Lasting pain: Atlanta Falcons crash land on wrong side of history

Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman sat at his locker stall Sunday night at NRG Stadium, holding his head in his hands.

He maintained that pose for more than a minute before getting up from his chair and continuing to get dressed.

The Falcons’ organization and its fan base will be hanging their collective heads for a long time after the biggest Super Bowl collapse of all time.

The Falcons were up 25 points with 23 minutes left in the second half ... and lost 34-28 in the first Super Bowl to go to overtime.

Most of the headlines following the Patriots’ remarkable comeback will focus deservedly on Tom Brady and Bill Belichick winning one for the thumb.

Lost amid the confetti and the records Brady broke on his way to 62 passes, 466 yards and a fifth ring were the guys in the other locker room who sought to explain how a 28-3 lead vanished as quickly as Lady Gaga when she jumped off the stage to end her halftime show.

The Falcons have been playing football for as long as they’ve been staging Super Bowls, and it looked like 51 might be the charm. Instead, Atlanta’s on the wrong side of history: No team had ever lost a Super Bowl when leading by more than 10 points.

For a city that has one lone championship among its pro sports teams (the 1995 Braves), Sunday’s loss was the Greatest Blow on Turf.

“As much as it hurts the fans, it hurts us 10 times more,” Atlanta fullback Patrick DiMarco said.

Falcons center Alex Mack knows losing, having spent his first seven seasons with Cleveland. But Mack’s never experienced anything like what transpired Sunday in Houston.

“It makes it all the more painful to be so close and have that lead and let it get away from you,” Mack said. “You’ve got to be able to finish. It’s an unfortunate lesson to have to learn. But games are tough; you never can relax.”

Falcons defensive end Dwight Freeney has played 15 NFL seasons and faced Brady three previous times in the AFC playoffs. Freeney, who won and lost Super Bowls in Indianapolis, knew better than to start celebrating with the big lead.

“Let’s not mistake this, nobody on the defensive side or offensive side thought the game was over when it was 21-3 or whatever it was,” Freeney said. “We knew that this was going to be a fight, and they prevailed and we didn’t do enough.”

When the Falcons and their fans pull themselves out of their post-Super Bowl funk – and it might not be until they move into their new stadium in August – they’ll remember three fourth-quarter sequences that swung Super Bowl LI the Patriots’ way.

1. Matt Ryan gets blindsided.

The Falcons had not had a turnover all postseason until Ryan’s sack-fumble in Atlanta territory. It was hardly Ryan’s fault.

Blame offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan for calling a pass play on third-and-1. Or blame Freeman for failing to pick up blitzing linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who blasted Ryan and forced the fumble the Patriots recovered at the Falcons’ 25.

Or blame them both.

Five plays later, Brady found Danny Amendola for a 6-yard touchdown toss. A two-pointer pulled the Pats to 28-20.

“That was a tough one,” Ryan said. “I wish I could have done a better job of trying to get rid of that ball.”

2. Shanahan too aggressive?

The Falcons still had an 8-point lead with about six minutes left when they took over following Amendola’s score. On second-and-8 near midfield, Ryan rolled to his right and threw deep down the sideline for Julio Jones, who stretched for the ball and somehow tapped both feet inbounds for a 27-yard gain.

The Falcons were at the New England 22 with four minutes left, needing only a Matt Bryant field goal for the put-away score.

And then they went backward. Freeman lost a yard on first down.

Instead of running again on second-and-11, Shanahan called for a pass play and Tre Flowers dropped Ryan for a 12-yard loss.

Atlanta was still on the edge of Bryant’s range, but tried to get him closer with a Ryan pass to Mohamed Sanu. But left tackle Jake Matthews was called for holding, and suddenly the Falcons were punting on fourth-and-33 with 3:38 remaining.

Shanahan, the next 49ers head coach, defended his play-calling.

“You don’t think, just run the ball and make your guy kick a 50-yard field goal,” Shanahan said. “You try your hardest to give him a great chance to for-sure make it. But we ended up getting a sack and (running) is not really an option after that.”

3. The Julian Edelman catch.

Had the Falcons scored, Jones’ catch would have been the lasting image from the game, the highlight that Atlanta fans would never tire of seeing.

Instead, Edelman took his place alongside the likes of Giants wideout David Tyree with one of the most remarkable catches in Super Bowl history.

On first-and-10 from the New England 36, Brady fired deep down the middle for Edelman, who was well covered.

Falcons cornerback Robert Alford got a hand on the ball, then fell backward. Before the ball hit the ground, it glanced off Alford’s leg – interrupting the ball’s descent just long enough for a diving Edelman to get both hands around it before it scraped the artificial turf.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn challenged, giving everyone in the stadium a chance to see the play again on the giant videoboards.

Atlanta defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, the former Clemson standout, knew he was watching a replay that would forever be linked to Super Bowl LI.

“Growing up you watch the Super Bowl, there’s always that one moment where you’re like, dang,” Jarrett said. “I saw him catch it and I said, ‘Man, dang.’ And it just felt like a whole momentum shift.”

A 1-yard touchdown dive by James White and another successful 2-pointer made it 28-all with 57 seconds left.

The Patriots won the overtime coin toss. But by then, everyone knew how this was going to end. Brady marched the Patriots down the field for the winning TD, cementing his status as a Super Bowl legend and assuring that the Falcons’ long-suffering fans would have to wait at least a 52nd year for a title.

After Freeman was dressed and whisked through the bowels of the stadium on a golf cart to the interview area, someone asked him if this felt like the end of times.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Freeman said. “You just wish you would have seized the moment.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 2:17 AM with the headline "Lasting pain: Atlanta Falcons crash land on wrong side of history."