Super Bowl LI: New England Patriots recover from record deficit to beat Atlanta Falcons
Last updated on .From the section American football
The New England Patriots produced the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime and claim a fifth title in the most dramatic of circumstances.
The Patriots trailed by 25 points in the third quarter but recovered to level at 28-28 and force the extra period - the first in Super Bowl history.
Quarterback Tom Brady led the recovery, finishing with a record 466 yards en route to being named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player for a fourth time.
The turnaround was completed when James White scored on a two-yard run - taking his personal haul for the game to 20 points.
The previous biggest deficit overcome by the eventual Super Bowl champions was 10 points, a record emphatically shattered by the Patriots on an incredible night at Houston's NRG Stadium, which also featured a spectacular half-time show by Lady Gaga.
The singer opened her set with Woody Guthrie's civil rights anthem This Land Is Your Land, "a gentle but pointed rebuke to the Trump administration", BBC Music reporter Mark Savage says.
Notable statistics from the game included:
- Tom Brady becoming the first quarterback to win five Super Bowl rings - and just the second player in history along with Charles Haley
- Brady breaking his own Super Bowl record with 43 pass completions
- Brady also becoming the first player to win four Super Bowl MVPs, on a record seventh appearance in the game
- Brady's 466 passing yards surpassing the previous record of 414 set by Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XXXIV
- James White finishing with 14 receptions, the most by any player ever in the Super Bowl. His 20 points is also a record
- New England's Bill Belichick setting a new record for Super Bowl games as head coach (seven) and wins (five)
- The Patriots scoring 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter - including a pair of two-point conversions
Brady, 39, admitted afterwards the outcome could have been very different had any part of the Patriots team not done its job.
A key moment came with the Patriots trailing 28-20 with 2:28 remaining in the final quarter when Julian Edelman made a miraculous catch for a first down, somehow grabbing the ball under pressure from three opponents after it was tipped into the air by Falcons cornerback Robert Alford.
"I couldn't believe the Edelman catch, it was one of the greatest catches. I don't think he knows how he caught it. We've been on the end of a few of those, it was spectacular," Brady said.
"It's going to be a great celebration tonight. Thanks to everyone back in Boston, we love you, we're bringing this sucker home!"
He added: "That was exactly the way we didn't plan it. It was a hell of a football game.
"This is an incredible team and I'm just happy to be a part of it. We overcame a lot of different things and it's all worth it."
"To be 28-3 down, it was a lot of mental toughness from our team and we're all going to remember this for the rest of our life."
Gaga wows crowds with half-time show
Tom Brady - greatest of all time?
Much of the talk before the game centred on whether Brady could become the first quarterback to win five Super Bowls, but such thoughts were swiftly pushed to one side once the game began as the veteran struggled to find a rhythm.
The first quarter whipped by with hardly any stoppages and no points scored, both defences on top, but come the second quarter the momentum shifted emphatically in favour of Atlanta, who boasted the best regular-season offense and, in quarterback Matt Ryan, the NFL's MVP.
Atlanta went ahead when Devonta Freeman capped an impressive half by rushing for a touchdown, while Ryan connected with Austin Hooper for the second a short time later.
Brady, meanwhile, was labouring, struggling to connect with his receivers and cutting an increasingly frustrated figure as half-time loomed.
When Alford intercepted Brady for an 82-yard touchdown, the writing appeared to be on the wall - with a 21-point lead already double the highest deficit ever overcome in a Super Bowl - although a late field goal at least gave the Pats a sliver of hope at the interval.
As Lady Gaga descended into the arena, Falcons fans were no doubt daring to dream that the franchise could break its Super Bowl duck at the second time of asking, having been beaten by the Denver Broncos on their only previous appearance in 1999.
But if they were thinking along those lines, they reckoned without Brady.
Certainly the omens looked good for Atlanta at the start of the second half with Tevin Coleman's score taking their advantage to 28-3, but that was the cue for New England's fightback to begin.
White scored what seemed like a consolation touchdown late in the third quarter, a feeling only heightened by Stephen Gostkowski's failed extra-point attempt, but still the Pats kept coming.
A Gostkowski field goal was backed up by Brady's touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, with the successful two-point conversion from a White rush closing the gap to eight points.
With Atlanta rattled, Brady marched the Patriots 90 yards upfield via Edelman's stunning catch to present White with a one-yard rushing touchdown, which was followed by a vital two-point conversion catch by Amendola that took the game to overtime.
