Whew!

A season-long revenge mission for the New England Patriots ended about as perfectly as it possibly could. The Patriots roared back against the Atlanta Falcons to force the first overtime game in the history of the super Bowl and forced Roger Goodell to hand over the Lombardi Trophy to Robert Kraft and Tom Brady. For a Patriots fan, there was no sweeter scene in Houston. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the fans will be recovering from one of the worst choke jobs in the history of the game, and all of sports. But hey, at least Lady Gaga put on a show. 

Patriots score 31 unanswered points

For one half, it looked as though this might be the signature image of the Super Bowl. Nope.

If you are an Atlanta Falcons fan, then you were probably more prepared to brace for the way this Super Bowl played out than most of us. Then again, we can be forgiven for expecting a team with a 25-point lead in the second half of the Super Bowl would find a way to close out the game and celebrate by hoisting the Lombardi Trophy over your head after the game. After all, a team has never blown such a lead in the Super Bowl before, and the Falcons had the MVP of the league in Matt Ryan and the Falcons were turning plays like this …

… and this…

… and this…

… en route to a seemingly decisive, and soon-to-be-proven misleading 28-3 lead on the Patriots, playing with Rob Gronkowski and Michael Floyd. So how does a team come back from a 28-3 deficit in the second half? Well, for starters, you have Tom Brady as your quarterback and realize that a game is never over until the clock strikes all zeroes at the end of the fourth quarter. And then, sometimes, you keep playing.

America watched its first overtime Super Bowl, which will surely be great news for FOX when the numbers start rolling in (and coming off a World Series with the Cubs winning a Game Seven in extra innings, this is a pretty good run for FOX; you’re up NASCAR!). But to get there, New England had to put together a rally for the ages. It started with New England answering a third quarter touchdown by the Falcons with a 13-play drive spanning 75 yards. At the time, a missed extra point wasn’t given too much thought late in the third quarter, but it ended up playing a key role in the decision-making to come.

Getting in the end zone was a confidence boost for the Patriots, and the work done by the offense both exploited holes in Atlanta’s defense and found a way to start wearing them down (don’t forget how long halftime was too). The Patriots defense then put together a three-and-out, which led to a 12-play drive by the Patriots for a field goal. The implosion was on.

The Falcons fumbled away the football a few plays later to give the Patriots the ball at the Atlanta 25-yard line. That led to a touchdown, cutting the Atlanta lead down to eight following a two-point conversion.

Down by eight, the Patriots managed to force Atlanta to punt the ball away on the ensuing possession as the Falcons just seemed to be allergic from the end zone and adding more points to the scoreboard. New England took control of the ball at their nin-yard line and needed to drive the length of the field and score a two-point conversion with two timeouts and a two-minute warning at their disposal.

The Catch of the Year

In a year where we have wondered what is and what is not a catch, we were bound to have one of those moments in the Super Bowl. We were darn close to having one before Julian Edelman made this snag.

It would not be an incredible comeback without at least one photo-perfect signature play. On 1st and 10 from their 36-yard line, the Patriots got their moment where if you didn’t believe things were going to work out for New England by now, you most certainly believed it after this moment. With the ball knocked by Atlanta’s defense and falling to the ground, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman made what may go down as one of the greatest catches in NFL history, not just Super Bowl history.

The way things were going at this point in the game, the Patriots may have gone on to score anyway, but a 23-yard pickup thanks to this catch (which was challenged by the Falcons, thus giving the Patriots one more play before the two-minute warning — a 20-yard gain — and burned Atlanta’s final timeout) was pretty important. The Patriots came out of the two-minute warning sitting on the Atlanta 21-yard line with two timeouts if needed and Brady locked in. James White later pushed one in for a touchdown and Brady completed a two-point conversion to Danny Amendola to tie the game up.

For the first time in Super Bowl history, four quarters were not enough to decide a champion, but the Patriots made short work of the deflated gassed Falcons. New England marched right down the field on Atlanta, taking the opening possession of the first half 75 yards for a Super Bowl winning touchdown. Here is the championship-clinching play.

