Last night concluded the 2016-2017 NFL season and brought us one of the most stunning Super Bowls of all time. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots led the largest comeback in Super Bowl history to defeat the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34-28. The Atlanta Falcons absolutely dominated the Patriots in the first half, highlighted by the multiple sacks on Tom Brady, and of course the pick-six that was returned 82 yards bringing a massive momentum change in the game. Many of those watching decided the game was essentially over when the second quarter ended with the score being 21-3. But any football watcher who knows Tom Brady knows that the game is not over until the clock runs out. There was no action in the third quarter aside from Matt Ryan throwing another touchdown pass and the Patriots finally adding a touchdown to their own score.

 

The fourth quarter marked the beginning of the Patriots´ shocking comeback. With just under 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Patriots faced a 19 point deficit. They had just a 0.02 percent chance of victory with 20 minutes left in the game. Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons really had the game in the bag, or so they thought. Tom Brady had other plans. With 8:31 left in the 4th quarter Matt Ryan was stripped of the ball by Dont’a Hightower and the Patriots recovered. With outstanding field possession, the Patriots put up a quick score with Brady connecting to Danny Amendola on a 6 yard touchdown pass. The Patriots than decided to go for a two point conversion and succeeded with a wildcard direct snap to the running back James White. Just like that it was a one score game. Then with another defensive stop, the Patriots offense had only a few minutes to drive over 90 yards to score and convert the two point conversion to tie. Brady was perfect on the final drive, but not without help from his wide receivers. Julian Edelman made one of the most unbelievable catches in Super Bowl history, being covered by 3 defenders. Link to the catch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SiUNdkIwzQ

With a minute left in the game James White rushed in for the touchdown and then Danny Amendola converted the two pointer to tie the game. Atlanta was left with nearly no time left to operate and for the first time in Super Bowl history the game went into overtime. When the Patriots won the coin toss, most people knew that Atlanta was finished. New England had all the momentum and were behind a collected 4-time Super Bowl champion in Tom Brady. The Patriots drove down the field and James White who had an outstanding record-breaking game dove into the endzone. The fans stormed the field and the blue and white confetti rained down.
While this was an unbelievable win for the Patriots, there still needs to be some notice of the Falcons atrocious play in the second half, nullifying a nearly 20-point lead. With this win, Tom Brady becomes, for many people, the greatest of all time. He is now a 5-time Super Bowl champion. The same goes for Bill Belichick who is the only coach in history to achieve this amount of Super Bowl wins and appearances. This is the second Super Bowl win for the New England Patriots in the last three years. The organization continues to be a perennial superpower in the NFL under the leadership of Brady and Belichick and the Atlanta Falcons remain winless in Super Bowls.