Super Bowl LI: Patriots vs. Falcons

[Federberg]

Greater choke than it was a comeback Baron. Atlanta embarrassed themselves for all the world to see and that's why it's tough to put guys like Matt Ryan as an elite player until you see how they'll perform when it counts. A fumble and taking a 14 yard sack when a field goal wins the game, he lost it for that team

I hear you on the Ryan lapse, but surely the decision to throw rather than take the 3 points rests with the coach. Seems to me his choke was even worse than Ryan's. The history of sports is littered with teams that change their winning strategy right when they have the trophy in their grasp.

 

[britbox]

Yeah, Got to agree with Federberg. You've got 2'20 left in the 3rd Quarter... and you're 28-3 ahead.... You've got to take that to the bank. Apart from a couple of Ryan flunks he didn't have a bad game overall. You've got to look at more than just Ryan when blowing a 28-3 lead with just over 17 minutes left.

 

[britbox]

 

[the AntiPusher]

Probably the biggest choke in the shortest amount of time EVER...Dan Quinn should be Fired immediately..he is supposed to be a defensive guru but his defensive schemes have been part of the two biggest chokes and coaching blunders ever(he lost with Seattle vs the Pats when Pete Carroll was the head coach.)

I am a Niners fan..now we gonna get Kyle Shannahan who just architected the biggest choke offense in Super Bowl..:nono..

 

[DarthFed]

Oh I agree the coaches shoulder a huge amount of the blame. I personally didn't mind the decision to throw on 3rd and 1 when they were up 28-12. When the Pats knew a run was coming they stuffed it in the 2nd half so I don't think Atlanta would've picked it up. You have to rely on your veteran QB to not turn the ball over in that situation, he did the one thing that truly hurt Atlanta there. Not even a sack hurt them that badly. The decision to pass instead of run when they had a chip-shot field goal was absolutely idiotic on so many levels. But again, the one thing he can't do there is take a sack and/or turn it over. When the players, especially your MVP QB, choke like that it will always make the coaches look worse too. It was definitely a team collapse but the most glaring screwups came from Ryan.

The Seattle collapse a couple years ago wasn't nearly as bad as this and the coaches definitely carried some of the blame for that one but for as much as I think McCarthy and crew are worthless, the players on defense and special teams didn't exactly do them any favors in that 4th quarter.

 

[kskate2]

I think you have to GSM. Tom was stinking up the joint in the first half. While ATL did choke, Brady still had to put points on the board and not turn the ball over to bring the team back. In the end, he did what he always does (make a late run w/ minimal time left) to win a game.

 

[DarthFed]

I am not quite ready to say that TB > JM. What do you folks think.

I think you have to put Brady ahead as GOAT now and I can't stand him and Belichick who is the greatest coach ever (yes even ahead of Lombardi IMO). Football is such a team sport though that there is a difference between greatest and best. Rodgers is a better QB than Brady by a decent amount IMO, but he's on a crap franchise, this team would average 4-6 wins a year if you replace him with an average starting QB. Just look at the difference in defenses. Rodgers defense couldn't get off the field so he hardly ever had the ball while the Pats had the ball for 40 out of 63 minutes yesterday. Brady was the main reason the game was a blowout initially, he was absolute garbage until the 4th quarter and his pick 6 was at least a 10 point swing. The Pats may have made the SB this year with Jimmy G at QB, that's how great Belichick is.

 

[DarthFed]

Some come back...I am not sure if it was just the great comeback or a great choke or both.

Much greater choke than comeback and that is usually the case. The only thing Ryan can't do on 3rd and 1 with a 28-12 lead is turn the ball over and that's what he did. Then the coaches call an absolutely idiotic pass play at 28-20 from the Pats 22. With that said the only things Ryan can't do there is turn the ball over or take a sack. The coaches deserve a lot of the blame but Ryan choked hard. You had to wonder coming in if he had what it takes to win especially if/when things got tight. He deserved the MVP this year but he still showed why he is no Brady or Rodgers.

 

[DarthFed]

Probably the biggest choke in the shortest amount of time EVER...Dan Quinn should be Fired immediately..he is supposed to be a defensive guru but his defensive schemes have been part of the two biggest chokes and coaching blunders ever(he lost with Seattle vs the Pats when Pete Carol was the head coach.)

I am a Niners fan..now we gonna get Kyle Shannahan who just architected the biggest choke offense in Super Bowl..:nono..

Yeah, good time for Shanahan to get out of town. I don't care how good of an offense you had all year, when you blow a SB with such clownery that should be the end of the tenure.

I actually don't blame the Falcons defense too much, they were on the field all game long and they made Brady and co look silly until they were exhausted midway through the 4th. The team also played more soft zone in the 4th (not all out prevent but close), a sure recipe for Brady to pick them apart.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Probably the biggest choke in the shortest amount of time EVER...Dan Quinn should be Fired immediately..he is supposed to be a defensive guru but his defensive schemes have been part of the two biggest chokes and coaching blunders ever(he lost with Seattle vs the Pats when Pete Carol was the head coach.)

I am a Niners fan..now we gonna get Kyle Shannahan who just architected the biggest choke offense in Super Bowl..:nono..

Yeah, good time for Shanahan to get out of town. I don't care how good of an offense you had all year, when you blow a SB with such clownery that should be the end of the tenure.

I actually don't blame the Falcons defense too much, they were on the field all game long and they made Brady and co look silly until they were exhausted midway through the 4th. The team also played more soft zone in the 4th (not all out prevent but close), a sure recipe for Brady to pick them apart.

