Falcons Choke Again Falcons Throw on Third and 1

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The Atlanta Falcons choked during the biggest moment in franchise history.

There's no other way to draw the team'due south Super Basin LI loss to the New England Patriots at NRG Stadium in Houston. Later leading by 25 points with 18 minutes left to play, Atlanta allowed the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, equallythe Patriots roared back with 31 unanswered points to emerge with a 34-28 overtime victory.

An inevitable argument occurs after a slim margin decides any major contest: Did the winner earn the victory, or did the loser requite it abroad?

The Falcons handed the Patriots another Super Bowl championship courtesy of mental mistakes, penalties and a porous defensive try when they desperately needed a stop.

Instead of being crowned champions, the 2016 Falcons will be zero more than a footnote in NFL history. When future generations reflect back on Tom Brady and his accomplishments, they'll see he holds the Super Basin records for the most career victories of whatever quarterback (five) and single-game passing yards (466).

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady afterwards the team's 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

What team did Brady play to break those records? The Falcons.

If this yr's Falcons team is remembered, information technology'll feel similar derision as the NBA's 2015-xvi Golden Country Warriors and MLB'southward 2016 Cleveland Indians.

This is at present Atlanta'south fate, and fans around the league won't allow the franchise forget its failure.

Head passenger vehicle Dan Quinn, his staff and players take no one to blame but themselves. While in that location are times when a team builds a pb earlier running into a buzz saw, this isn't one of those cases. The Falcons were the team to beat out, but they didn't look like the same team during the 2nd one-half or overtime.

Everything started to fall apart with viii:31 remaining in the fourth quarter. Atlanta withal held a 28-12 lead and possessed the ball. On 3rd-and-1 from the Falcons' 36-thou line, offensive coordinator—and hereafter San Francisco 49ers head motorcoach—Kyle Shanahan called a laissez passer play. Running back Devonta Freeman didn't recognize linebacker Dont'a Hightower, as he blitzed off the edge, until it was too tardily, and the defender got a clean shot on quarterback Matt Ryan.

The hit caused a fumble, as the NFL'southward Twitter feed captured:

NFL @ NFL

Matt Ryan is SACKED. And FUMBLES! @Patriots ball! #SB51 #Patriots https://t.co/o1lgQktgrI

"I saw Matt Ryan with the ball in his hands, I wanted information technology and then I hit him and took information technology," Hightower said, per Pro Football game Talk's Josh Alper.

V plays later, Brady connected with wide receiver Danny Amendola for a six-yard touchdown. Running back James White converted the two-bespeak conversion to bring the Patriots inside eight points.

Fifty-fifty and then, the Falcons still held a 28-20 lead with an opportunity to close out the game. The criminal offense failed to do and so a second time.

After Ryan and Co. orchestrated a drive all the way to the Patriots' 22-yard line—including an astonishing tip-toe catch along the sideline from Julio Jones— the following happened:

• Patriots safety Devin McCourty stopped Freeman for a i-g loss.
• Patriots defensive lineman Trey Flowers sacked Ryan for a 12-grand loss.
• Ryan connected with broad receiver Mohamed Sanu for a 9-thousand gain, but the play was called back due to a Jake Matthews property punishment.
• At present out of field-goal range, Ryan failed to connect with broad receiver Taylor Gabriel on 3rd-and-33.
• Matt Bosher punted the ball to Julian Edelman with 3:38 left to play.

Atlanta potentially could have sealed the game with a field goal on that drive. Instead of going up xi with simply three-and-a-half minutes remaining, the Falcons went backward.

"Yous always want to run the ball," Shanahan said, per ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure. "You don't desire to only run the ball and make your guy take a 50-yard field goal."

Matthews told reporters he idea the Falcons would "extend our atomic number 82 and win it" in the second half, per ESPN.com'south Jeff Legwold. Only his mistake became one of the crucial reasons why that didn't happen.

Meanwhile, Brady's magnificence was never more credible. As Pro Football Focus noted, his strong second-one-half performance should take come as no surprise:

Pro Football Focus @ PFF

Tom Brady gets even better in the 2d one-half of games... https://t.co/lgEwuX5hOr

That said, no one could have been prepared for what he pulled off Sunday.

