The Gr8est
Veteran Starter w/Big Long Term Deal
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Best tweet I saw:
La La Land should have run the ball
Did that really happen? The person who must not be named must be laughing his a** off.
I didn't watch the oscars, let me in on the inside joke.
A reason you must always go down with the ship! Especially when it's captained by BB and TFB (sometimes there's a last minute rescue ;-))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.
Wait til Marky Mark hears!
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.
Something else that I have to keep reminding myself...Brady did what he did, WITHOUT Gronk!
Just...GOAT!
As a follow up to this point... What's also kind of amazing is that when they were down 28-3, the stats were not remotely one-sided. At that point (following the Atlanta score to make it 28-3), here were the stats:
Atl: 30 plays, 300 yards, 16:32 TOP
NE: 45 plays, 208 yards, 20:00 TOP
So yes, Atlanta had more yards, but the Patriots were moving the ball, had the ball for a lot more plays, and had 3:28 more TOP. In other words, those stats would have suggested that the game was a lot closer than the score would have indicated. The three HUGE mistakes that had killed the Pats up to that point:
- Blount fumble when they were driving (had gone 53 yards on the drive and were at Atlanta's 29)
- Brady's pick-six when they were driving (had gone 52 yards on the drive and were at Atlanta's 23)
- Bennett's holding penalty at the end of the first half that prevented them from getting a touchdown, forcing them to settle for a field goal
That's a possible 18 points they failed to score, and another 7 they gave up. That's a 25 point possible swing. So when people talk about Atlanta's mistakes at the end, they should also talk about the Patriots' mistakes in the beginning. Uncharacteristic mistakes, in fact.
Here's the thing: When the Patriots were making those mistakes and the score was lopsided, the actual play on the field was NOT lopsided; the Pats were more than holding their own in actual on-field play. But when the Patriots cleaned up their act and it was Atlanta making mistakes, not only was the score lopsided, but the on-field play was lopsided as well.
Long story short, the Patriots were simply the much better team in the Super Bowl. It just took the full game (and then some) for it to be borne out.
Good analogy, alternative history, Philip ****......It's been three weeks and I still have trouble believing it. The analysis I've seen - tired Falcons defense, slight halftime adjustments, error-prone Falcons coach - really just aren't that plausible. It's like I'm in a Philip K. **** novel or The Truman Show.
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^^^ This.
The combination of alcohol, disappointment, stress and having to keep polite and attentive for my guests left me in some kind of a schizoid trance state.
After the Jones catch I thought it really was over, but I had that feeling of gratitude. SB XLIX had been so great that I had no right to another one, so I was happy that, at least, our boys weren't going to be blown away and humiliated (though I REALLY wanted Tom to ram one up Goodell's rectum). Then, God bless him, that's exactly what he -- and all the other heroes -- did.