Naturally, Twitter rolled right along with 3-1 and electoral college jokes

Of course, all any Patriots fan probably cared about once the game was over was this…

The Legacy Refined

Go ahead, try to argue against it now. Credit: @NFL_Memes

You really don’t need me to go any further about the legacy of Tom Brady or Bill Belichick now, right? That story has already been written, published and is going for a second print already. This just adds one more chapter to the revised edition of the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick Story. But let’s just run through a few quick numbers for the sake of it.

Tom Brady passed for 466 yards in the Super Bowl win. He also rushed for 15 yards! Brady and Belichick now have five Super Bowl rings together. I mean, seriously, do we really need to go any further than that? I won’t.

And it turns out Brady and a corporate sponsor already had a victory ad ready to roll, complete with a shot at the commissioner.

It’s been a heck of a run for championships

Houston is either the worst or pretty darn great.

Honestly, regardless of who you root for in any sport, you have to admit this past calendar year has been pretty darn good when it comes to championship moments. Villanova won a national title with a buzzer beater. The Cleveland Cavaliers roared back from a 3-1 deficit. The Cubs won a World Series. Clemson’s last-second victory over Alabama. This Super Bowl? (C’mon NHL, step it up!)

And you have to look no further than Houston to see it all come full circle. This fun championship ride started right in NRG Stadium when Villanova topped North Carolina with a buzzer beater in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament National Championship Game…

Now Houston hosts the first overtime in Super Bowl history?

Let me also just say that Joe Buck gets plenty of negative criticism, but let’s take a moment to respect the fact he went from calling an extra inning Game Seven in the World Series won by the Cubs to calling the first Super Bowl overtime and has also added calling the end of the World Series droughts for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox to his list of accomplishments. Seriously, the man has a list of moments that may go down without much competition when all is said and done.

But what about that Lady Gaga performance?

For a stretch, Lady Gaga was having a better Super Bowl than the Patriots.

From start to finish, Lady Gaga brought it and continued a pretty good string of halftime performances. Since back-to-back years of Bruce Springsteen and The Who, halftime show sponsor Pepsi has given us fun performances by Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Beyonce and now Laday Gaga. We’ll forgive one year with Coldplay because it brought back Beyonce and Bruno Mars for some help. But Lady Gaga played her biggest hits and never lost a beat along the way. And yes, she was actually singing, at least for a good part of the show.

Quick Hits

Who would have guessed that Cam Newton would have the first notable highlight of the Super Bowl?

Another Super Bowl meant another year of companies blowing way too much money on Super Bowl advertisements. Gone are the days of commercials aiming purely for your entertainment with the hope of being the talk of the day the following day at work or in school, and in are the politically motivated messages. We can deal with that, because we are all mature adults and such (we all know I’m joking here), but it is nice to see the creatives come through with some good laughs. My favorite commercial happened to be by Buick, starring Cam Newton.

I also found it interesting to see how Verizon was commenting on some Super Bowl ads from their competitors…

For more commercial talk, our Ian Casselberry ran down his top 10 ads.

While the Patriots were getting blown out, Pats fans Donald Trump and Mark Wahlberg bailed.

Contemplating cutting the cord? Be careful, because you might just lose the Super Bowl feed on FOX Sports Go.

What better way to celebrate the Patriots being in the Super Bowl than with a Red Sox cake for your Super Bowl party? Wait, huh?

Elsewhere in the Boston sports scene, former Celtic returned to town to face the Celtics with his new team, the Los Angeles Clippers. Prior to the game, Pierce kissed the Celtics logo and received a warm reception. He played just five minutes, but was given the chance to start as a nice touch.

The Nintendo Switch doesn’t come out until March 3, and these two dedicated Nintendo lovers are already camping out in New York to be first in line.

What’s next for Tony Romo? Despite interest from TV networks, he still wants to play football.

South Africa topped England to win the Sydney Sevens tournament. That’s rugby, in case you were unaware.

 

One last gratuitous moment of procrastination

Video of the jet catapult system on the USS Gerald Ford being tested by firing off trucks. I am no expert, but think it works.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.