Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots October 31, 2017 - Super Bowl 51 Revisited

Episode Date: October 31, 2017

Mark Schofield takes a narrative look back at Super Bowl 51, with the help of Rich Hill and Aaron Freeman. Rich is the managing editor of Pats Pulpit, and Aaron is the host of Locked On Falcons.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Patriots comeuppance, isn't it? I'm Mark Schofield from Locked On Patriots. With the Patriots on a bye week, I wanted to do something a little bit different. So I'm taking a look back at five Super Bowls, five victories. We're going to do this in a little bit of a different format. I reached out to some great people in the football media world, grabbed a little bit of their time to talk about these games. And the format basically was the same, trying to focus on one play, one sort of critical moment in each game, and then build the discussion out from there.

And we're going to start with Super Bowl 51 between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. The main focus was Julian Edelman's catch late in the fourth quarter. Just inches off the turf down in Houston. But the discussion obviously built out from there. And this was a game for many Patriots fans where they were hoping to see that image of Roger Goodell handing Tom Brady a Vince Lombardi trophy,

given that Brady began the year with a four-game suspension. And early on, it certainly didn't seem like that image would ever take place. After falling down 14-0, the Patriots were driving in the second quarter, but then disaster struck. Falcons overload the right side of the Patriots offensive line. Pass is picked. Intercepted. Robert Alford. He's that he returned for a touchdown gave the Falcons a 21-0 lead. For many Patriots fans, that was the moment when the realization set in.

Perhaps they were just not going to win this game. Chief among them was Rich Hill. The voice you heard at the start of the show was Rich. Rich is the managing editor of Pat's Pulpit, the Patriots site on SB Nation. And Rich was a credentialed media member down in Houston for the Super Bowl. Yeah, well, okay, so I was at the Super Bowl. I was credentialed for this.

And I had my credentials were for the media tent. And in certain stadiums, or it was the auxiliary section and so in other super bowls the auxiliary section sometimes they like carve out an area of the stands for for the media to work through while the rest of them work in the booth and in this time they just carved out the a corner of the station or a corner of the stadium for the media members. And so the auxiliary credentialed media had to go to a tent outside. And so we were out of the stadium. And so I made the executive decision because our credential allowed us to go into the stadium. It just meant that we didn't have a place to write.

So I was wandering the stadium it just meant that we didn't have a place to write so i was wandering the stadium and i for the first half i kind of found a nook and cranny like no one would bother me i i was i was writing everything on my phone i wanted to see this live and that was the worst i can't imagine absolute worst first half to go see live. And it was just shaking my head after shaking my head and seeing the pick six. That was just like, oh, man, this is going to be one of those games where we've made fun of the Broncos for losing to the Seahawks in such a gross, ugly manner. This is the Patriots' comeuppance, isn't it?

This is the end of what we wanted to see for the Patriots. I wasn't thinking that, yeah, the Patriots actually had no problem moving the ball down the field. They just were turning it over, and so they'll eventually score. I was just thinking, you're getting completely destroyed right now.

This isn't a close game. They're up 21 to 3 at the half and lady gaga is about to perform and so i was like all right i'm just gonna watch lady gaga and then uh the stadium like security people were like uh you're an auxiliary person please stop standing in the stairwell i was like all right this is as good a time as any to get out of the stadium and go to the auxiliary tent is when they're down 21-3 without a chance to win. 21-3 soon became 28-3.

Never had a 100-yard game in the NFL. Here is Coleman, end zone, touchdown. This is not what you want to see. Rob Nienkiewicz, he has to cover Coleman as he comes across. He gets caught up in the traffic. As you see, he's trying to then get out there. He gets outflanked. There's no way you're going to be able to make a play on Coleman.

