By JONAS MILLER
Co-Executive Editor
There had never been an overtime game in Super Bowl history. No team had ever come back from a 25-point deficit. No quarterback had ever thrown for 466 yards in a Super Bowl game.
Que Tom Brady.
The future hall of famer lead the New England Patriots on a torrid 31-0 run to upend the seemingly unstoppable Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night to secure the fifth Championship ring of his illustrious NFL career.
It didn’t come easy.
Early on, Patriots receivers were almost absent entirely from the game. With drops coming all across the field, it looked lonely on the Patriots sideline as Brady sat with his head between his knees.
Meanwhile, Atlanta tore up and down the field, scoring 21 points in the second quarter on the back of their MVP QB’s rocket arm. It seemed as though nothing was going to stop Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and the two headed monster that was their backfield, comprised of Devante Freeman and Tevin Coleman. When you throw in the fact that Atlanta’s defense was pressuring Brady on seemingly every play, the Falcons were left with a 96.4 percent chance on winning heading into the locker room at halftime.
Que Tom Brady.
The third quarter brought glimpses of hope for New England as they began to shut down Atlanta’s running game while also finding holes in the stone-wall defense orchestrated by first-year head coach, Dan Quinn. Quinn served as defensive coordinator for Seattle before coming to Atlanta, so it’s no secret why teams struggled offensively against the birds all season long.
With the clock winding down in the third quarter, the Falcons were still up 28-9 – not an impossible deficit, but a comeback looked very unlikely for New England.
Que Tom Brady.
It was as if the Falcons forgot who was on the other side of the ball. Brady came out in the final period and led the Patriots to a pair of touchdowns in the final nine minutes, leading a ten play, 91-yard drive for the game tying score – capped off by a sneaky and successful bubble screen to Danny Amendola for the two point conversion.
As regulation ended, the momentum the Patriots held created an atmosphere in which anything but a New England win would shock the world.
Sure enough, special teams superstar Matthew Slater won the overtime coin toss, the Patriots got the ball, and 3:58 into the first ever overtime period in Super Bowl history, the Patriots won the game on an outside pitch to running back James White.
In the end, the Patriots did exactly what everyone expected them to do. They dominated possession time, nearly doubling Atlanta’s 23 minutes with the ball; they secured 20 more first downs than the birds, a number almost guaranteed with Brady’s quick style of play; and in front of 70,807 fans, they instantly secured a spot in history on the back of arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
2017 needed a kick start, que Tom Brady.
