Keidel: Super Bowl Losers Are Usually Forgotten, But That Won't Happen This Time
By Jason Keidel
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How do you recover?
The world will spend its breath on Brady, Belichick, and the collective genius of the New England Patriots, the eternal, internal reserve of champions. There's certainly credence in that. And in America, and in America's game, the winner almost always gets to write the narrative.
But if you think the Pats came back in a vacuum, with no help from Atlanta, which hasn't been so burned since Gen. Sherman, please think again.
Folks will point to the two plays that followed Julio Jones's surreal, sideline catch -- a sack and a holding penalty -- that wrenched the Falcons from field goal range. But it took a collective failure to make the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history possible.
The statistical carnage reflects Atlanta's epic choke.
Teams that were ahead by at least 19 points entering the fourth quarter were 93-0 in the NFL playoffs.
During the first 44 minutes of Sunday night's game, Matt Ryan completed 13 of 15 passes. During the next 16 minutes he was 4-for-8. During the first half of Super Bowl LI, the Falcons averaged 9.6 yards per rush. In the second half they averaged 2.3.
The Falcons had a 99.5 percent likelihood of winning when they went up 28-3.
The Falcons were ahead for 41 minutes and 18 seconds.
The Pats were ahead only the moment they won the game.
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Then there's the spiritual carnage. If we thought last year's 17-1 Carolina Panthers melted in the biggest moment, punctuated by Cam Newton's postgame tantrum, then how do you explain Sunday night?
The Panthers were simply outplayed by the Denver Broncos. But the Falcons worked the Patriots for three quarters in storming out to that 25-point lead. New England had no answer for Atlanta's speed, quickness, and power. Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman laid a red carpet along the flanks, running almost at will. The defensive line, led by the ageless Dwight Freeney, made Brady feel like Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan were stalking him in his sleep.
You need not be a body language expert to see the Pats were lost, spent, beaten.
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When you have the boot on the enemy's neck, you finish the job. And there is no better definition of defeat than the sagged shoulders and wandering eyes of the Patriots' players heading into the halftime locker room.
This is not meant to minimize or trivialize the Patriots' comeback, which was historic and hypnotic. We can watch another 51 Super Bowls and never see anything like what we saw Sunday again. If you'd like to remold this moment into a crown, branding Brady and Belichick as the respective GOATs, that's fine. Nothing defines football royalty like titles, and the Pats just stiff-armed their way past Chuck Noll, Joe Montana, and the rest of Super Bowl royalty.
We can talk about curses, how the NFL MVP has now lost eight straight Super Bowls, with "Matty Ice" making the latest entrant in the archives. That all presupposes they bumped against better teams in the biggest game.
For three quarters, Atlanta was markedly better, in every phase of the game. That's not in doubt or dispute. Sure, when you play a champion you'd better finish the job before they find breath in their beaten lungs. And the Falcons clearly left that crack open a few moments too long. And perhaps only Brady could have done what he did Sunday night.
But what does Dan Quinn tell his team? That next year the Falcons will somehow be in a better position than a 19-point lead entering the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl? How could have the gridiron dominoes have been better arranged than they were Sunday night?
Every February we watch two teams enter the Super Bowl, but then remember only the team that won, and the men who hoisted that Tiffany's trophy. But it will take some time for us to forget that it wasn't just Roger Goodell who awkwardly handed the Patriots the hardware. And the Super Bowl.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
