Why Is the Super Bowl in Atlanta Again
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The Atlanta Falcons choked during the biggest moment in franchise history.
In that location's no other way to describe the team's Super Bowl LI loss to the New England Patriots at NRG Stadium in Houston. Afterwards leading by 25 points with 18 minutes left to play, Atlanta allowed the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, equallythe Patriots roared back with 31 unanswered points to emerge with a 34-28 overtime victory.
An inevitable argument occurs afterwards a slim margin decides any major contest: Did the winner earn the victory, or did the loser give it away?
The Falcons handed the Patriots some other Super Bowl title courtesy of mental mistakes, penalties and a porous defensive effort when they desperately needed a stop.
Instead of being crowned champions, the 2016 Falcons will be nothing more than a footnote in NFL history. When futurity generations reverberate back on Tom Brady and his accomplishments, they'll encounter he holds the Super Bowl records for the most career victories of any quarterback (v) and unmarried-game passing yards (466).
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady after the team's 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
What team did Brady play to interruption those records? The Falcons.
If this year'due south Falcons squad is remembered, it'll experience like derision as the NBA's 2015-16 Aureate Country Warriors and MLB's 2016 Cleveland Indians.
This is now Atlanta's fate, and fans around the league won't let the franchise forget its failure.
Head coach Dan Quinn, his staff and players have no i to arraign but themselves. While in that location are times when a team builds a atomic number 82 earlier running into a buzz saw, this isn't one of those cases. The Falcons were the team to trounce, just they didn't look like the aforementioned squad during the 2d half or overtime.
Everything started to fall apart with 8:31 remaining in the fourth quarter. Atlanta all the same held a 28-12 pb and possessed the ball. On 3rd-and-i from the Falcons' 36-one thousand line, offensive coordinator—and future San Francisco 49ers head coach—Kyle Shanahan called a pass play. Running dorsum Devonta Freeman didn't recognize linebacker Dont'a Hightower, as he blitzed off the edge, until it was too late, and the defender got a clean shot on quarterback Matt Ryan.
The hitting caused a fumble, every bit the NFL'southward Twitter feed captured:
NFL @ NFLMatt Ryan is SACKED. And FUMBLES! @Patriots ball! #SB51 #Patriots https://t.co/o1lgQktgrI
"I saw Matt Ryan with the ball in his hands, I wanted it then I hitting him and took it," Hightower said, per Pro Football game Talk's Josh Alper.
Five plays subsequently, Brady connected with wide receiver Danny Amendola for a six-yard touchdown. Running back James White converted the ii-bespeak conversion to bring the Patriots within viii points.
Even and then, the Falcons yet held a 28-20 lead with an opportunity to close out the game. The law-breaking failed to do so a 2d time.
After Ryan and Co. orchestrated a bulldoze all the way to the Patriots' 22-g line—including an astonishing tip-toe take hold of along the sideline from Julio Jones— the following happened:
- Patriots safety Devin McCourty stopped Freeman for a one-yard loss.
- Patriots defensive lineman Trey Flowers sacked Ryan for a 12-one thousand loss.
- Ryan connected with broad receiver Mohamed Sanu for a nine-yard gain, merely the play was chosen back due to a Jake Matthews property penalty.
- Now out of field-goal range, Ryan failed to connect with broad receiver Taylor Gabriel on 3rd-and-33.
- Matt Bosher punted the brawl to Julian Edelman with iii:38 left to play.
Atlanta potentially could have sealed the game with a field goal on that drive. Instead of going up 11 with merely three-and-a-half minutes remaining, the Falcons went astern.
"You always want to run the ball," Shanahan said, per ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure. "Y'all don't want to simply run the ball and make your guy accept a 50-yard field goal."
Matthews told reporters he idea the Falcons would "extend our atomic number 82 and win it" in the second half, per ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold. But his mistake became one of the crucial reasons why that didn't happen.
Meanwhile, Brady's magnificence was never more than credible. As Pro Football Focus noted, his strong 2d-half performance should accept come every bit no surprise:
Pro Football game Focus @ PFFTom Brady gets even better in the 2d half of games... https://t.co/lgEwuX5hOr
That said, no one could have been prepared for what he pulled off Dominicus.
