How did it happen? That’s the question every Falcons fan must ask when they are reminded of their team’s historic collapse in Super Bowl LI. Well, For the Win took a look at the coaches film of the Patriots’ 34-28 win in order to answer that very question. Simply put, Bill Belichick and his staff took the game back in the second half. But to understand how — and why it was so brilliant — you have to start from the beginning …
THE INITIAL GAME PLANS
When New England had the ball
The Patriots offensive game plan did not differ much from the one they used the last time they faced a Dan Quinn defense, in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks. New England wanted to dink-and-dunk the ball down the field, using quick receivers to find open areas in the middle of the defense. In the run game, the Patriots would attack the Falcons’ speedy-but-lithe front seven with LeGarrette Blount on downhill, power runs.
Atlanta was ready for both strategies. Quinn wanted his team to play tight man-to-man coverage for the most part. But in order to stop those quick passes over the middle, the Falcons would play what is known as a “Robber.” That is, a help defender, usually a linebacker or safety, who lurks in the middle of the field reading the quarterback’s eyes.
By playing an extra man in the middle and tight on the outside, the Falcons were trying to force the Patriots to beat them with deep perimeter throws.
When Atlanta had the ball
The Falcons offense wanted to do what it did all season: Take whatever the defense gave it. If a team played two safeties deep, they pounded it on the ground. If a team put an extra defender in the box, they let Matt Ryan chuck it. If a team tried to double Julio Jones, the rest of the receivers broke free and went off.
The Patriots planned to let the Falcons run the ball. They were going to play two safeties deep and remain in nickel (five defensive backs) even when Atlanta sent in its base offense (only two wide receivers). This would put tremendous stress on the front, which would have to account for an extra gap in the run game.
In order to do so, the Patriots’ down linemen would line up tight with the nose tackle being asked to “two-gap,” that is controlling the blocker in front of him while being responsible for the gap on either side of him depending on where the running back goes. Two linebackers would generally flank the line, and these players would be responsible for funneling any outside runs back to the middle. The middle linebacker would fill in where needed.
This was the plan for each team going into the game. Everything changed — as it so often does — after just a few snaps.
WHAT WE LEARNED EARLY
The middle was closed for the Pats passing game
Atlanta’s defense set the tone early. On the very first offensive snap of the game, Brady tried to hit Julian Edelman over the middle on a slant and the diminutive receiver was rocked by the “robber” De’Vondre Campbell, who did an excellent job of letting Brady’s eyes lead him to the ball.
The message was clear: If Brady and his receivers wanted to throw those short passes over the middle, they were going to be punished.
Atlanta Runs and Runs Against two-high look
Atlanta noticed the Patriots were using a light box with deep safeties and decided to stick with the run. On their first play from scrimmage, DeVonta Freeman took a pitch 37 yards. The Falcons ran the ball at will in the first quarter, racking up 56 yards on just five carries.
Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was prepared for how the Patriots were going to defend the run and had subtle adjustments prepared to counteract it.
NE did exactly what I previewed. 5 man front, wide Es to force OZ back in. However, Atl counters by sending TE thru, so RT blocks DE! Lovely pic.twitter.com/JZVmagYJM3
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) February 8, 2017
The key match-ups
The first few drives for New England’s offense were about gathering information. Josh McDaniels trotted out several different personnel groupings in order the figure out how Atlanta’s defense would match-up.
Here’s what he learned:
First and foremost, Robert Alford would stick with Julian Edelman no matter what. All other matchups changed depending on the formation; Atlanta responded to the Patriots using a fullback by going out of nickel. It responded to four-wide receiver sets by going to dime, and employing little-used corner C.J. Goodwin on Malcolm Mitchell.
With that info, McDaniels knew what personnel groupings would draw what matchups, and he could pick out the ones he liked and make calls to get them whenever he wanted.
Shanahan did not do too much digging during the Falcons first few drives, but we did find out how the Patriots would match-up with Julio Jones. It would not be Malcolm Butler going up against the All-Pro receiver, as many had expected. Instead, Butler would take Taylor Gabriel while Logan Ryan lined up across from Jones. This, however, would not last the entire game, as the Patriots would be forced to switch up their strategy many times throughout the game.
