At 28-3, with under three minutes to go in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI, the Atlanta Falcons could taste history, with the cruise mode button already pressed as they contemplated winning their first ever title. But then, you can never count Tom Brady and the New England Patriots out can you.
Emotional Tom Brady chases history
Just like that, New England scored a touchdown late in the third quarter after a long series of plays, and while they missed the conversion, the force stayed with them through the entire fourth quarter and overtime.
With the crowd roaring them on in Houston, the Patriots turned on the Super Bowl style, bringing all their experience into play against the shell-shocked looking Falcons to tie the game at 28-28.
After that, there looked like being only one winner as Brady guided the Patriots to a 34-28 victory in overtime – the first OT game in Super Bowl history and the biggest comeback in this biggest of games – after James White used all the power he had left to force himself into the endzone.
Brady, who finished with 466 yards with two touchdowns and one interception to win the MVP award, as a result of the comeback, became the first quarterback in history to win five Super Bowl rings.
It was a ridiculous comeback from the Patriots in the final minutes of the game. It started with Brady connecting with White for a five-yard touchdown, with the score at 28-9 in favour of the Falcons with just one quarter remaining.
A field goal conversion brought the deficit down to 16 points, with Atlanta still looking nailed-on for the Super Bowl title at this point, considering less than 10 minutes remained in the game.
Clutch, though, is what Brady and the Patriots are and they turned the game on its head in the final ten minutes.
Dont'a Hightower was the man to produce the momentous play that gave the Patriots hope, with the star linebacker sacking Matt Ryan and along with that also swatting the ball away from the Falcons quarterback.
The Patriots recovered the fumble, allowing Brady to go to work. He certainly did that perfectly, with the legend throwing a couple of passes to Danny Amendola to pick up another touchdown. With the deficit at 10 at that point, New England had to go for the two-point conversion, and there was little doubt that it would be completed.
With the momentum completely with New England now, even with only six minutes to play, the Patriots defence held firm to force Atlanta to punt. Brady got the ball again and thanks to a ridiculous catch from Julian Edelman, they piled the pressure on Atlanta.
Brady and White connected one more time and just like that it was 28-26.
Another two-point conversion followed and for the first time in Super Bowl history, we had a game that was headed into overtime; unless, Ryan, who threw for 284 yards with two touchdowns, could do something special with the 57 seconds that remained on the clock.
The Falcons were deflated, though, at this point and into overtime it went, where the Patriots pulled off a stunning win.