During the fourth quarter, Brady completed 16 of his 21 pass attempts for 196 yards and a touchdown. He also got the team into scoring position with five straight completions to start overtime.

Early in the contest, the Falcons created pressure level with their defensive forepart. Quinn's group didn't demand to rush to brand Brady's life uncomfortable. In fact, the unit managed 17 quarterback hurries on the nighttime, according to Pro Football Focus.

When those defenders were animate downwardly Brady's neck, the quarterback started to display happy feet and wasn't his typical calm self. Once he settled, though, the game took a dramatically different turn.

Atlanta's defensive backs fabricated life difficult for Brady's favorite targets, likewise. Every bit the game wore on, he chose to rely on alternatives.

White led the team with a Super Bowl-tape xiv receptions for 110 yards. He likewise scored the game-winning two-m touchdown in overtime.

James White's Super Bowl-winning touchdown. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images

With Edelman and Amendola garnering most of Atlanta's defensive attending, rookie Malcolm Mitchell emerged equally a major X-factor. The fourth-round choice grabbed 6 receptions for seventy yards, including an xi-one thousand snag on New England's game-tying fourth-quarter drive.

The Patriots' offensive depth allowed the Brady to finish 43-of-62 on the night. The quarterback took what was bachelor and made the best of the situation en road to his record-setting quaternary Super Bowl MVP.

"He's the best ever," Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said after the game, per Legwold. "There's no flinch in Tom."

Brady wasn't named the league'south regular-season MVP, though. Ryan was.

The Falcons quarterback couldn't have played much meliorate than he did Sunday (aside from that critical fumble), every bit he went 17-of-23 for 284 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His operation but wasn't plenty when playing against the greatest quarterback e'er to footstep onto a football field.

"That'southward a tough loss," Ryan lamented later on, per the Houston Relate'due south Aaron Wilson. "Obviously very disappointed, very close to getting done what nosotros wanted to get done, hard to observe words."

This loss is going to sting for a long time. Depending on how the Falcons perform over the next few years, the hurting may never disappear.

Fifty-fifty so, at that place are still reasons for hope.

Ryan is only 31 years old and remains in his prime. The offense isn't just built around him, either. Wide receiver Julio Jones won't turn xxx for another 2 years. Freeman and fellow running back Tevin Coleman are still on their rookie contracts. First-year tight end Austin Hooper caught a touchdown Lord's day and became a big role of the crime as the flavor wore on.

Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett sacks New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Bob Levey/Getty Images

Defensively, the Falcons field a young and exciting unit. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who sacked Brady three times during the biggest game of his life, is a legitimate edifice block. Edge defender Vic Beasley led the NFL with 15.v sacks during the regular flavor. The rest of the defense is immature, and it swarms to the football game.

Early in the contest, rookie Deion Jones looked like the favorite to win MVP later on a tackle for loss, deflected pass and forced fumble. Fellow first-twelvemonth linebacker De'Vondre Campbell put force per unit area on Brady. This yr's first-circular pick, Keanu Neal, led the squad with 13 total tackles. Fourth-twelvemonth cornerback Robert Alford snagged the beginning pick-6 Brady has ever thrown in the playoffs.

Defensive back Desmond Trufant will besides be back side by side flavour afterwards he landed on injured reserve in November with a shoulder injury. He's Atlanta's best defender, and he missed the squad'due south final 10 games.

Right now, the Falcons' heady future isn't much of a consolation prize. The team is hurting, and it should be. Just this shouldn't be the organization'southward only chance to claim a championship. The Falcons are too young and talented not to go far back.

Enough of teams asphyxiate yet still observe a style to win. The Falcons handed Super Bowl LI to New England, and the Patriots capitalized.

The only way to wash out the taste of such a devastating loss is by billowy back and playing for another Super Bowl adjacent year. The Falcons are talented enough to do and so if they don't let this crushing defeat define who they are.

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @brentsobleski.

slaughterwilloused.blogspot.com

Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691400-how-did-the-atlanta-falcons-blow-super-bowl-xli