The short touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Tevin Coleman gave Atlanta a 25 point lead but from there the game started to shift a little bit. New England responded with a touchdown drive of their own but when Steven Kosciuski missed the extra point the Atlanta lead was now 28 to 9. The Patriots attempted an onside kick but the Falcons recovered but even with the good field position, the Patriots forced a punt. Brady led another drive down the field. They were held to only a field goal, making the game now 28-12 with less than 10 minutes remaining. On Atlanta's ensuing possession, linebacker Dante Hightower sacked Ryan as he was dropping back to throw,

resulting in a fumble that was recovered by defensive tackle Alan Branch on Atlanta's 25-yard line. The Patriots quickly scored, and then James White ran in a direct snap for the two-point conversion to make the score 28-20 with almost six minutes remaining eventually they started to claw their way back and uh it was right around when it was like 28 to 20 i was like oh all right what's going on here and then but once that final uh patriot's drive started i was like i don't know if I want to like to move you know because it happened so quickly with the Patriots scoring that the Danny Amendola and James White two-point conversion and that was with like six

minutes left to go and the Patriots forced a pretty quick quick punt while Rich Hill was trying to figure out where he should go down in Houston, whether to stay in the stadium or stay in the tent, Aaron Freeman was having some thoughts of his own. Listeners to Locked On Patriots probably remember Aaron. I joined him just two weeks ago to break down the Sunday night game between Atlanta and New England, the Super Bowl 51 rematch.

Aaron is the host of Locked On Falcons, an Atlanta fan, and he was kind enough to join me and relive this night. Here's what was going through Aaron's mind at that moment. Okay, Aaron, so it's now 28-20. New England's clawed back into this game, but it's still just under six minutes left. You're thinking, look, one more drive, we can finally put this game to bed, right? Absolutely.

I just looked up the win probability at the start of that drive. It was like 99%, and it had been 99 percent or close to it for most of the third quarter at that point or really the second half at that point. And, you know, it starts off from the big catch from Julio Jones where Matt Ryan avoids pressure, steps up in the pocket, and sort of flings up a prayer, as it were, to Julio Jones, who was well covered on that play. It wasn't open. Julio makes a spectacular catch along the sideline.

Should have been sort of the signature play of that game, of those guys' careers, it would have been the thing that we would have seen on the highlight reels for the next 25 years when they show highlights of that game and the Atlanta Falcons. Extra man on the rush. Ryan steps through it. Throws on the run. And Jones with a catch.

Phenomenal catch by Julio Jones on the sideline. I have no idea how Matt Ryan gets this ball in there and how Julio Jones is able to make that catch and keep his feet inbounds and secure the football I mean there's unbelievable coverage by Eric Rowe underneath him and when Matt Ryan broke contain I thought he was going to run there was just nowhere to put this football and yet he finds a spot that only Julio Jones can make a play on. And I want to talk about Julio's catch for a second, but the throw from Ryan, I think shouldn't be understated because there's that great sort of

replay angle from behind Ryan where you can see as he rolls to his right when he lets it go. Jones is covered, but Ryan, you could even see the thought processes in his head. This is my guy. We need one play to win this game. I'm giving him a chance to make it. Absolutely. Julio Jones is arguably the best receiver in the league at the catch point. It's been a sort of case where he constantly gets covered, constantly gets doubled, bracketed, and whatnot. So oftentimes when Matt Ryan's throwing passes to him, it's not as if he's wide open and it's just simply, this is my guy. He's going to catch the football. He's going to make the play that needs to be done. that's that play right there is a perfect example

of sort of the rapport and that has developed between those two guys over the last five or six years julio jones makes that catch and as a patriots guy i'm sitting there i see that catch i'm flashing back to david tyree I'm flashing back to Mario Manningham. I'm thinking, okay, here we go again. There's the signature catch, the signature play that just drives the knife into the hearts. Is that what's going through your mind, Aaron? Absolutely. You know, everybody talks about the Tyree catch because how ridiculous it was.

But the Manningham catch was one of the plays that sort of stuck out in my mind because it's very similar where sort of Eli Manning just throws up a deep shot that's just not necessarily, you know, a clean play. And it's just like, I'm going to take my chance on this. And that's the same thing that Matt Ryan did on that play. At that moment in the game, I'm thinking, you know, the Falcons are going to win. This is going to be the play play the signature play that everybody talks about that reverberates through the the echoes through history and falcons fandom that we're going to be talking

about this catch and play for the rest of our lives meanwhile in houston rich was having similar thoughts albeit of a more negative variety. Yeah, well, that was the big reason why I didn't go into the stadium. You know, I wanted to see how this drive played out. And that was the third play of the drive. And I was like, oh, they're in field goal position. I would have to say I changed my copy for this game like three times. You know, it's like Patriots losing a blowout. Patriots made it a little respectable.

