Lets get right down to it Atlanta pretty much dominated this game early on. Neither team managed to put any points on the board in the opening quarter, although the 37 yard run by Devonta Freeman made it look like it would happen, but no points were scored. Once the 2nd quarter started, Atlanta started to really open things up with a pair of scores. The first coming off a Freeman touchdown run and then another seven points coming from a Austin Hooper 19 yard touchdown catch. Before New England had really had a chance to respond, Brady made his only mistake of the game, getting picked off by Robert Alford for an 82 yard touchdown return to put the Falcons up 21-0. Stephen Gostkowski got the Patriots on the board right at the half, but New England still had an uphill climb ahead of itself.
Once things got going in the 2nd half, New England had a threat early on. The got the ball almost to mid-field but couldn't move it on from there. Atlanta got the ball back, and eventually thought they would put up in insurmountable lead. Running back Tevin Coleman caught a six yard TD pass from Matt Ryan, giving the Falcons a 28–3 lead with 8:31 left. Then the impossible happened. New England started their comeback. New Englands following drive was made possible by their biggest play, a 17-yard completion to Danny Amendola on 4th-and-3 from the New England 46-yard line. eventually the Patriots would score their first touchdown, a five yard catches from James White, who in his own right had a monster game. You'll see his name pop up quite a few times during the course of this article. By the time we got to the fourth quarter, Gostkowski had struck again to cut the Falcons lead to 28-12. Then Tom Brady and James White would take over.
The fourth quarter opened with Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Noy shared a sack on Matt Ryan, which forced an Atlanta punt. New England would wwear down the Falcons and eventually lead to Danny Amendola catching a six yard pass from Brady for a touchdown. White converted the two to cut the Falcons lead to 28-20. Now comes one of the two craziest plays of the day. With 4:40 left in the ball game, Matt Ryan threw a bomb down the sideline for Julio Jones who made one of the greatest catches ever seen in the Super Bowl by any player. At this point, common sense would dictate that you run the ball a couple of more times and kill off the clock, then let Matt Bryant hit a field goal that would have put the Falcons up by ten. But now that didn't happen. Two plays later, Trey Flowers sacked Ryan for a nine yard loss. After that, Atlanta thought they got back into field goal range after Mohamad Sanu made a good catch, but it was called back on a Jake Matthews holding penalty. Eventually the Patriots got the ball back. Julian Edelman kept the drive alive with a circus catch that would rival the grab made by Julio Jones earlier in the quarter. New england would cap off this drive with James White (there's that man again) one yard touchdown run and a two point conversion from Brady to Amendola to tie the game.
To overtime we go for the first time ever in the history of the Super Bowl. New England wins the toss and elects to receive the football. Rules in overtime in the Super Bowl are exactly that of the regular season, so if New England had just kicked a field goal, Atlanta would get the ball and have a shot to win it in their own right. They never touched the football. New England drove 75 yards on eight plays and at the 11:02 mark of the extra period, James White (there's that man again) scored on a two yard run to hand the Patriots their 5th ever Super Bowl title.
This game really didn't disappoint at all. Well it did if your a Falcons fan. The Patriots rallied from a 25-point deficit, the largest deficit overcome to win a Super Bowl (the previous record was ten points, set by the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX). Not only that, it was also the third-largest comeback win in NFL playoff history. New England's title was their fifth franchise championship, all under the leadership of starting quarterback Tom Brady. Those five titles are the most by a single quarterback. Brady won his fourth Super Bowl MVP, also an NFL record. Brady finished the day going 43 of 62 for 466 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. not only that but he also rushing for 15 yards. The Patriots tied the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, who have five victories each, for second most Super Bowl wins by a franchise, trailing only the Pittsburgh Steelers who have six Super Bowl victories.
As for Brady, his completions, attempts, and passing yards were all single game Super Bowl records. He also set the career Super Bowl records for games played (7), completions (207), attempts (309), yards (2,071), and touchdowns (15). James White caught a Super Bowl record 14 passes for 110 yards, rushed for 29 yards, and tied a Super Bowl record with three touchdowns. He also set the record for most points scored with 20. After the game, Brady said he felt White deserved the MVP award more than he did.
Lets put this debate to bed right here and now. As much as I dislike Tom Brady (only because he plays for the Patriots) there's no longer any doubt in my mind that he is the greatest Quarterback of all time. He's been able to set all these passing marks, during the regular season and the playoffs, and he's been doing it with different weapons it seems almost every year. Sure he had a soon to be hall of fame tight end in Rob Gronkowski and a pretty talented wide out named Randy Moss. Still he's been able to adapt and adjust to what he's got throwing to different targets and he can make others around him just that much better. brady is the best end of discussion.
Congratulations to the New England Patriots on their 5th Super Bowl Championship!
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