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The Patriots won the Super Bowl; they pulled off the greatest comeback in history!
Patriots’ quarterback and four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady holding up the Lombardi Trophy for the 5th time, an amazing win, for an amazing organization.
The Patriots beat the Falcons, 34-28 in OT. Super Bowl 51 will go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time. It was the first time a Super Bowl has ever gone into overtime.
During the first half, the Falcons were absolutely destroying the Patriots. Brady was 15-25 for 179 yards, with no touchdowns. He missed multiple open receivers, much of it due to the Falcon’s defense; but Brady missed a lot of passes, even when he had time in the pocket.
During the second quarter Brady threw an 82 yard pick six to defensive back Robert Alford, things weren’t looking good for the Pats. Patriots’ running back LeGarrette Blount fumbled during the beginning of the second quarter, which led to a Falcons’ touchdown. Blount ran for only 31 yards on 11 attempts. The Patriots’ receivers couldn’t get anything going for them either.
The Falcons dominated the first half of the game. Falcons’ Matt Ryan, a League MVP, was 7-8 with 115 yards, and a touchdown. Ryan played an outstanding first half and a good second half, but he wasn’t clutch. He went 17/23, threw for 287 yards, and 2 touchdowns. These are great stats, especially for the super bowl, but it wasn’t enough to compete with Brady. Ryan’s teammates, Falcons’ running back Devonta Freeman and wide reciever Julio Jones, also played very well. The Falcons were blowing out the Patriots, 3-21. Freeman’s first run of the game was for 37 yards. Even though that was his first run, it made him look unstoppable. He continued to run over the Patriots, and picked up a touchdown in the second quarter. Freeman finished the game with 75 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Julio Jones also looked incredible during the first half. He had multiple big catches, but one of the best catches was where he caught the ball, with only his tip toes in bounds. Jones ended up having 4 receptions for a whopping 87 yards, despite not scoring a touchdown.
The Patriots pulled off a miracle comeback in the second half. They came back from a 25 point deficit. This is absolutely incredible, this is the greatest comeback that has ever happened in a Super Bowl. Brady came out of the half-looking like the Brady everyone is used to watching. Brady was no longer throwing incompletions to wide open receivers, he was completing anything/everything.
The Patriots got the ball back down 3-28, but they were determined to come back. It took them 6 minutes to get a touchdown on the board, but once they did, fans started to gain faith. Patriots’ kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed the PAT, which was very surprising, considering he hadn’t missed a PAT since ‘06. The Falcons didn’t score any on the next drive, thanks to a clutch sack on 3rd down from Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers and outside linebacker Kyle Van Knoy.
The Patriots started the next drive struggling, but they managed to get into field goal territory and get 3 more points on the board. The score is now 12-28 and the Falcons get the ball back. The Falcons come out running the ball, looking good; but then all of a sudden Ryan gets sacked on 3rd down, and the Patriots recover the fumble. Brady got the ball in great field position, but to no surprise, Brady gets sacked on 1st down. Brady gets back up, and within 3 plays, scores a touchdown. They have to go for a 2 point conversion to stay in the game, so they direct snap it to James White and he goes right in, 20-28. The Patriots now control all momentum in the game and end up holding Ryan to another 4 and out, credit to Trey Flower’s sack on Ryan.
The Patriots now knew they could come back and win. Brady only had around 3 minutes left and despite throwing a couple of incomplete passes, Patriots’ wide receiver Julian Edelman came up with one of the best, if not the best, catch in super bowl history. Edelman caught a pass between three Falcons’ receivers, and snagged the ball inches above the ground. The Patriots went on to score a few plays after. The score was 26-28, the Pats went for a quick out route for the 2 point conversion and they caught it, 28-28. The Falcons had 52 seconds left on their last drive, but it only resulted in incompletions.
The Patriots had come back from a 25 point deficit, and were now on the verge of winning the game in overtime. The Patriots called won the toss and got the ball to start off overtime. Brady started off by throwing multiple short passes, which picked up a lot of yards. Then he threw a pass to Patriots’ tight-end Martellus Bennett, and in the process of catching the ball, the defender hindered Bennett’s ability to catch the ball, resulting in pass interference. The Patriots were then in excellent scoring position (2 yard line) and within 2 plays, Patriots’ running back James White ran into the endzone, and the Pats were super bowl champions yet again. The three Patriot stars White, Edelman and Brady finished with great stats. White ended the game with 14 receptions for 110 yards (super bowl record), as well 3 touchdowns. Edelman pulled in 5 receptions for 87 yards and an amazing 4 quarter catch. Brady finished the game with 43 completions on 62 attempts, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and quite possibly the greatest super bowl win of all time.