Patriots failed to mount their comeback. And then they had this Julio Jones catch. I'm like, all right, well, I don't know what's going on. And then you had a tackle for loss by Devin McCourty. Then you had the sack. Then you had the offensive holding. And all of a sudden, you went from a chip shot for Matt Bryant who in if you if you look at the numbers is one of the most successful like long distance kickers in NFL history you went from

having some easy chip shot for him into them having to punt the ball on the Patriots side of the field and you know we saw that this past week with how the Falcons approached the Patriots. They wanted to go for it whenever they were on the Patriots' side of the field. I want to say that they pointed to these failures in the Super Bowl as a big reason why. As Rich alludes to there, the Atlanta Falcons cannot capitalize on the Jones reception. They get pushed back from relatively easy field goal range into a situation where now they have to punt the ball back to the New England Patriots. In the wake of Atlanta's eventual loss, many people looked at that sequence of plays from the Atlanta offense as a big reason why they went on to lose the game. But for Aaron, a fan and an observer of a team

that had kept their foot on the gas pedal all season long, this was right in line with everything they had done to that point. So now Atlanta has the ball. 440 left. At the New England 22 all you guys need probably is three points to put this away right

yeah that's a fair statement the next sequence Aaron you must have been ready to throw something through the TV honestly I was not as upset with it as you would think I was, just because that's how the

Falcons have been all year long. They've been aggressive. I recently said it on the Locked on Falcons podcast. The Falcons lived by the sword. They died by the sword, and that's sort of what it was. The sack was... Them taking the sack...

It's been discussed to death, so I don't necessarily need to weigh in on it. People know what we're talking about. With them running the football, sort of just playing for the field goal as opposed to trying to draw plays to score touchdowns. But that's how the Falcons have been all year long under Kyle Shanahan at that point. So I didn't really have a problem with their decision to try to be aggressive. Obviously, I had a bigger issue with sort of their execution and trying to be aggressive, giving up the sack, giving up a hold and whatnot and sort of shooting themselves in the foot that way. I feel like, you know, how did Atlanta pulled off another like big pass and play to get it down to the 10 or so and then kick the field goal? People would have come away thinking, man, Shanahan and company, they were brilliant.

Everybody's thinking you're going to run the ball, play for the field goal, they're aggressive for one more play, and that's really what seals the game. Do you sort of share that? Yeah, I mean, I look at it, you know, obviously he could have made different play calls that would have mitigated their risks um on those plays but like i look at it more as you know the offensive line broke down on the sack and whatnot and it just seemed to not go their way again it's one of those things where that's how they had been

all year long they had been super aggressive you don't get to be you know the eighth best scoring offense of all time in the regular season you don't get to be, you know, the eighth best scoring offense of all time in the regular season. You don't get to be the third best scoring offense, including the postseason of all time, without having that sort of level of aggression in your offense. So even though in hindsight, clearly a lot of people, including myself, understand why you go, you know, a more conservative approach. In the moment, I didn't have as big a problem with their desire to throw the football. And then sort of saying that after the fact caused a lot of backlash. People saying I was crazy and whatnot. So yeah, I happen to have the contrarian viewpoint. So kudos to you for Mark for seeking me out and having the one Falcon fan that didn't really,

that doesn't spend his time complaining about not running the football on your podcast. After the Atlanta punt, the Patriots took over on their own nine yard line with three minutes and 30 seconds left in Superbowl 51. Down by eight, they needed a touchdown. They needed a two-point conversion

and they put the ball in the hands of arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. But they faced a third down early on that drive. Brady then hit Chris Hogan with a 16-yard pass to move the sticks. He then hit rookie Malcolm Mitchell with an 11 yard pass to set up another first down. On that play the ensuing first down wide receiver Julian Edelman aligned in a wing to the right. He ran a seam route up the middle of the field to attack a covered two defense.

Robert Alford, the earlier hero with the pick six off of Brady, is in man coverage on Edelman, on his hip. The receiver has just a little bit of a step on him. Brady likes what he sees and forces a throw in Edelman's direction. and we'll get another look at this. Alford knocked it up into the air, and let's see who comes down with it. Oh, that's a catch. Oh, my God. That's incredible.