Agreed..it's was Kyle fault..that defense had played too much. During the first half...if you want to defeat Brady.you have to run the ball..you have to chew up clock..

 

[DarthFed]

I'd change the last part to saying if you want to beat New England you can't play stupid and conservatively. I honestly think Belichick is the only competent HC in the NFL.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Which is the bigger choke..Seattle not running the ball at the half yd line or yesterday's collapse..I still say what Pete caroll did was worst.

 

[kskate2]

I don't know. That collapse is pretty big to me. I mean they literally did not put any more points on the board for 1.5 quarters. In fact, they didn't even get back to red zone in the 4th right? I mean, if Ryan doesn't take that sack that knocked them out of FG range, even w/ a Brady come back they wouldn't have enough time to score twice.

 

[DarthFed]

Atlanta is the biggest choke in sports history given the stage. The Seattle game was just one idiotic playcall.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Atlanta is the biggest choke in sports history given the stage. The Seattle game was just one idiotic playcall.

I damn..Darth you have perspective..but it's really debatable..

GSM, KS , Darh and etc.. just think about a half yard or even a yard..just extend your arm out..we are talking about the length from your fingers to your elbow.,that's beyond idiotic...idiotic is calling a time out when you are out of them or shooting a basket in your opponent's basket..a half yard and a pass play is called

 

[DarthFed]

Calling a pass play from the one was dumb for sure but it was 2nd down and they only had one timeout. I understand the reasoning, the problem was they called a slant into the middle of the endzone which is just beyond stupid. It wasn't a good pass either, not that surprising since Wilson is not a very accurate QB. I think calling a pass play from the 1 in that situation was considerably more reasonable than calling A pass play in the game last night. Last night you just run a couple times, make them burn 2 timeouts and if you make the chip shot field goal the game is probably over.

The problem with Seattle is the pass play they called. What they should've done if they were intent on passing is fake a handoff to Lynch going one way and roll Wilson out the other. Good chance he'd have been able to run it in and if not he could get rid of the ball or find someone in less traffic than what you get when throwing a slant into the middle of the end zone from the 1 yard line.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Talking of records, we had a record that was more than doubled in last night's game. The previous record for coming back and winning was from a 10 point deficit. Yesterday, TB & co came back from a 25 point deficit. That is 150% increase in the size of record. Have not seen a record change so drastically.

Surely, the Falcons offense is the culprit. The defense did a great job for the most part, sacking TB multiple times, knocking him down and so on. Besides, as already pointed out, the defense was on field for a long time and so they are apt not to be sharp at the end. Obviously, Ryan's INT and sack were the two main things to be blamed.

I think whoever called the coin toss correctly for the overtime should be given the MVP of the title match. I think this is a highly stupid rule to use sudden death to decide the game. They should do like they do in college football. Keep giving one possession for both the teams in each overtime, until there is a difference. I am not saying this would have changed the outcome of yesterday's match, but it surely would have made the outcome look fairer than it is now.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I don't know whether you guys have heard of this. When the score was 28-3, Genie Bouchard predicted on twitter that Falcons will win. A random guy asked her will she go out with him if Pats win the match. She said sure, thinking it is impossible. She now owes a date to a random guy on twitter. Will she honor it?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I am not quite ready to say that TB > JM. What do you folks think.

I think you have to put Brady ahead as GOAT now and I can't stand him and Belichick who is the greatest coach ever (yes even ahead of Lombardi IMO). Football is such a team sport though that there is a difference between greatest and best. Rodgers is a better QB than Brady by a decent amount IMO, but he's on a crap franchise, this team would average 4-6 wins a year if you replace him with an average starting QB. Just look at the difference in defenses. Rodgers defense couldn't get off the field so he hardly ever had the ball while the Pats had the ball for 40 out of 63 minutes yesterday. Brady was the main reason the game was a blowout initially, he was absolute garbage until the 4th quarter and his pick 6 was at least a 10 point swing. The Pats may have made the SB this year with Jimmy G at QB, that's how great Belichick is.

I too cannot stand both TB and Belichick. However, I am willing to admit that Billichick is the GOAT coach in view of results. But, I am not willing to call TB the GOAT QB despite 5 rings. You can call him the QB with most rings, but not GOAT QB, for the exact same reasons you mentioned.

Some may argue that the same argument can be given for coaches also (a person may be a good coach, but coaching the wrong team wasting their talents). But, I don't buy that as assembling a good team is also part of job description of the coach.

 

[DarthFed]

I think Brady has the stats and the rings to make a rock solid case that he is the greatest quarterback ever. You compare him with a guy like Rodgers and Peyton Manning and it gets tricky, as I'd say both have/had more talent and put up better numbers despite being on far worse franchises. But neither has the rings and in Manning's case he did pretty poorly in the playoffs.

Compare the playoff stats between Rodgers and Brady and you'll be shocked at how badly AR outperforms him in every way except for the fact his defense is historically awful in the playoffs. Rodgers defense has given up an average of 36.3 PPG in the 7 losses they've had in his career. Including games where they've given up 51, 45, and 44. The Pats have never given up 44 or more in Brady's whole career, let alone 3 times out of 16 playoff games. Quite frankly Rodgers career has been wasted with incompetent coaching and a washed up general manager who refuses to get free agents that could help fix this mess of a defense. If AR gets to 3-4 rings you'd have a case that he is GOAT but it's not going to happen.