How does Patriots dynasty rank in history?
HOUSTON — The Patriots have the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. Cue the debate on whether it translates into the greatest dynasty in the NFL, and maybe where New England ranks among dominant pro sports franchises.
Perhaps the discussion hinges on the record-setting duo of quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick.
There are some numbers that aren’t debatable, like most Super Bowl appearances for a team (nine) and a quarterback (seven). Brady’s five wins put him one ahead of Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most by a quarterback, and Belichick’s five are one better than Bradshaw’s coach in Pittsburgh, Chuck Noll.
Bradshaw and Montana never had a Super Bowl rally that even remotely resembled the 25-point recovery engineered by Brady in a 34-28 win over Atlanta on Sunday night in the first Super Bowl to go to overtime.
“We’ve got the greatest quarterback,” defensive lineman Trey Flowers said. “Calm, cool, collected and just make plays. That’s what he’s been doing all his career.”
Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls with Bart Starr and has four titles. Bradshaw’s Steelers became the team of the 1970s, with Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys not far behind. Montana’s 49ers dominated the ’80s.
Troy Aikman helped the Cowboys become the first team to win three titles in four seasons in the 1990s — and Brady matched him a decade later.
Starr, Bradshaw, Staubach (they called him Captain Comeback), Montana, Aikman.
Vince Lombardi, Noll, Tom Landry, Bill Walsh, Jimmy Johnson.
None of them have a claim to the sustained excellence of Brady and Belichick, the only duo to go to seven Super Bowls and win five.
“He cast a wizard spell over us that changed everything,” tackle Nate Solder said of Belichick and the message at halftime, when the Patriots trailed 21-3 before going down 28-3 in the third quarter.
Joking aside, the Patriots probably never panicked because they can lean on things such as 16 consecutive winning seasons (Dallas has the record with 20) and an NFL-best 34 playoff games and 25 post-season wins for Brady.
“At halftime, I would say we weren’t down at all,” said Brady, who won his fourth Super Bowl MVP award by leading two fourthquarter touchdown drives that included 2-point conversions to force overtime. “We were disappointed in the way we played, and we knew that we could go out and do a lot better in the second half.”
Brady and Belichick fall short of the nine NBA titles that Bill Russell and Red Auerbach won together in Boston, or the six that Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson celebrated in Chicago.
There will always be arguments for the multiple dynasties of the New York Yankees, who have 27 World Series titles. Shortstop Derek Jeter and manager Joe Torre won four together in a span of five seasons from 1996 to 2000, not to mention Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengle or Lou Gehrig and Joe McCarthy.
And don’t forget about the Montreal Canadiens, who won 16 NHL titles in 27 seasons from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Then again, leagues were smaller and rosters were thinner back then, and the conversation was nearly about Atlanta ending its championship drought.
“To come back and just stall and just give Tom Brady a glimpse of a chance to come back, we did that,” Falcons receiver Taylor Gabriel said. “It’s tough to lose like that in the Super Bowl.”
Instead, the spotlight is firmly back on Brady, Belichick and the Patriots, who might not even be done — they’re already favoured to repeat in 2018.
HOUSTON — The Atlanta Falcons headed home Monday, still in a bit of shock after blowing a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl.
While the future looks bright for a team with MVP quarterback Matt Ryan and a promising young defence, let’s not forget the psychological impact of what happened in Houston.
That could take a while to get over.
The Falcons were ready to celebrate the first championship in their 51-year history when they built a 28-3 lead on the New England Patriots. Alas, Tom Brady led the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history — and, really, nothing else comes close — to pull out a 34-28 overtime victory .
“I was thinking what anyone would be thinking — we had the game,” Atlanta receiver Taylor Gabriel said after the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. “At the same time, it’s Tom Brady. If you give him chances to come back and win the game, he’s going to do that.”
No one seemed to take it harder than running back Devonta Freeman, who fought back tears and could barely speak above a whisper.
“I’ll always remember this game,” he said, “for the rest of my life.”
The Falcons flew back to a gloomy city that has only one major sports championship in 169 combined seasons for its NFL team, Major League Baseball’s Braves, the NBA’s Hawks and two now-departed NHL teams, the Flames and the Thrashers.
Instead of returning to a massive celebration, the Falcons will face an off-season filled with questions about how they let a title slip away, overshadowing a year when so many things went right.
“We have to learn from this,” safety Ricardo Allen said. “It’s a tough learning lesson. This is one of the worst learning lessons you can get in this world, but we’re just going to keep building. We have something good going here.”
The most immediate issue facing the team will be finding a new offensive co-ordinator.
Kyle Shanahan is leaving to become head coach of San Francisco 49ers, and his replacement will take over a unit that led the league in scoring, has two of the game’s elite players in Ryan and receiver Julio Jones, and showed enormous versatility with 1,000-yard rusher Freeman and a record 13 players catching touchdown passes.
For coach Dan Quinn, it will be important to bring in someone who meshes well with Ryan and carries on the wide zone blocking scheme that worked so well this season.
As for Shanahan, he moves on to a new job with some emotional scars.
“This is the first time I’ve had this feeling,” he said. “It’s as tough as it gets. It’s not just me, it’s everybody in this organization.”
Defensively, the Falcons made major strides over the second half of the season with a unit that started as many as four rookies and four second-year players.
Right out of college, safety Keanu Neal and linebackers Deion Jones and De’Vondre Campbell claimed starting roles. After a disappointing rookie season, Vic Beasley Jr. emerged as one of the game’s most fearsome pass rushers, leading the league with 15.5 sacks and earning All Pro honours. Second-year tackle Grady Jarrett had a breakout performance in the Super Bowl with three sacks of Brady.
“It’s not over for this franchise,” said Dwight Freeney, who turns 37 in a couple of weeks and is one of the few greybeards on defence. “This is a young team, a very young team.”
Freeney hasn’t decided whether he will return for a 16th season, saying he will take a couple of months to weigh his options. The only player with significant experience on that side of the line is 35-yearold tackle Jonathan Babineaux, the longest-tenured member of the team.