FALCONS TD DRIVE FORCES PATRIOTS TO ADJUST
After Atlanta’s first two drives were stalled by sacks, the Falcons made it look easy on their third and scored the game’s first points. Jones picked up chunks of yardage on two big catches, and Freeman continued to gash the Pats’ light run box. Bill Belichick had to adjust. Atlanta was running it with success, and Jones was still effective.
The adjustment did not come until the end of the the Falcons’ ensuing drive. After Atlanta marched the ball into the red zone, Belichick decided to drop an extra safety into the box and go with a true double team on Jones. That extra attention, though, gave Austin Hooper a one-on-one with Patrick Chung, which Ryan took advantage of to give the Falcons a 14-0 lead.
On the touchdown, Julio was doubled from the start. pic.twitter.com/6SxtneWiyv
— Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) February 6, 2017
New England was shut out in the first quarter, but still had hope for the offense as the team trailed by two touchdowns.
“Even though the score was against us,” Belichick said after the game, “[I] didn’t really feel like the game was out of reach. We were able to move the ball, we were able to make some plays, we just didn’t have enough points on the scoreboard for quite a while.”
THE FALCONS FLUSTER BRADY
That hope seemed to vanish after the Patriots’ fifth drive. The Falcons’ line stunts were overwhelming New England’s offensive line and Brady was starting to feel the pressure. He missed an open receiver after Joe Vellano flashing across his face cause him to flinch slightly and get rid of the ball. That just doesn’t usually happen to Brady.
He was under pressure again on another throw that was nearly intercepted. And the veteran passer failed to pick up on a subtle coverage adjustment the Falcons made when in their dime defense. Later on, that failure would cost the Patriots seven points.
Even when playing dime (that is, six defensive backs on the field), the Falcons would still be in that “robber” defense we mentioned earlier. But if a Patriots receiver was running a crossing route, in order to avoid a traffic jam in the middle, the “robber” would take the crosser, and that receiver’s initial defender would now take on the role of the “robber.”
Here, Alford starts out on Edelman with Neal robbing in the middle. When Edelman crosses, the Falcons switch roles.
On 3rd-and-6, Atlanta would call that same exact coverage. Brady was not ready for it. He assumes that Alford, who has been on Edelman consistently, would simply do whatever necessary to follow him. But the “robber” is actually waiting to pick up Edelman because he is the first to cross into the middle of the field, leaving Alford free in the middle to “rob” Brady’s throw.
Brady thought Edelman would draw all of the traffic in the middle and leave Amendola with space, but he didn’t realize that Alford was free to undercut the route and take it to the house.
ENTER JAMES WHITE
Though the Patriots offense did not make many adjustments after falling behind by 18, they did make one that altered the game. It had become apparent the power run game would not work. Blount had been stuffed on three runs from an I-formation. The offensive line, particularly the interior, was not getting very much push and the Falcons were just more physical at the point of attack. That wasn’t much of a surprise for the Pats coaching staff.
“They’re fast, but they also play big when they have to,” Patriots running back coach Ivan Fears told me days before the game. “If we put James [Develin] out there, they’re not going to fly around; they’re going to be coming downhill to knock the stuffing out of us.”
The Patriots decided they needed a more dynamic player, and James White became their featured back. He is a better runner than Dion Lewis, a better receiver than Blount and the best of the three in pass protection.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
White was on the field for almost the entirety of New England’s final drive of the first half, which resulted in the Pats’ first points of the game. It helped that the Falcons backed off their tight man-to-man coverage with the Patriots going to their two-minute offense. All of a sudden, the underneath passes were there and Brady could get in a rhythm. The drive stalled in the red zone after a holding penalty on Bennett, but at least New England had some hope.
Letting Brady get into that rhythm may have been Dan Quinn’s biggest mistake of the game.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
The Patriots had already started to figure out how they were going to adjust down 21-3 before the half-time whistle sounded. They clearly had decided to play one safety in the box to slow the run, while the other helped double-team Julio Jones. That would leave the rest of the defensive backs one-on-one with the receivers. A risky strategy, sure, but really their only option at this point.
On offense, the Patriots had to start attacking the sidelines. Atlanta was just too focused on shutting down the middle of the field. Splitting out White would help. Neither Neal nor Deion Jones could stick with him in the open field. Mitchell would also be a big factor in the second half. He’s the only true outside receiver the Patriots had with Michael Floyd inactive.
