Patriots running back James White on "surreal" Super Bowl victory

New England Patriots running back James White set a Super Bowl record Sunday night, scoring 20 of the Patriots’ 34 points which included the game-winning touchdown in overtime. That is the most points ever scored by an individual in the Super Bowl.

The Patriots overcame their 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter to eventually beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime, 34 to 28.

“It still feels surreal to me. I mean I really haven’t wrapped my head around it,” White said Monday on “CBS This Morning.” “Once I get home to my family and everything, it’ll be a great joy to be around them. Just, probably re-watch the game and whatnot. I can’t put it into words.” 

White said the team was in a tough place but excited to go to halftime.

“We knew the second half was going to be a long half for us. We wanted to take it one drive at a time. Defense would get a stop. Offense continued to score points and decrease the deficit and put ourselves in a position to win the game. I think [Don’t’a] Hightower’s strip sack really changed the momentum for us. We were fired up, but I think they gave us a little bit more energy,” White said.

A phenomenal 4th quarter catch by wide receiver Julian Edelman helped set up the game-tying scores. White said it was “definitely one of the amazing moments in the game.”

“I saw the pass get tipped in the air. I was running in the vicinity of where he caught the ball. I just have no idea how he caught that pass, but it was an amazing play,” White said. “The pass is like a centimeter from the ground. He was able to catch it. It was one of those unbelievable catches of Super Bowl history.”

White also heaped praise quarterback Tom Brady, who won his 5th Super Bowl title Sunday.

“With a guy like Tom Brady, you can never lose hope. Anything can happen. We played a complementary football game. Defense came out, and the second half, they played unbelievable, the special teams played unbelievable. The offense, we just tried to score points,” White said.

Overwhelmed with emotion, White said he’s happy to be part of his Super Bowl team.

“I just want to be an accountable football player, accountable person. I love each and every one of my teammates,” White said. “I just try to go to work each and every day and give everything I have, and just be a viable option no matter what the coach asks me to do, I just want to go out there and do it.”