 2 point conversions, game|1|Mark Chmura (Green Bay)|

- † This also includes rushing, receiving, interception returns, punt returns, kickoff returns, and fumble returns.

|colspan=3|Team Records Set||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Most punt returns yards gained|90 yards|Packers|
|Most points, first quarter|14 points|Patriots|
|Most Interceptions by|4|Packers|
|Fewest turnovers, game|0||
|Most kickoff returns for touchdowns|1||
|Most punt returns, game|6||

Turnovers are the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.

|colspan=4|Records Set, both team totals|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Most points, first quarter|24 points|10|14|
|Most punt returns, game|10|6|4|
|Most punt return yards gained|120 yards|90|30|
|Fewest rushing attempts|49|36|13|
|Most times sacked|10|5|5|
|Fewest fumbles|0|0|0|

## Teams

Source:

|New England|Position|Position|Green Bay|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|**Offense**|||
|Shawn Jefferson|WR|Antonio Freeman||
|Bruce Armstrong|LT|Bruce Wilkerson||
|William Roberts|LG|Aaron Taylor||
|Dave Wohlabaugh|C|Frank Winters||
|Todd Rucci|RG|Adam Timmerman||
|Max Lane|RT|Earl Dotson||
|Ben Coates|TE|Mark Chmura||
|Terry Glenn|WR|Andre Rison||
|Drew Bledsoe|QB|Brett Favre‡||
|Curtis Martin‡|RB|Edgar Bennett||
|Keith Byars|FB|William Henderson||
|colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|**Defense**|||
|Ferric Collons|LE|Reggie White‡||
|Mark Wheeler|LT|DT|Santana Dotson|
|Pio Sagapolutele|RT|NT|Gilbert Brown|
|Willie McGinest|RE|Sean Jones||
|Chris Slade|LLB|Wayne Simmons||
|Ted Johnson|MLB|Ron Cox||
|Todd Collins|RLB|Brian Williams||
|Ty Law‡|LCB|Craig Newsome||
|Otis Smith|RCB|Doug Evans||
|Lawyer Milloy|SS|LeRoy Butler‡||
|Willie Clay|FS|Eugene Robinson||

## Officials

- **Referee:** Gerald Austin #34 second Super Bowl (XXIV as side judge)
- **Umpire:** Ron Botchan #110 fourth Super Bowl (XX, XXVII, XXIX)
- **Head Linesman:** Earnie Frantz #111 second Super Bowl (XXIV)
- **Line Judge:** Jeff Bergman #32 first Super Bowl
- **Back Judge:** Scott Steenson #88 first Super Bowl
- **Side Judge:** Tom Fincken #47 second Super Bowl (XXIX)
- **Field Judge:** Phil Luckett #59 first Super Bowl
- **Alternate Referee:** Ed Hochuli #85
- **Alternate Umpire:** Neil Gereb #50

## References

- Specific

- General

## Other websites

- Super Bowl XXXI Memories Video.
- Super Bowl official website
- The Sporting News: History of the Super Bowl (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
- Large online database of NFL data and statistics
- Super Bowl play-by-plays from USA Today (Last accessed September 28, 2005)
- All-Time Super Bowl Odds from The Sports Network (Last accessed October 16, 2005)
- Super Bowl XXXI Box Score at Pro Football Reference

## Infobox (super bowl)

- **type**: sb
- **name**: XXXI
- **visitor**: 1996 New England Patriots season, New England Patriots
- **visitor record**: 11–5
- **visitor coach**: Bill Parcells
- **visitor place**: 2
- **home record**: 13–3
- **home coach**: Mike Holmgren
- **home place**: 1
- **home**: 1996 Green Bay Packers season, Green Bay Packers
- **visitor abbr**: NE
- **home abbr**: GB
- **visitor conf**: American Football Conference, AFC
- **home conf**: National Football Conference, NFC
- **visitor total**: 21
- **home total**: 35
- **visitor qtr1**: 14
- **visitor qtr2**: 0
- **visitor qtr3**: 7
- **visitor qtr4**: 0
- **home qtr1**: 10
- **home qtr2**: 17
- **home qtr3**: 8
- **home qtr4**: 0
- **time**: 5:25 p.m. Central Standard Time, CST (UTC-6)
- **stadium**: Caesars Superdome, Louisiana Superdome
- **city**: New Orleans, Louisiana
- **attendance**: 72,301
- **odds**: Packers by 14
- **mvp**: Desmond Howard, return specialist
- **anthem**: Luther Vandross
- **coin toss**: Past Super Bowl winning coaches: Hank Stram, Mike Ditka, Tom Flores, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, George Seifert
- **referee**: Gerald Austin
- **hofers**: **Patriots:** Bill Parcells (head coach), Ty Law, Curtis Martin
**Packers:** Ron Wolf (general manager), LeRoy Butler, Brett Favre, Reggie White
- **halftime**: The Blues Brothers, James Brown, and ZZ Top
- **network**: NFL on Fox, Fox
- **announcers**: Pat Summerall, John Madden, Ron Pitts, and Bill Maas
- **rating**: 43.3
<small>(est. 87.87 million viewers)</small>
- **share**: 65
- **commercial**: $1.2 million
- **radio**: NFL on Westwood One Sports, Westwood One
- **radioannouncers**: Howard David and Matt Millen
- **last**: XXX
- **next**: XXXII