ATLANTA FALCONS
The Falcons were up 21-3, so few adjustments were needed. If Atlanta continued to be balanced on offense and aggressive on defense, the franchise would be lifting its first Lombardi Trophy. The one concern was the defense getting tired after spending most of the half on the field. That would have to be addressed in the second half.
THE FALCONS KEEP ROLLING AFTER THE BREAK
After the teams traded punts, Atlanta came back on the field determined to put the game away. And it appeared that they did after Tevin Coleman’s walk-in touchdown reception. However the big play of the drive, a 35-yard-reception by Taylor Gabriel, may have inspired Belichick’s final — and most effective — defensive adjustment.
Ryan simply had too much time to throw here, and with the safety helping out on Jones, Butler has no chance of running with the speedy Gabriel for that long. Belichick’s hand was forced. He’d have to start blitzing. Though, it wouldn’t matter if the Patriots offense didn’t start scoring points …
ATLANTA’S DEFENSE GETS TIRED, NEW ENGLAND’S OFFENSE HEATS UP
With the way the first half played out — the Patriots offense was on the field for nearly two-thirds of it — Quinn’s game plan may have been too taxing on the Falcons defense, which relies so much on energy and the ability to rally to the football. By playing man coverage almost exclusively, the Falcons defensive backs were being asked to chase fast receivers all over the field snap after snap. That’s going to take its toll eventually, and it finally happened late in the third quarter.
Just look at the Patriots’ first touchdown of the game, which came after a long, 13-play drive.
The Falcons are gassed. It’s a stark contrast to the beginning of the game, when all 11 defenders were flying to the football.
And it’s not just the secondary getting tired. All of a sudden, the overtaxed pass rush isn’t getting home any longer. After pressuring Brady on 14 of his first 32 dropbacks, Atlanta pressured him on six of his last 38, per Pro Football Focus.
In response, Quinn had to ease off on his defense. The Falcons defenders backed off in coverage, showing more zone looks, which don’t require nearly as much running.
As New England had more success on throws to the perimeter, specifically to Mitchell, Quinn started calling more two-deep safety looks, taking that all-important “robber” defender out of the middle. The Falcons could no longer employ the tactics that had given Brady and the offense fits in the first half, and the game became so much easier for New England’s offense.
Brady’s second touchdown pass was just an easy pitch-and-catch with the exhausted Falcons secondary playing so soft:
The comeback was on.
IT WASN’T KYLE SHANAHAN’S FAULT
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The new 49ers head coach is getting a lot of the blame for Atlanta’s collapse, with many claiming he did not run the ball enough after Atlanta built its 25-point lead. They’ll point to the fact that the Falcons ran only five times after the score went to 28-3, which is true but also meaningless without the proper context.
On the ensuing drive, Atlanta started off with a short pass to Hooper for nine yards. Nobody is going to complain about that call. On 2nd-and-1, Shanahan calls a run, which goes for a first down but is negated by a holding call. So now it’s 2nd-and-11. It’s a clear passing situation. Running the ball there would be seen as sitting on a lead. Ryan misses the mark, which brings up another passing situation on 3rd-and-11. According to the stat sheet, Shanhan did not call a run on the drive, and the holding call is the reason why.
Next drive, New England has cut it to 16, and Atlanta comes out with two consecutive runs to get it to 3rd-and-1. Now this is where you can criticize Shanahan’s play-calling. Maybe he should have run it in this situation, but how many coaches have been roasted for playing not to lose by running on 3rd-and-1 with a lead?
Shanahan was clearly looking to put this game away with his third-down play-call, and that may have happened if Freeman did not miss his block completely and let Dont’a Hightower free on a blitz.
Gabriel had gotten open deep with only grass between him and the end zone. Ryan was loading up the throw but Hightower got there and forced the pivotal fumble.
“Too aggressive?” Ryan said when asked about Shanahan’s play-calling late. “No. I thought Kyle did a good job. I thought we played the way that we play. We always play aggressive and play to win and we had opportunities as players.
“We had opportunities and we made some mistakes on the field that, at the end of the day, ended up costing us.”
If Freeman picks up that blitz, the Falcons get six and put the game away. Shanahan is celebrated as the hero who conquered Belichick on the game’s biggest stage. Instead, he’s the scapegoat who cost Atlanta its first Super Bowl.
