The Falcons historic SB 51 collapse, in 5 acts...

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The Falcons' historic Super Bowl 51 choke, in five acts
NFL
February 6, 2017 1:34am ESTFebruary 6, 2017 12:29am ESTAtlanta could have won Super Bowl 51 with smarter play-calling and just a little better execution.
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Matt Ryan(Getty Images)
Mike DeCourcy @TSNMike
Updated at 1:34 a.m. ET
How did the Atlanta Falcons conjure up the greatest choke job in North American sports history?

Let’s allow the most esteemed of sportswriters, Ernest Hemingway, to handle that one.


“Gradually, then suddenly.”

They owned a 16-point lead in Super Bowl 51 after the New England Patriots, following a drive that advanced all the way to a first-and-goal at the Atlanta 7, were forced to settle for a field goal with 9:44 remaining in regulation. At that point, the Patriots were going to need a near miracle to find a way to win their fifth championship.

STEELE: Pats match Cavs, Cubs with classic comeback

You asked for a miracle? We give you the Atlanta Falcons.

Let us count the ways they aided New England’s comeback to force overtime and eventually claim a 34-28 victory.

1. Following two runs for a combined 9 yards, the Falcons faced a third-and-1 from their 35. A first down there, and the time available for New England’s comeback would have dwindled. Even a failed run would have taken another half-minute or more off the clock, and a solid punt from Matt Bosher, who averaged 47 yards Sunday, would have put the Patriots deep in their territory.

Instead, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan called a pass play, and not just a short drop-and-fire pass play. He had quarterback Matt Ryan drop deep, where he was a target for blitzing linebacker Dont'a Hightower. Ryan’s arm was an easy target for Hightower, who forced a fumble recovered by Alan Branch at the ATL 25.

2. Ryan was in the process of throwing when he was hit. So if Hightower had been delayed in the slightest, he wouldn’t have gotten there in time to cause the fumble. What might have delayed him? Running back Devonta Freeman, who was in position to pick up the blitz and had a clear shot at Hightower, but opted to let him go free and make himself available as a receiver. If Freeman just puts a shoulder into Hightower, the Falcons might be champs now.


3. After New England inevitably drove for the touchdown and two-point conversion that made it 28-20 — the Falcons defense actually did nicely to require that drive last nearly 2 1/2 minutes — the Patriots lined up to kick off. With them trailing a single score with 5:56 left, did you expect an onside kick? The Falcons did. They had no deep receiver to accept the kickoff, so when Stephen Gostkowski booted the ball toward the goal line Justin Hardy had to retreat to field the ball over his shoulder. He had no forward momentum after fielding the kick and the Falcons were stuck starting at their 10-yard line.

4. The Falcons immediately dug themselves out of that hole with a short pass in an uncovered flat to Freeman, who carried his reception 39 yards to near midfield. When Ryan completed an incredible pass to superstar wideout Julio Jones at the NE 22, the Falcons essentially needed no more yardage to kick a field goal that would nearly have sealed the game. After a loss of a yard on a first-down Freeman run, again standing two downs away from a 40-yard field goal try by a kicker who’d made 9 of 9 from that distance during the season, Shanahan again had Ryan dropping deep. This time, as bad as that call was, the execution was worse. Because Ryan had time to see his pocket was collapsing and the prudent move was to throw away the down. He held the ball and took a 12-yard sack.



5. Now out of comfortable field-goal range, but a meager run away from being back in Bryant’s wheelhouse, Shanahan again had Ryan throwing. The pass was complete, but a painfully obvious hold by Falcons tackle Jake Matthews put the field goal out of reach. After a punt, New England had 3:38 to go 91 yards.


Of course New England made it. The Falcons could argue about the propriety of the tying two-point conversion play on which two Patriots receivers were drive-blocking the Atlanta secondary away from the line before Tom Brady released his throw to Danny Amendola. But seriously. The Falcons did this to themselves.

The Trail Blazers blowing a 13-point lead over the Lakers in the fourth quarter of the 2000 NBA Western Conference finals? The 1960 Yankees allowing a 7-4 eighth-inning lead to lapse in World Series Game 7 and losing on Bill Mazeroski’s homer in the bottom of the ninth? Duke allowing an 18-point lead to get away against Kentucky in the 1998 Elite Eight? The Maple Leafs botching a 4-1 lead midway through the third period of their first-round playoff series against the Bruins, a comeback that led the Bruins all the way to the Stanley Cup Final?

Those were all memorable collapses. But this tops all of them, and all of the others you might remember.

The New England Patriots won Super Bowl 51. That is true.

But it’s far more accurate to say the Atlanta Falcons lost it.