Super Bowl 51: Patriots Mount Epic Comeback, NFL Fans Mourn
By Ben Renner
The New England Patriots faced a 25-point deficit in the third quarter but still upended the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51. I thought we had this one, NFL fans.
The NFL fan community outside of New England got gut-punched last night in the largest comeback in Super Bowl history. Super Bowl 51 will go down as the best Super Bowl ever played, but I and many others would have preferred to see the Falcons continue to pummel the Patriots for a full 60 minutes instead of easing up in the third quarter.
It looked like the Falcons were going to take the possibility of a fifth ring away from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s thumbs. They led 28-9 after a Patriots touchdown and a missed extra point by Stephen Gostkowski in the third quarter. There were multiple points at which they could have felled the mighty Bradichick and taken Super Bowl 51 for their first world championship.
It was a case of Belichick’s defense coming up big in the second half. New England Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia steadily sent more blitzers at Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and it resulted in several back-breaking holding calls and sacks that prevented those poor Dirty Birds from slamming the door on the Patriots.