Super Bowl 51 Atlanta Falcons vs New England Patriots

[MWBATL]

Yep.

You never, ever know when you will get back to the big game. Those of you thinking the Falcons will be strong and in contention for the next few years need to look at recent results by Carolina and New Orleans (to name just a couple of teams). The difference between winning and losing in the NFL is razor thin, done deliberately in the name of balance. This was the Falcon's chance, and between their coaching staff's poor choices and Ryan's lousy decision on getting sacked and failing to throw the ball away....the term "choke" is, in this case, fully warranted, imho.

 

[tech_wreck47]

I'm calling it now Falcons vs Patriots in super bowl 52.

 

[MikeJackets]

I'm calling it now Falcons vs Patriots in super bowl 52.

I hope you're correct,Tech_Wreck. With the schedule the Falcons have in 2017,with road games against the Patriots and Seahawks, as of now I think the Falcons go 10-6 and edge out 10-6 Carolina to win the NFC South.

 

[jeffgt14]

Mason made a few bad plays but 61 was the one really getting destroyed all game. There were several times you'd see Brady drop back and 4 of his lineman were in the backfield while Shaq was holding his guy strong at the LOS.

 

[tech_wreck47]

I hope you're correct,Tech_Wreck. With the schedule the Falcons have in 2017,with road games against the Patriots and Seahawks, as of now I think the Falcons go 10-6 and edge out 10-6 Carolina to win the NFC South.

If they can make the playoffs I think they will be ok, the falcons and cowboys are the only two complete teams from offense to defense to special teams in the NFC imo. Now that can change of course but Carolina, Green Bay and Seattle have some major holes to fix imo. The falcons need to sure up the D line and get Trufant back healthy, falcons missed him bad last night. And maybe some better depth at LB and FS. On the O all they really need is some help on the OL and of course a good O Coordinator.

 

[MikeJackets]

If they can make the playoffs I think they will be ok, the falcons and cowboys are the only two complete teams from offense to defense to special teams in the NFC imo. Now that can change of course but Carolina, Green Bay and Seattle have some major holes to fix imo. The falcons need to sure up the D line and get Trufant back healthy, falcons missed him bad last night. And maybe some better depth at LB and FS. On the O all they really need is some help on the OL and of course a good O Coordinator.

I wouldn't mind the Falcons drafting DT Caleb Brantley(Florida),S Marcus Maye(Florida) or G Dan Feeney(Indiana)

 

[tech_wreck47]

I wouldn't mind the Falcons drafting DT Caleb Brantley(Florida),S Marcus Maye(Florida) or G Dan Feeney(Indiana)

I like Feeney, Carl Lawson, montravious Adams, or Charles Harris.

 

[gtpi]

i was reminded of gt vs uga while watching the falcons choke.

shahanan must have taken coaching lessons from kirby smart on how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat while using an ill advised pass play.

 

[Milwaukee]

That was the most painful loss I've ever witnessed as a sports fan. I remember the braves losing in 99 to the Yankees, but at least we had no real shot in that series. This was the epitome of being an Atlanta fan. Kyle Shanahan owes all Falcons fans an apology for costing us the game. I'm heartbroken. At least it wasn't Tech...

I'm sick to my stomach. We will be the butt of jokes and trivia questions for decades to come.

 

[B Lifsey]

I'm sick to my stomach. We will be the butt of jokes and trivia questions for decades to come.

And how's that different than the past? Last night, Fox even did some piece last night on how Boston has won half a gazillion national championships in the major pro sports and Atlanta has only 1.

 

[Milwaukee]

And how's that different than the past? Last night, Fox even did some piece last night on how Boston has won half a gazillion national championships in the major pro sports and Atlanta has only 1.

Last night was a meltdown of biblical proportions. That wasn't even close to anything I've ever witnessed from any Atlanta franchise. The kind of stuff that happened last night leaves scars.

 

[MikeJackets]

Last night was a meltdown of biblical proportions. That wasn't even close to anything I've ever witnessed from any Atlanta franchise. The kind of stuff that happened last night leaves scars.

