Holy **** you guys. We were down 28-3 in the Super Bowl and won.

[bormio]

You didn't throw your guests out at halftime???

There were no guests at my house. No going to get food for anyone, explaining where the bathroom was, discussion about the commercials etc. Adopted the same approach as the 2004 Sox playoffs. Same result - they tried to kill me, and then they rescued me.

 

[PatriotsReign]

After the game I went out to my car and just sat there yelling "we wonnnnn!!!!" while blowing my horn!

 

[convertedpatsfan]

There were no guests at my house. No going to get food for anyone, explaining where the bathroom was, discussion about the commercials etc. Adopted the same approach as the 2004 Sox playoffs. Same result - they tried to kill me, and then they rescued me.

Totally agree. I won't go to a Super Bowl party where we are playing, or should be playing (like in 2012, 2015). And I don't want anyone else around me. I don't even check my phone in case I'm getting ****ty texts, which I got during the first half of the Super Bowl.

And my wife is awesome, she knows when to hang out and when to take the kids upstairs. Watching some of those Atlanta fan reaction videos made me realize how many divorces this game can cause. Like some of those wives shouting out, "WHAT HAPPENED???" Or the constant, "Are you okay?" Or ask a zillion little questions during the game while all you want to do is just suffer in silence alone.

I guess I should get her something nice as a thank you for being awesome. Maybe a Tom Brady jersey...

 

[Mike the Brit]

You didn't throw your guests out at halftime???

My daughter, her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend. The girls are both Pats fans ... and the boy (who's a Packers fan) knows what's good for him! My childish behaviour set them an example that will last a lifetime.

 

[PatriotsReign]

View attachment 16406 My buddy from work (a Browns fan and a pretty good dude) texted me here in Colorado at 6:54 (8:54 EST). I think it was just after Atlanta made it 28-3. I just had this feeling Brady wouldn't let us down...

How did you take a snapshot of your text?

My uncle texted me around the same time saying "early to bed tonight!"

I responded "Greatest comeback ever!"

At the end of the game, he texted me saying "Holy crap, how did you know?"

 

[mosslost]

Sorry - I'm not pandering for likes and **** I'm serious - I still have these moments of lucidity when I realize how insane it is that we won that ****ing game.

LOOK AT THAT ****. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

The thing that still kind of blows me away is what many players and coaches said about half time. There was no reason for any of them to be lying about it.

Players said there were no big speaches..
McDaniels said the Belichick said to him privately, "look, we're ok, 21 points is not going to beat us." - in other words they still had their ability to look at the game as 60 minutes, and that they could do to them, what they had just had done to them, plenty of time.
I still believe they had to have made adjustments at half time, but I do take them all at their word that nonody was like screaming "we are not going down like this" or whatever to the whole team at halftime.

And then when it became 28-3 I had zero belief or hope in a win and was just rooting for some scores to make it less embarassing. Once we got the ball back 28-20 my first thought was Denver the year before, thinking Brady might just drive them 92 yards for the score since he will have 4 downs every series,,, but the 2 point conversion hung over my head that whole drive. (Kind of funny that I did not doubt the 92 yard drive) Once the 2 point was good I was just in a state of shock. I thought it was over even before we got the coin toss but in hind sight that coin toss was just as huge as everything else because their D was hosed.

 

[Ring 6]

Totally agree. I won't go to a Super Bowl party where we are playing, or should be playing (like in 2012, 2015). And I don't want anyone else around me. I don't even check my phone in case I'm getting ****ty texts, which I got during the first half of the Super Bowl.

And my wife is awesome, she knows when to hang out and when to take the kids upstairs. Watching some of those Atlanta fan reaction videos made me realize how many divorces this game can cause. Like some of those wives shouting out, "WHAT HAPPENED???" Or the constant, "Are you okay?" Or ask a zillion little questions during the game while all you want to do is just suffer in silence alone.

I guess I should get her something nice as a thank you for being awesome. Maybe a Tom Brady jersey...

