We underestimated these legendary Patriots even more than we underestimated the Falcons
COMMENTARY
There was an original lede intended for this space sometime around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday night that reflected upon the disaster that unfolded in Houston, narratively connecting the 1985 New England Patriots with the current iteration of the team for co-owning the rights to the worst Super Bowl performances in franchise history.
I don’t mention it simply to boast about my personal mastery of words or franchise history, but to point out what you already know, and to underscore the need to change the beginning of this column to reflect the PG-version of what was on everyone’s lips after a comeback for the ages.
Holy Freaking Hell.
That wasn’t the best Super Bowl ever played. That was the best sports ever played.
With the backdrop of the soap opera laying the groundwork, Tom Brady and the Patriots delivered one of the most exciting comebacks in Boston sports history (the ’04 Red Sox are still at the head of the table), a 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI that helps further cement this city as the sports bane of the rest of the country’s existence.
The Patriots have their fifth Super Bowl ring, launching Brady and Bill Belichick into the definitive status as the greatest of all time, and raising a massive middle finger from the entire region to the NFL, with the knuckle situated somewhere right around Route One.
Oh, it was delicious watching NFL commissioner Roger Goodell be forced to hand the Lombardi Trophy to Bob and Jonathan Kraft, his former golf buddies before he dragged their names through the mud for the last two years. But Deflategate took a backseat, even as Goodell handed the trophy over to a chorus of boos at a delirious NRG Stadium filled with Patriot fans.
Let the revenge angle of this superb contest wait until later Monday morning, when Goodell will be forced to smile again while handing Brady his fourth Super Bowl MVP trophy. Because it’s impossible to not appreciate the beauty we saw on Sunday night.
Brady is the best of all time. Belichick is the best of all time. Those are now undeniable statements — even for the likes of Marshall Faulk. The fact that they earned such distinctions with the most exciting Super Bowl we’ve ever watched? The best.
It was probably around the time the Falcons took a 25-point lead in the third quarter that most of the Patriots’ fan base threw in the handkerchief, mussed with sweat, and started to wonder what the future held for the team. There were decisions to make on Jimmy Garoppolo and maybe even Rob Gronkowski. Brady will be 40 next season. Belichick turns 65 in April, and he looked pretty damned happy messing around on Jimmy Johnson’s boat in the Florida Keys during the Fox pregame show.
LeGarrette Blount was an epic bust in the first half, leading to the first Atlanta score with his fumble. Brady threw a pick-six, and it seemed by the time Lady Gaga jumped from the roof (ala Jean-Claude Van Damme in Sudden Death), the ’85 Pats might be clinking champagne glasses like the 1972 Dolphins supposedly did every time their perfect season remained intact.
Twenty-five points. In the Super Bowl. It had never been done. And the way offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels seemed to have lost his playbook, while it looked like defensive coordinator Matt Patricia prepared as if he were facing the Jets instead of the high-octane Falcons, it sure didn’t look like it was happening in 2017.
Yeah, we underestimated the Atlanta Falcons.
We underestimated the New England Patriots even more.
Let the rest of America groan at the theater we witnessed Sunday night, starting with the building excitement of the fourth-quarter comeback, built with the creeping reminder that the Patriots needed a pair of two-point conversions to force the Super Bowl into its first overtime. When James White crossed into the end zone, it released exultation in New England, expletives everywhere else.
Five. And this dynasty isn’t going anywhere.
That’s what we underestimated the most. Even down 25 points.
“There was a lot of s*** that happened tonight,” Brady said after the game.
Julian Edelman turning into David Tyree? Malcolm Mitchell’s sparkling debut on the Super Bowl stage? Dont’a Hightower’s game-changing sack of Matt Ryan? The fact that the Patriots scored 31 unanswered points to win their fifth Super Bowl title?
Yes. A lot of s*** happened.
This was a perfect night won by football’s best of all time.
Holy Hell.
Now, about fitting that fifth ring for the middle finger…
