The Atlanta Falcons will never live down the worst choke job in NFL history.
There's really no other way to view their inability to hold a 25-point third-quarter lead on the way to a 34-28 overtime loss in Super Bowl LI. While the world rushes to recalibrate the New England Patriots
in the annals of sports history, and rightfully so, it should not lose
sight of how unprecedented it was for a Super Bowl team to cough up such
a big lead.
The Patriots more than doubled the previous record
for a Super Bowl comeback (10 points). Their victory after trailing by
25 points was the third largest in NFL postseason history. Consider
this: Since 2001, 394 teams have trailed by at least 25 points in the
first three quarters of a game. Those teams, including the Patriots, are
now 3-391, per ESPN Stats & Information.
Even Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, an eternal optimist and competitor, was shocked.
"Down 25 points," Brady told reporters, "it's hard to imagine us winning."
Fans,
media and historians will spend the offseason unpacking the second half
of this game. Among the first places they should look: a key sequence
late in the fourth quarter.
Leading 28-20 with 4:40 remaining, the
Falcons had a first down at the Patriots' 22-yard line and a great
opportunity to make it a two-score game. The Patriots had found their
rhythm on offense, but it's debatable whether they would have had enough
time to score twice.
The Falcons' playcalling at that point was,
well, unexpected -- and that's being kind to offensive coordinator Kyle
Shanahan. They missed a huge opportunity to seal the game.
Shanahan
called a pass on second and third downs. The first resulted in a
12-yard sack, and the second was overturned by a holding penalty. On the
next play -- third-and-33! -- Shanahan called another pass that fell
incomplete. The Falcons lost 23 yards on two plays, were forced to punt
and drained only 1:10 off the clock.
Had the Falcons simply run three times -- even if they failed to gain a single yard -- kicker Matt Bryant
would have been in position for a quite reasonable 39-yard field goal
attempt. In his career, Bryant is 31-for-32 on field goals of 40 yards
or shorter in the fourth quarter or overtime, according to research from
Micah Adams of ESPN Stats & Information.
Instead, the
Patriots got the ball back with 3:30 remaining. They needed only 2:30 to
drive 91 yards for a touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion
against the Falcons' exhausted defense.
That's just one of many
hotspots where the Falcons are vulnerable to criticism. They led by 25
points in the third quarter and by 19 points with less than 10 minutes
remaining in the fourth quarter, and they lost. It was an epic, historic
collapse that will never be forgotten.
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