Or a goodell clown shirt

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I have friends who turned the game off early because they were so upset. One was rescued by his wife who saw the Pats coming back on another TV elsewhere in the house and got him to turn it back on in the fourth quarter. The other guy missed the game's last 10 minutes, the goofball.

Goofball, indeed. But, also, not a Patriots fan. A fan might look for distractions or find something else to do while watching the game, but a fan would never turn the game off.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This is going to sound crazy and stupid but, when it was 28-3 and with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd, I was so exasperated that I started playing Solitaire on my iPhone. Could barely watch the game. Then good things started happening. So I kept playing. My wife got to watch more than I did. I would simply lift my head up at the snap of the ball and watch a play for 5 seconds, hen go back to Solitaire. Watching this way took me completely out of the game emotionally. But when good things kept happening, I didn't dare break the mojo. Even with Julio Jones's grab to the 22, I kept playing. I did lift my head up once to see a replay of Edelman's grab. But that's it. I kept up this regimen through overtime, and when White scored, I stood up, dropped my phone, lifted both arms in the air, turned around to my wife and said, "The greatest comeback in history." Then I went and woke up my children who went to sleep dreading the beating they were take at school the next day here in Buffalo. Luckily, my older daughter's principal and history teacher are Patriots fans, so she has some backup. But these kids have taken quite a bit of abuse over the years (my favorite is the camp counselor who kept obstructing my child's fun and who constantly called her "Brady").

Anyhow--I only had half an eye on the game.

Perfectly understandable.
I never stopped watching the game, but I found a couple of things to distract myself after the score went to 28--3.

 

[Ivan]

Here are the last 9 relevant possessions of the game:

NE - 13 plays, 75 yards, 6:25, touchdown
Atl - 3 plays, -15 yards, 2:15, punt
NE - 12 plays, 72 yards, 5:07, field goal
Atl - 3 plays, -2 yards, 1:20, fumble
NE - 5 plays, 25 yards, 2:28, touchdown (2pt conversion)
Atl - 6 plays, 45 yards, 2:26, punt
NE - 10 plays, 91 yards, 2:33, touchdown (2pt conversion)
Atl - 4 plays, 16 yards, 0:54, punt
NE - 8 plays, 75 yards, 3:58, touchdown (end of game)

Total stats for these 9 drives:

NE: 48 plays, 338 yards, 20:31 TOP, 4 touchdowns, 1 field goal, 31 points
Atl: 16 plays, 44 yards, 6:55 TOP, 3 punts, 1 turnover, 0 points

I mean, that's TOTAL domination in every conceivable way.

Nicely done.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I was very serene at half time. Except for the fumble and the pick-six, I thought they were playing OK.

In a Super Bowl, giving up two scores off of turnovers against a potent Offense is usually fatal, but, I had watched a replay of SB XLIX the day before and all I could think was, "They're still just one TD away from this being a two score game and I know they can win an SB when they're within two scores in the Second Half."

When it went to 28--3, I'll be honest, that was the first time I got worried. The missed XP didn't make me feel any better after they finally got into the End Zone .

But, when they settled for a FG to make it 28--12, I just said to my kid, "That's OK, they were going to need a FG to tie this thing, so they might as well get it now."

After Hightower's play, I actually started to feel, I think they're going to pull this off.

When they punched it in and made the two to make it 28--20, I said to myself, "They got this."

When they won the coin toss (I know I yada, yada'd over a few things there), I said to my kid, "Game's over."

 

[PatriotsReign]

Yeah from the looks of the Gameday thread, he wasn't alone.

I have never seen such prima facie evidence of faith, no matter how battered, rewarded. I don't think anybody thought we'd win that. But I am sure the "game over" crowd was turning off sets all over the place. I wouldn't have missed that game for the world, and it started out looking like the one I'd MOST want to miss.

I thank God I got sick that day... I was supposed to go out to watch it. My friends (not Pats fans) apparently all went home at half-time, because, you know, why?