For Aaron, that Edelman reception was a sign. And then there's the pass to Edelman reception was a sign. And then there's the pass to Edelman. And as somebody, again, that's watched the Patriots, this sort of seam route over the middle has been sort of Tom Brady's white whale. He threw an interception against Baltimore in the run-up to their Super Bowl against the Seahawks late in the first half. The interception that started to flake gate was basically on the same type throw.

And here we get Edelman up the seam. He throws it in the direction of Edelman. It gets tipped by Alford, falls down. And then you see Edelman thinking he made the catch. Did you think at that moment that he made the catch? Did you think that, Oh my God,

they actually caught that? Or are we thinking, Oh, there's no way that's impossible. Catch a little bit of both. I mean, that, oh, my God, they actually caught that? Or were you thinking, oh, there's no way. That's an impossible catch? A little bit of both. I mean, my initial reaction was, no, he didn't catch it. And then sort of seeing that first replay and seeing, oh, my God, he actually did catch it.

And that was sort of the moment where I was like, oh, no, this is the Tyree catch. And it's, you know, we just thought the Julio play was sort of the signature play. And sort of to have that emotional moment where at that point where Julio snags that football, you're thinking, oh, yeah, the Falcons are definitely winning this game. To having that Edelman catch in that low, it's like, oh, no, the fates have gone against us and the Patriots are going to win this game. And, you know, in the span of what, two minutes of game time and probably eight to 10 minutes of real time, you know, that emotional roller coaster was sickening to me. And yeah, it was one of those things where the ridiculousness of that catch sort of like sealed it for me in that moment and thinking, oh no, this is all gone wrong so basically from that point on you're like foregone conclusion at this point pretty much

like i'm i'm hoping you know the the the part of me that is you know the falcon fan that has been rooting for this team for a quarter century is thinking that you know somehow some divine intervention is going to intervene and someone's going to make a play. But it's sort of starting to really sink in that this game is about to be over and we're about to lose this game. For many Patriots fans, myself included, the Edwin catch was a singular moment for a team that had lost Super Bowls with David Tyree, with Mario Manningham, almost losing one with a Jermaine Kers catch. Edelman's catch was that moment, that moment where we thought, wow, we've got one of our own now. Rich down in houston felt the same exact way the same exact way oh well

because it was happening in favor of the the patriots you know if you look at the the tyree catch those are like on par with each other the the germaine curse catch i would say is like half a hair below but it's also just as ridiculous the manningham catch this julio jones catch those were just beautifully thrown beautifully caught passes in places where only the receiver could get it it was more of a surprise with eli manning doing it because it was eli manning but with julio jones catching it you're just like man he is a he is a grown man you can't stop that right and so when edelman got it i i forget who said it on the Patriots. It was either Belichick or maybe it was even Robert Kraft himself.

But he was just like, we finally got one. You know, after so many ridiculous Super Bowl plays going against them, they were finally able to get one of their own. And we talked about this earlier with John Casey kicking the ball out of bounds in the Super Bowl and Gostkowski returning the favor in 2007. Same thing. Edelman finally got the play that balanced the scales a little bit, and it made it possible for the Patriots to win. It was just unbelievable to see that take place.

But also, they still had two minutes to go, and they had 40 yards and a two-point conversion necessary to tie it up. They were still a long way away from winning this game after that catch. It was, I don't want to call it a redemption because they just won the Super Bowl two years before, but it was very cathartic to see one of these plays go in the Patriots' favor. The Patriots would gain those 40 yards. They would get that touchdown.

And they would get that two-point conversion to set up the first overtime in Super Bowl history. And for Rich Hill and many Patriots fans, and perhaps many Falcons fans, it came down to that coin toss because the handwriting was on the wall. Patriots force overtime. I assume now you have to change your copy yet again. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, first overtime game in NFL history. Who knows how it's going to play out? Then the Patriots won the coin toss. And I don't know about you.

I want to know what you thought as that was taking place. But I knew that the Patriots were going to win. After they won the coin toss, I was like, okay, this was over. I mean, every single Patriots defender said the same thing afterwards in their post-game press conferences

where they're like, once we won the coin toss, we knew that we were going to win the game. They weren't going to be able to stop Tom Brady. And so I felt that same way. What was going through your head at the coin toss? Yeah, I'm actually, I'm right there with you, Rich. And I think it was amazing. You know, you hear Patriots defensive players, you know, they basically stopped a meeting. You know, they stopped like going over stuff with the defensive coaches because they knew it you know they just stood up and watched because I knew that Brady was just gonna they were gonna go right down the field and

score Toss to White. He's in! Patriots win the Super Bowl! Brady has his fifth! White's touchdown gave Brady his fifth Super Bowl and gave the Patriots the biggest comeback win in Super Bowl history. And for many Patriots observers, while in years past perhaps defenses led the way, this was a comeback where the offense played a huge role. This Patriots offense is that counter. You know, you see this overtime drive and you see the players that were utilized and how everyone performed.