BELICHICK TURNS UP THE HEAT
The Hightower blitz was one of many the Patriots called down the stretch of Super Bowl LI. Belichick realized his defense wasn’t going to be able to sit back and wait for the Falcons to make a mistake. Atlanta’s offense was just too good. The defense would need big plays in order to turn the game around, and they’d need to send pressure if that was going to happen.
Hightower’s strip sack was big, but Trey Flowers’ sack of Ryan after the Falcons had driven into New England territory was a game-saver. The Patriots did not need to send an extra guy to get to Ryan this time. They did, however, show pressure before the snap, causing the line to slide right and giving Flowers, who had dominated throughout the game, a one-on-one matchup that he won with ease.
Ryan probably should have thrown the ball away, but he had nowhere to go with it.
COMPLETING THE COMEBACK
The Patriots had cut it to a one-possession lead but had a long way to go to tie the game. The eventual game-tying drive started at their own 9-yard-line. The Falcons went back to the tight man-to-man strategy they had used throughout the first half and then forced two incompletions to bring up 3rd-and-10. That’s when Quinn got a little too aggressive.
With his pass rush worn out, Quinn opted for a zone blitz. This had been a strategy the Falcons used throughout the playoffs, but you just don’t blitz Tom Brady. He’s going to recognize it and know how to beat it. And that’s exactly what happened.
That was the back-breaker. The Falcons defense was cooked. Brady was hot. And Quinn had no idea what to call. Eight plays later, the Patriots had tied the game and completed the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
OVERTIME
After the Pats won the toss, this felt like a mere formality. The Falcons did not have the energy to cover the Patriots receivers in man coverage, and Brady had torn up their zone coverages the few times Atlanta had called them.
Quinn went with a mix of coverages in overtime, and White became Brady’s main outlet on the game-winning drive.
“He is a clutch receiver and very good with the ball in his hands,” Belichick said of his reserve running back. “He got the ball in a couple of those angle routes in zone coverage and he was able to make some good yardage there. …(Atlanta) switched back and played some zone at the end of the game and James was able to hit that.”
New England’s interior line, which had been pushed around all game, was now doing the pushing. The passing game was unstoppable. The running game was finally effective. The Falcons offered little resistance as Brady led the Patriots to the game-winning score. And White’s game-winning run fittingly ended with the Falcons defense on the ground exhausted.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Falcons did not choke away Super Bowl LI. They simply ran out of energy — and effective strategic adjustments — against a team featuring the NFL’s greatest coach of all-time, its greatest quarterback of all-time and the best coaching staff in the league today.
Yes, Quinn could have recognized his defense getting tired earlier and mixed it some less-taxing coverages; Shanahan could have called a run on that 2nd-and-11 late in the game and avoided that big sack; Ryan could have thrown the ball away before taking that sack; and Freeman could have picked up Hightower on the blitz on the previous drive. These were all mistakes that would have been ignored if one more bounce went Atlanta’s way. Just like all the mistakes the Patriots made early on are being ignored now.
Quinn had an excellent game plan that was foiled by an odd game that saw the Patriots offense on the field for 93 plays compared to Atlanta’s 46. Shanahan called a great game but was done in by holding calls and one failed blitz pick-up. Both Ryan and Freeman would have been MVP candidates if the Falcons had won.
Instead of asking if the Falcons and their coaching staff blew the game, we should be praising the Patriots coaching staff and their team for winning it.
“I thought the coaching staff … did a great job out of what we talked about,” Belichick said. “Identifying what Atlanta was doing and clearly laying out the plan for the second half which was a little bit different from the first half based on the way they were playing us.
“We got a lot of outside runs and a lot of man-to-man coverage with an extra defender inside. None of those were unexpected but the percentages of them that we got were higher. We saw the matchups that they had in man coverage. We just had to take the information that we had and coach it better and prepare the team better for the second half. Eventually, all those plays that we ran on offense shows that our conditioning paid off and our mental toughness paid off. We were able to have good execution at the most critical time in the game.”
Nobody lost this game for Atlanta. The Patriots were the better team in Houston. It just took them a while to prove it.
More Super Bowl 51!
'The Simpsons' snuck a secret Super Bowl joke into an episode that everybody missed
1d ago
New England church wants people to know Patriots didn't quite have the greatest comeback ever
3d ago
This Falcons 'brotherhood' video about rising up from darkness will give you chills
4d ago