I got sick that day as well. I had my 86 year old dad coming to my house to watch the game and stay over night. I was close to calling him that morning and telling him I was too sick, but I couldn't do it.

I had almost no emotion while the game played on....I was just too sick to get into it. At halftime, my uncle texted me "early to bed tonight!" And I just replied "Greatest comeback ever!"

The entire day was surreal. And when we won, my reaction wasn't that emotional. But I was happy I saw it with my dad. And we watched the ceremony and some game recaps.

After my father went to bed, I continued watching everything I could find regarding the game and suddenly realized it was 1:30am!

I just couldn't tap into that awesomeness feeling I wanted that night. But ever since then after re-watching the game a half dozen times, I found that feeling.

A game for the ages

 

[signbabybrady]

I never gave up but man was I close. At 28-3 I might have but Tom has the ball in his hand let's see what he does first. The missed EP was tough but my lowest point was the missed onsider right after just gave the not our day feel. I was also nervous that we used up our best onside kick play and we likely were going to need to try one again.
But now we had scored and I knew this would at least get interesting. With each score that followed confidence rose to the point I was certain we would win after tying it. I even thought we might win in regulation since we had 2 TOs left and pinned them deep.

Always bet on heads!

 

[The Brandon Five]

Every Pats fan I know was working out mentally that they should kick the FG down 28-9 to be 16 points down, two TDs and two 2 point conversions.

Like Bill said on the "Sounds of the Game", they needed two more possessions either way.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I imagine Pats players and fans, & Falcons players and fans, still wake up in the middle of the night screaming, but for different reasons.

There will probably be a college course someday on this game and the attendant psychology.

I'm sure this game will be cited in every locker room (high school, college and pro) in every sport where a team is down big as motivation and proof that the game is never over. Heck, I've been telling myself that in my day-to-day.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I never gave up but man was I close. At 28-3 I might have but Tom has the ball in his hand let's see what he does first. The missed EP was tough but my lowest point was the missed onsider right after just gave the not our day feel. I was also nervous that we used up our best onside kick play and we likely were going to need to try one again.
But now we had scored and I knew this would at least get interesting. With each score that followed confidence rose to the point I was certain we would win after tying it. I even thought we might win in regulation since we had 2 TOs left and pinned them deep.

Always bet on heads!

I don't remember where I heard or read it, but the Slaters always call heads... like father, like son.

 

[signbabybrady]

I don't remember where I heard or read it, but the Slaters always call heads... like father, like son.

I heard that too.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Part of what really amazed me was the fact that we needed two two point conversions and got them.

In some weird way, it almost feels like 21 is easier to get than 16. I've never seen any team get two in a row.

That really was an incredible thing. Two in a row is just crazy. Amendola just eeked that ball over the line. I was already ecstatic because I knew the flag was on ATL.

So many improbable things happened in that game beyond the score. It's like everything that was working against NE in the first 3 1/2 quarters just did an about face. I don't know if there are enough words to adequately explain that game. I'm sure people are still watching film and breaking it down.

 

[Anteros]

I stayed at a friends house that weekend to watch the game. Between the two of us we had a quarter ounce of the finest ganja we could get and we self medicated before the game.

At halftime we were so bummed that we almost smoked the whole thing but if it hadn't been for that I don't think that I would have been able to watch that second half! We actually stood (well, swayed) in front of the tv the entire rest of the game.

What a thrill!

 

[Kdo5]

I might have stopped watching the game if they went down 32 points and just checked my phone periodically. After White's first TD, I had decided to stick it out to the end to see if it was still a possibility. They had moved the ball on Atlanta throughout the game but just had nothing to show for it, I started believing when HT got the strip sack, you could see Brady jump up on the sideline, then you could just feel it. If there was any player in the world who could pull it off it was Brady. He believed, thus I dared to believe as well.

Still though, the thought that the Pats could get two TD's along with two 2pt conversions seemed very very improbable.