The only Playoff choke that was worse was the January 1993 Houston Oilers AFC Divisional Playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills

 

[B Lifsey]

Last night was a meltdown of biblical proportions. That wasn't even close to anything I've ever witnessed from any Atlanta franchise. The kind of stuff that happened last night leaves scars.

Totally agree...just pointing out that Atlanta pro sports have been the butt of jokes for a long time...and, perhaps, rightly so.

 

[Milwaukee]

Absolutely

 

[deeeznutz]

i was reminded of gt vs uga while watching the falcons choke.

shahanan must have taken coaching lessons from kirby smart on how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat while using an ill advised pass play.

The parallels between this game and our COFH game were striking, particularly since I think this one might be on me. My first daughter was born in 2014, and we won COFH in a close game where we were in charge the entire game and almost lost it on some bad calls...that Super Bowl was the one the Pats won where the Seahawks almost stole the game with Kearse's ridiculous catch before blowing it. Now this year my second daughter was born and we beat the Dwags in a game where we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and then the Pats just did the same last night. My girls are both 2-0 in their first go around cheering on COFH and a Pats SB (we don't really talk about 2015). Sorry, y'all.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

As for permanent scaring over this lose, this is my memory of Atlanta's lone championship*. When we beat Cleveland I did not feel elated, I felt relieved. All the jubilation I should have felt was put on ice just worrying that the Braves, once again with the best team, would somehow blow it. It all went back to the first World Series in which we matched the Twins run for run and pitch for pitch, except for that crazy roof in their stadium and Lonnie Smith's fatal running error that ended up costing us the game and the series. Atlanta will perhaps one day win the Super Bowl but if it happens in the near future some of us may feel more relief than gladness over the fact that we finally did not embarrass ourselves.

*I hate that people often refer to Atlanta having only one championship when in fact we have two. Atlanta won the first North American Soccer League Championship with player/coach Phil Woosman. Of course, nobody cared about Soccer then but that was a singular achievement in Atlanta sports history.

 

[Techster]

Mason had his ups and downs but I don't think I saw the patriots have one "great" run. I could have missed One but did they even have a run over 10 yards?

Great is relative I guess. Their "best" runs were to his side. Brady's big run was behind Mason I think.

 

[Techster]

Well. Didn't we once lose a game with a 21-point halftime lead? Momentum in sports simply can't be defined. When I once messed around with golf it was referred to as "when the wheels came off" and a good score just collapses while there is nothing you can do to stop it. Bad coaching might have helped but bad playing helped. There was a pretty fair country coach across the field who apparently made defensive adjustments as the game moved along.

Falcon's worst enemy once they got up 28-3 with a quarter and a half left in the game was the clock, not the patriots. They didn't even let the play clock go halfway down before snapping the ball. On top of that, they ran the ball FIVE times the rest of the way. That in itself should get the OC a walk home from Houston instead of a flight.

 

[MikeJackets]

Falcon's worst enemy once they got up 28-3 with a quarter and a half left in the game was the clock, not the patriots. They didn't even let the play clock go halfway down before snapping the ball. On top of that, they ran the ball FIVE times the rest of the way. That in itself should get the OC a walk home from Houston instead of a flight.

He wont last very long at SF because they have zero talent and it could take 5 years or longer to turn them around. I think they will be hiring a new head coach by 2020.

 

[Skeptic]

Falcon's worst enemy once they got up 28-3 with a quarter and a half left in the game was the clock, not the patriots. They didn't even let the play clock go halfway down before snapping the ball. On top of that, they ran the ball FIVE times the rest of the way. That in itself should get the OC a walk home from Houston instead of a flight.

I read an interesting piece somewhere -- realclearsports.com I think -- that dissected the coaching decisions pretty thoroughly I thought. One of them really struck me because similar views have come up on the board. At one point, third and one, they put Ryan seven yards deep to pass. They needed a yard and started seven yards behind the line, and then tried to pass for a yard. For a moment reading that I had this flash across my consciousness of Paul Johnson watching this moment and coming straight off the couch and embedding his head in the ceiling. It says a lot about Shanahan that he didn't trust his line for a yard, and a lot about the had coach that he did not interfere to change the call, and a lot about professional football that in that moment, about to cinch the Super Bowl, he was unwilling to go for it on 4th if he had to.