How the New England Patriots Pulled Off the Greatest Comeback in Football History
Endurance through time of possession led To Patriot’s miraculous comeback
As a New England Patriots fan, you probably sat on your couch with your mouth dropped to the floor as Super Bowl LI went into halftime. There certainly were a myriad of thoughts running through your mind: “What is happening right now? How do we come back from this? Oh God, here come the memes!” Before Lady Gaga jumped from the top of NRG Stadium into her halftime performance, the Patriots caused a spark that went unnoticed — which later ignited a wildfire that became the biggest comeback in NFL Playoff history.
The Atlanta Falcons and their young defense played as an elite squad all postseason, and entered Houston with the same momentum and a Vince Lombardi Trophy on the line. Courtney Upshaw and Grady Jarret each recorded a sack on the Patriots’ second drive, which was one of three for Jarret. Deion Jones forced a fumble on a LeGarrette Blount run and Atlanta capitalized with a rushing touchdown. While trailing 14–0 and driving in Falcons territory, Tom Brady threw a crushing interception directly to Robert Alford that went all the way to the house for six.
At 28–3 in the third quarter, it looked as if head coach Dan Quinn had recreated his 2013 Seattle Seahawks defensive performance from Super Bowl XLVIII. In what should have been the end to it all, the Patriots utilized one element the Denver Broncos didn’t when faced with a dominating defense: time of possession.
In the beginning of the second half, the Patriots held the ball for only 22 seconds until Matt Ryan threw a touchdown to Tevin Coleman — bringing the score to 28–3. After that score, the Patriots held the ball for a total 16 minutes and 33 seconds. The overtime added another four minutes, bringing their total time of possession (TOP) to just about 21 minutes. But what gets lost in the craziness of this comeback is the time of possession the Patriots’ had prior to entering halftime.
In the second quarter, the Patriots received the ball at 8:48, in which Tom Brady threw a pick-six and came back to end the half with a Stephen Gostkowski field goal. Throughout this time frame, Matt Ryan sat and watched from the sideline as his defense withered due to fatigue. From the time that the Falcons scored their second touchdown to when Ryan touches the ball again in the second half, roughly 45 minutes to an hour had passed by.
The Patriots were able to not only able to keep the number one offense in the league away from the field, but more importantly keep the Falcons’ red-hot defense on the field long enough to gasp for air. The TOP game also allowed the Patriots defense to rest and feast on the Falcons’ 6th ranked offensive line when the time came. The Falcons were held to 4 punting situations that was a result from two sacks, and also a sack fumble caused by Dont’a Hightower that was recovered by the Patriots. The Patriots’ defense shutout the Falcons for 7 minutes, and allowed Tom Brady to do what he does best — lead his team to the promised land.
Falcons fans can fire back and say the outcome of this game could have been different had it not been for several things: James White had his knee down, the officials didn’t call an offensive pass interference on a 2-point conversion, Tom Brady cheated again, etc. What it all comes down to is one thing: the New England Patriots played four full quarters of football and executed exactly when they needed to. This was no self-implosion on the Atlanta Falcons, it was merely a game of ball control and TOP. Whether or not this was a formulated halftime adjustment by Bill Belichick or not, it was an epic comeback for the ages and will never be forgotten.