What they said...
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady: "There were a lot of plays, probably about 30 of them, and if any one was different the outcome would have been different. It was unbelievable. I'm so proud of these guys.
"James White is everything you want in a team-mate. Dependable, reliable, durable. He brings it every day. We kept going to him and that speaks for itself."
Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola: "[Brady] was the same as he always is: cool, calm and collected. He's the leader, the general, the best ever and that is the end of the story."
Patriots running back James White: "We knew we had a shot the whole game. It was an amazing comeback by our team. It's surreal right now. You couldn't write this script."
Patriots coach Bill Belichick: "We have great players, they competed the whole game. They were 28-3 down but they never looked back. They just keep competing for 60 minutes, or longer."
Patriots owner Robert Kraft: "I told our fans two years ago that was the sweetest win of all, but a lot has transpired in the last two years. That doesn't need any explanation.
"This is unequivocally the sweetest. I am proud to say for the fifth time the Patriots are world champions."
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan: "There's nothing you can really say. That's a tough loss. Obviously very disappointed, very close to getting done what we wanted to get done, but it's hard to find words tonight."
Osi Umenyiora, BBC NFL analyst: "There is no solace for Atlanta. They were ahead by 25 points, a game they had to win. I can't imagine how they are feeling. They made so many young mistakes, you can't make them against the New England Patriots.
"This is the worst loss we have ever seen in the history of the Super Bowl.
"For the last year and a half I've talked about how Tom Brady is not the greatest of all time. I take it all back. The improbability of what this man just did, I can't believe what I have seen with my own two eyes.
"It is unbelievable. I take back every negative thing I ever said about this man, he shut me up today. He truly is the greatest."
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Why the hell are we forced to pay a license fee to have this drivel forced down our throats?
...
Did someone make you stay up up all night to watch it?
Was your favourite 3am programme cancelled so the game could be shown?
Is someone making you read this article?
If not, you should probably tone down the hyperbole & get some perspective.
But wow, I have to say that this game alone has certainly made me a fan for years to come!
Nobody I know, grew up with or met here in the U.S. speaks with disdain about you. In fact, many of us love and enjoy Rugby, the U.K.including myself. I also love American football too. To compare rugby and American football is foolish. Two different sports ...but played with a ball.
Gobsmacked at the amount of illiterate cretins on here today though!
No one forced you to watch something at gone midnight, no one is forcing you to read one story on a website & no one is forcing you to take time out of your lives to comment on it. Grow up.
We DO play American Football in the UK, we have done for the past 25yrs or so, in fact. I'm sure most haters were asleep at 1am which makes me wonder why they've bothered now. I can't stand any show that features Dancing; My solution? I don't watch them, and because i don't watch them, i accept that I'm too ill-informed to comment.
But I dont go on a tennis hys and talk about how much I dont like it.
This morning, yes, a news story following a remarkable result in a sport watched by 100s of millions. Ooh the excess!
Yes, US culture is different, but so what? Get over yourselves and try seeing the global good in sports.
Brit 'celebs' pretending they love NFL make me puke.
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Piers Morgan can induce that reaction no matter what he is talking about.
In fact, he doesn't even have to say anything to bring on nausea.
BUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!
People do watch this sport in the UK, i don't personally, but still found the article interesting. If you have no interest in the sport at all, then spend your time more wisely.
Well done Patriots, don't know the game, but seems some feat that.
As with a lot of HYS, if you don't like it or are not interested, why on earth do you come on here and post inane drivel??
..............unless you have nothing else to occupy yourself or derive satisfaction from troll like activities?
I could not care less what this phone hacking scum thinks about the Superbowl or anything else.
Thanks.
Why do you equate stop-start with limited attention spans? Do you think that people who like the NFL are incapable of enjoying any sport that has periods of play lasting longer than 30 seconds? Does this include cricket and tennis fans? If you don't enjoy cycling can I claim you have a limited attention span because stages last 5+ hours? How long is acceptable?
It might not be as good a sport as association football, or the rugby codes (though the USA are the most successful Olympic rugby union champions.) and yes, they wear armour so they can't be as tough as our boys, and they are somewhat arrogant for titling themselves "world champions", but it was still a great spectacle.
Well done the Patriots
Its a bit like say Sumo, Kabbadi or even Cricket. Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people world wide watch them but it is of no interest to me. However I wouldn't feel the need to go on to an article about said sports and post that its rubbish just because I don't like it