I predicted NE 32 - ATL 28. Holy hell, but not by the way it came about!

I don't fault Dan Quinn, unless he was calling the defensive plays yesterday, and if he overruled Shanahan on the idiotic 3-n-1 pass play in the 4th, when they were already in FG range.

Seemed to me that play series was driven by Shanahan's ego and hubris. Instead of playing to just win the Superb Owl, he was playing to crush NE's soul, and NE flipped the script and crushed ATL's soul.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Those were badly timed mistakes for sure. But there were things that happened throughout the game that had they been different, would have potentially changed the outcome of the game.

It's easy to look back at mistakes and say those were the reasons, but that's what makes sportz great, you never know. Reversing a 28-3 score with 2 mins left in the 3rd quarter? That no one would ever predict.

What if Blount didn't fumble and turn the ball over? What if Brady didn't throw that pick-6? What if the Falcons threw the ball to Julio more (4 attempts??)? What if DQ didn't challenge the Edelman catch and left them with a timeout during their last drive in regulation? What if instead of getting sacked, Ryan ended up throwing an interception?

It's really incredible. And IF they win again next year, that'll be twice in this run that they won 3 in 4 years. How can this all be processed?

I don't fault him either, but I feel for him. He had no hand in the Seahawks not handing the ball to Lynch. But he's still been on the wrong side of the score on both occasions.

I would fault him for challenging that Edelman catch though. Unless he was trying to just slow down the momentum and give his defense a rest. That was clearly a catch from the replay.

Agreed all around...the losing team always gets the second-guessing, but much of that first half was bone-headed plays and play-calling by the Patriots. I told my family at halftime, if the Pats lose this game we'll see the pick-6 on a loop for weeks. The 2-minute drill leading to halftime by the Patriots was AWFUL, they basically gained 4 yards on two plays for half of that time. The pass to Bennett with 0:11 seconds was horrible. Edelman caught punts inside the 10 yard line three times, twice trying to run it, that was STUPID. They ran a kick out of the endzone and got stopped at the 12.

There were a TON of boneheaded mistakes by the Patriots, the difference is they made them in the first half and played (mostly) clean, precise football in the second half (or at least the final 20 minutes of the game). I said, halfway through the 4th, that if the Pats get back into the game the Falcons are gonna regret using their TO's stupidly, and they did. But the Patriots made more than enough mistakes of their own...the narrative of the game changes SO MUCH based on who wins that game.

that's a great question. My 12 y/o son spent the entire game watching with me, probably the first time he's done so. I explained to him what we were watching was NFL history. We may never see again a dynasty like this.

I barely remember the Steeler's dynasty and the 49's dynasty felt different than what Pats have accomplished.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I think the spotlight got a little too bright for one team and NE played like they've been there before. Didn't really sense any panic and once they scored after that Ryan fumble it was all she wrote. But can all agree that Joe Buck is a horrible announcer?

Joe buck is the worst. And fox did an awful job broadcasting that game.

What really put it into perspective for me (I'm 36, so have seen all of this amazing run but also caught some of their 80's futility and some of the early-90's teams were among the worst in NFL history): my brother-in-law is 23, huge Pats fan. He was over a few nights ago and we were talking about this incredible 16-year run. I started talking about the Rams SB and thought to myself 'wait, how old would this kid have been for that game?' Seven...this adult, twenty-three year old guy was seven years old when Brady and Belichick first won a Super Bowl together.

There are high school sophomores who were born the year that Rams game happened. Sixteen fucking years, and Brady is still the best QB in football and once again they've won. It's flat-out unbelievable.

Putting this here because I don't want to create another Patriots/Brady thread: I don't have the updated stats but this is from a 2015 article (before last years' season):

The Patriots are 15-7 (.682) when Brady passes the ball 50 or more times, including the postseason. Every other team in modern NFL history (since 1960) has combined to go 100-386-6 (.209) in this situation. The Brady Patriots have singularly won 13 percent of all the 50-attempt victories during the past 55 years of professional football.



Brady is the career leader in 50-attempt games (22), 50-attempt wins (15) and 50-attempt winning percentage (.682). Peyton Manning is second with 17 50-attempt games, and he’s just 4-13 (.235) in those contests. Aaron Rogers has never had to do this, not even once.


I just looked at Brady, Manning, Ryan and Rodgers over the past two seasons to update their numbers.

Rodgers is 1-2 (.333 win%)
Manning is 4-13 (.235 win%)
Ryan is 2-5 (.286 win%)
Brady is now 19-9 (.679 win%)

That is BONKERS. When a team needs a desperation comeback, or when a team knows their run game isn't working, when their opponent KNOWS the QB will be throwing over and over, every other QB in the history of the game is practically conceding victory. Brady somehow wins these games twice as often as he loses them.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Seems about right haha