Best Super Bowl Ever? Patriots Complete Improbable Comeback to Beat Falcons

Tom Brady and the Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit to beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

With about 7 minutes remaining in the third quarter of the game, it looked like Super Bowl LI was going to be a complete dud. After all of the buildup surrounding the game, the Falcons led 28-3 after a Tevin Coleman touchdown. And they appeared to be cruising towards a victory.

But then, Tom Brady and the Patriots made history by completing the biggest Super Bowl comeback ever. They overcame a 25-point deficit—including a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter—and capped it off with a two-yard James White touchdown run in overtime to earn a well-deserved 34-28 win over Atlanta. The largest comeback in Super Bowl history prior to Sunday night’s comeback had been just 10 points, which means the Pats did something we had never seen before and will likely never see again in our lifetimes.

"We all brought each other back," Brady said after the game, just before he was named the game’s MVP. "We never felt out of it. It was a tough battle. They have a great team. I give them a lot of credit. We just made a few more plays than them."

There were two plays in particular in the fourth quarter that helped the Pats get back into the game. The first was a strip sack by linebacker Dont’a Hightower that put New England into Falcons’ territory and eventually moved them to within just one score. The second was a 23-yard shoestring catch by Julian Edelman on the game-tying drive that many are already calling the best catch in Super Bowl history.

In the end, fans from both teams were left emotionally exhausted. Pats fans were obviously ecstatic:

While Falcons fans had a tough time wrapping their heads around what happened:

But regardless of who you were rooting for, it was a game for the ages and one that fans of both teams will remember for a long, long time.

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