Views from the Nosebleeds: Super Bowl LI Recap

For the first three quarters of Super Bowl LI, it seemed like the most entertaining aspect was Lady Gaga's halftime performance--and even that received mixed reviews.  On top of the Super Bowl commercials rivaling the bust statuses of Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell sans three or four, it was looking like the high-flying Falcons were well on their way to a third consecutive postseason blowout victory and the first Super Bowl in franchise history.  As a football fan, I was deflated at returning to the 80s and 90s when playoff and Super Bowl beatdowns were par for the course because I enjoy competition.  However, leave it to Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots to help save the day...

After both teams couldn't get much going on their first two drives, Atlanta's defense struck first blood by forcing a LeGarrette Blount fumble.  Five plays later, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman gave the Patriots fits in the air and on the ground, leading to a Freeman five-yard TD run for the game's first score.  While the Patriots couldn't get anything going on offense in the midst of the Falcons' ferocious pressure on Brady, leading to several uncharacteristically erratic throws, the Falcons would score two more consecutive TDs--the first being a 19-yard strike to Austin Hooper.  Although the Falcons' defense got dinged for three defensive holding penalties all on third down when they had the Pats' offense stopped, Robert Alford took an errant Brady throw 82 yards to the house to open up a 21-0 lead.  Despite Brady leading New England back down the field and nearly having a two-minute TD drive, a Martellus Bennett penalty and a curious screen pass to Bennett for a three-yard loss resulted in only a Stephen Gostkowski FG which only shrieked the hole from 21 points to 18 against the second best offense in the league.

However, despite a Tevin Coleman TD reception in the third quarter to push the deficit to 25 points, it would be Atlanta's last score and their inability to put New England away was a comedy of errors.  First, Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia adjusted to the Falcons' rushing attack, which went from 86 yards on nine carries (9.6 YPC) to 18 yards on nine carries (2.0 YPC) between the halves.  Second, and to the last point, Kyle Shanahan became pass happy, especially in the Falcons' final drive when a field goal could've put things further out of reach when it was 28-20.  However, after Jones made one of a few circus-like catches, they called Freeman's number once before a sack and an offensive holding penalty led to a 4th and 33 outside of Matt Bryant's range, giving The Brady Bunch even more hope to do the improbable.  Third, the defense was worn out from hurrying Brady, rendering the four-man pressure ineffective, and Dan Quinn and Richard Smith made no adjustments to keep applying the pressure.  The end results were 1) a rejuvenated Brady overcoming inaccuracy to pick apart Atlanta's suspect pass defense; 2) Patriots' receivers going from drops to props with some improbable catches, including Julian Edelman's amazing reception with three red jerseys in the area to keep the last regulation drive going even after Robert Alford got a hand on what could've been his second pick; and 3) 31 unanswered points and the fifth Super Bowl title in franchise history.

In answering one of many questions regarding if this was more about the Patriots being clutch or the Falcons collapsing, I answered "both".  There is no denying the Patriots' miraculous comeback after the run defense got gashed in the first half, poor Malcolm Butler's ankles getting 187'd, receivers dropping passes and Brady looking Tebow-esque for half of the game.  When they kept chipping away at the lead until it was 28-12, I said to myself excitedly, "Oh, they only need two TDs and two-point conversions!"  When Dont'a Hightower forced a momentum-shifting sack fumble on Matt Ryan, I knew the Pats would capitalize and they did.  When the Falcons couldn't push the score to 30-20 on their final drive, I knew the Pats would capitalize and they did.  When they forced overtime and won the coin toss, I knew the Pats would capitalize and they did.  Meanwhile, the Falcons' coaching staff must've taken some pages out of the books of either Andy Reid or Jason Garrett as they got way too conservative against a team who can methodically slice you with a bunch of tiny cuts to the point where you won't even know you're bleeding until it's too late.  No other team in 2016 had the Patriots on the ropes like that and the Falcons could've been the only team to deliver an embarrassing blow to the greatest football dynasty of the past 15 years at the highest level and couldn't do it.

Another social media discussion was how this ranks among comebacks in sports history, including a comparison to the Cavaliers' comeback against the Warriors down 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals.  Although I initially argued the degree of difficulty is harder in a basketball series because you have to do it for three straight games--many of those games were on the road--I understood the immediacy of one "do or die" football game to overcome a deficit for a championship.  However, someone else asked which comeback was more exciting between Super Bowl LI and the Miracle at the New Meadowlands between the Eagles and the Giants in 2010, and my vote was for the Eagles.  I mean, it was Michael Vick during his most impressive NFL season and DeSean Jackson FTW while they both were still in their prime; the excitement is automatically on 100.  I also specifically wanted the Eagles to win that game simply because I was pulling for Vick to rebound from his dogfighting debacle.  Unfortunately, unlike Brady's orchestration, that comeback of 28 unanswered points during a regular season game led to no rings as the Eagles were knocked out in the Wild Card round by the eventual Super Bowl-champion Packers.  Therefore, if we're talking greatest comebacks in NFL history, then the Miracle Part 2 pales a bit to overcoming the biggest deficit in Super Bowl history en route to Brady becoming the first QB and Belichick becoming the first head coach to win five rings.

As for the gravity of the Falcons' colossal meltdown, it's up there.  Is it as bad as the Warriors blowing last year's Finals?  Quite possibly, if not worse.  With the A's notching four World Series victories after moving from Philly, the Warriors winning two NBA championships post-Philly and the Oakland Raiders winning two Super Bowls, the East Bay is no foreigner to winning it all.  Conversely, since 2000, the Falcons and the Hawks are the only Atlanta teams to reach at least one conference championship--the Falcons have reached three while the Hawks reached their first in 2015 since moving from St. Louis in 1968--and only the Falcons have reached a league championship.  Moreover, Fox NFL did a trophy comparison between Boston and Atlanta and it was a staggering 36 to one advantage, making the ATL worse than Cleveland with winning rings.  So you're up 25 points on the Patriots in the Super Bowl and can be heroes to a city where the '95 Braves are the sole mountaintop conquerors.  Moreover, as a franchise who has only won 43.5 percent of its games and been a playoff team 13 times in 50 years, it took the Falcons 32 years to get to their first Super Bowl and another 18 years after that to get to the second.  So for those hopeful souls who believe these Falcons will be back soon, ask Dan Marino and the '84 Dolphins if they ever got back.  There are no guarantees in competitive sports.

Now was this the greatest Super Bowl ever as many folks are already suggesting?!?!  Not even close.  The "best" or "greatest" Super Bowl should feel like it's anybody's game for the majority and although I was never worried about the Patriots' ability to overcome this unprecedented obstacle, they weren't much of a factor for three quarters of the game.  Both of the Giants-Patriots Super Bowls were better than this...Seahawks-Patriots was better than this...heck, Panthers-Patriots was better than this...Cardinals-Steelers was way better than this.  Now is it a Super Bowl for the ages?  Given the historical ramifications--first OT in Super Bowl history, first team to overcome a 25-point deficit to win a Super Bowl and the aforementioned facts--that's a resounding absofrigginlutely.  (It's a word today...don't fight it.)