During the fourth quarter, Brady completed sixteen of his 21 pass attempts for 196 yards and a touchdown. He also got the team into scoring position with five straight completions to first overtime.
Early in the contest, the Falcons created force per unit area with their defensive front. Quinn's group didn't need to blitz to make Brady'south life uncomfortable. In fact, the unit managed 17 quarterback hurries on the night, co-ordinate to Pro Football Focus.
When those defenders were breathing down Brady'southward neck, the quarterback started to display happy anxiety and wasn't his typical at-home self. Once he settled, though, the game took a dramatically different turn.
Atlanta'due south defensive backs made life difficult for Brady's favorite targets, too. As the game wore on, he chose to rely on alternatives.
White led the team with a Super Bowl-record 14 receptions for 110 yards. He also scored the game-winning 2-k touchdown in overtime.
James White's Super Bowl-winning touchdown. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images
With Edelman and Amendola garnering most of Atlanta's defensive attention, rookie Malcolm Mitchell emerged as a major X-factor. The quaternary-round pick grabbed six receptions for 70 yards, including an eleven-g snag on New England'south game-tying fourth-quarter bulldoze.
The Patriots' offensive depth allowed the Brady to terminate 43-of-62 on the dark. The quarterback took what was available and fabricated the best of the situation en route to his tape-setting fourth Super Bowl MVP.
"He'south the all-time ever," Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said after the game, per Legwold. "There'due south no flinch in Tom."
Brady wasn't named the league'south regular-flavor MVP, though. Ryan was.
The Falcons quarterback couldn't have played much better than he did Sunday (aside from that disquisitional bollix), every bit he went 17-of-23 for 284 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His operation simply wasn't enough when playing confronting the greatest quarterback ever to step onto a football game field.
"That's a tough loss," Ryan lamented afterward, per the Houston Chronicle's Aaron Wilson. "Obviously very disappointed, very close to getting done what we wanted to get washed, difficult to notice words."
This loss is going to sting for a long fourth dimension. Depending on how the Falcons perform over the next few years, the pain may never disappear.
Fifty-fifty so, there are still reasons for hope.
Ryan is only 31 years old and remains in his prime. The law-breaking isn't just built effectually him, either. Wide receiver Julio Jones won't turn 30 for another ii years. Freeman and fellow running back Tevin Coleman are nonetheless on their rookie contracts. Offset-year tight end Austin Hooper caught a touchdown Lord's day and became a big role of the offense as the season wore on.
Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett sacks New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Bob Levey/Getty Images
Defensively, the Falcons field a young and exciting unit. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who sacked Brady three times during the biggest game of his life, is a legitimate building cake. Edge defender Vic Beasley led the NFL with 15.v sacks during the regular flavour. The rest of the defense is young, and it swarms to the football.
Early in the contest, rookie Deion Jones looked like the favorite to win MVP subsequently a tackle for loss, deflected pass and forced fumble. Fellow commencement-twelvemonth linebacker De'Vondre Campbell put pressure on Brady. This year's first-round option, Keanu Neal, led the team with 13 total tackles. Fourth-year cornerback Robert Alford snagged the outset option-six Brady has ever thrown in the playoffs.
Defensive back Desmond Trufant volition also be back next season later on he landed on injured reserve in Nov with a shoulder injury. He'south Atlanta's all-time defender, and he missed the squad's final 10 games.
Right now, the Falcons' heady future isn't much of a consolation prize. The team is pain, and it should exist. But this shouldn't exist the system's only chance to claim a title. The Falcons are too young and talented not to brand information technology back.
Enough of teams choke yet still find a manner to win. The Falcons handed Super Bowl LI to New England, and the Patriots capitalized.
The only fashion to wash out the taste of such a devastating loss is by bouncing back and playing for another Super Basin next year. The Falcons are talented enough to practise so if they don't let this burdensome defeat define who they are.
Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @brentsobleski.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691400-how-did-the-atlanta-falcons-blow-super-bowl-li
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