DEFENSIVE BACK
No quarterback in Super Bowl history ever lost with a passer rating of 118 or higher until Sunday. Matt Ryan's was 144.1 overall and a perfect 158.3 in the first half, but in the end, this group held on as much as it held up. Julio Jones always was double-covered with a corner in trail coverage and a safety behind and still caught all four balls thrown his way for 87 yards. The attention given him at times hurt in other areas, but when the game was being decided, Atlanta's final four drives netted three punts and that strip-sack, and Ryan became a 50 percent thrower. Atlanta normally converts 64 percent on third down but was only 1-for-8, a critical failure resulting in running only 47 snaps to the Pats' 99. Corner Eric Rowe often was the trail corner on Jones and was the victim of two great catches when his coverage was good. The late one for 27 yards was sensational. Rowe simply was beat by a better player. He did make a nice play breaking up a hook pass to Taylor Gabriel. Corner Logan Ryan was mostly sound in coverage and made several tremendous plays in run force, including one on which he bowled over two blockers, allowing safety Devin McCourty to make the tackle for a 1-yard loss late in the game. Safety Patrick Chung played every snap, and most were good. He wasn't so good on a 19-yard TD toss to tight end Austin Hooper, but Ryan's throw was perfect. Corner Malcolm Butler was scorched by Gabriel for a 35-yard reception and was flagged for interference on a third-and-4 stoppage. He didn't even complain.