The offensive line was playing great, finally. James White not opened up the drive with a six-yard catch. Amendola had that 14-yard grab. Chris Hogan had 18 yards. Edelman had 15 yards. Martellus Bennett drew a 13-yard defensive pass interference penalty to get to the two-yard line. yard defensive pass interference penalty to get to the two yard line and so every single player on that Patriots offense was contributing because Tom Brady was only caring and focusing about

getting the ball to the open receiver and they just marched down that field four minutes and every single player you know maybe Malcolm Mitchell could have could have chipped in a little bit wasn't pulling his own weight but But I'm just kidding on that front. Every Patriots receiver that was on that field did something. And that more than anything exemplifies what the Patriots want to accomplish when they force the opposing defense to cover every inch of the field. From the moment the confetti started to fall Through the days and the weeks And even months afterwards The Atlanta Falcons and their fans

Were left wondering About what could have been And for Aaron Freeman As the host of a Falcons podcast He was able to move on pretty quickly But the wounds are still there wounds are still there did you sort of think they're like after the animal catching everything that that atlanta defense now they've basically been on the field for the bulk of the second half they're just

exhausted and there's almost nothing they can do at this point yeah i mean it was it was very clear in what they you know that was that alfred almost past breakup was sort of their last hurrah of really sort of making a stop against this patriots offense they were just sort of getting rolled over they had you know played i don't know at that point like 90 something snaps uh for many of the guys in the secondary that the linebacker position they were out of gas the the pass rushers. I think Dwight Freeney wound up playing 60 snaps in that game when he was averaging 25 to 30

throughout the regular season at his age. It was one of those things where it seemed to be everything was sort of coalescing and sort of going against the Falcons' favor. So Aaron, until, and we'll get you out of here on this, until a fellow podcaster cruelly asked you to relive these moments, that podcaster being myself, when did you sort of like get past that game, get past that loss?

The good thing about being on the Locked On Podcast Network is that we do the daily shows and we do the rapid reactions, the Sunday night after the game. We re-watch the game for the Monday show. We watch the All 22 for the Tuesday or Wednesday show. So I had re-watched the game a couple

of times after that game and sort of that helped me get through it because at that point I just reached the point where it was just like i could play the what if the coulda shoulda woulda sort of game but that's not going to help me move past it and i want to move past it because it hurts so much um so i i think i was able to be in a better place the week after that game, having re-watched it two or three times over the course of that week.

But I had gone since that second week of February, really had gone the last few months without sort of revisiting other than a couple of glimpses when I would randomly turn on NFL Network in the afternoon and it would be on. I'm like, why is God spitting in my face by by putting this game on but um yeah you know until until this moment i thought i had moved on from it i know i didn't but it's sort of you know you you bring me back on this podcast making me relive those those few moments of my life uh it certainly reopened the wounds and I will hate you forever for it. I hope you enjoyed this narrative look back at Super Bowl 51.

I'll be having a show like this for each of the five Super Bowl victories throughout the bye week. Have some more great guests lined up to talk about these. I want to thank Rich Hill at the start for coming up. Again, Rich is the managing editor of Pat's Pulpit. You should check out Pat's Pulpit, patspulpit.com. You can follow Rich on Twitter, and please follow Rich.

He is at pp underscore rich, R-I-C-H, underscore hill, H-I-L-L. Also, a very special thank you to Aaron Freeman. I thought it was very fitting to end the look back at Super Bowl 51 with Aaron's words there. It's always painful to relive a game like that.

And I give him a lot of credit for coming on with me and talking about that game. Definitely give Aaron a follow. He is at Falcfans, F-A-L-C-F-A-N-S on Twitter. Also, check out and subscribe to Locked on Falcons as well. I'll be back again tomorrow with a look at Super Bowl XLIX.

Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield and Locked on Patriots. you