The entire rest of the Falcons team was fooled, credit to the gunner. Chung actually made a great catch, it could have been a real disaster.
Belated Observations about SB 51 -- In General Edition
- Thread starter TheoShmeo
- Start date
FWIW, in their first 5 SBs of the BB/TB era, their defense let them down in the fourth quarter. Each one of them.
- Rams scored 14 points in the fourth to tie the game.
- Carolina scored 19 points in the fourth to tie the game.
- Philly scored a late TD to bring the Eagles to within 3 points.
- NYG scored 14 points including the game winner with less than a minute to go.
- NYG scored 6 points - the game winning TD in the last minute again.
But in the last two SBs, the Patriots' defense came up HUGE in the fourth quarter.
- Held Seattle to zero points and just 79 yards of offense, and came up with the game-winning turnover on the Butler interception at the goal line with 20 seconds to go.
- Held Atlanta to zero points and just 59 yards of offense, and came up with a huge game-changing turnover on the Hightower strip sack.
- Rams scored 14 points in the fourth to tie the game.
- Carolina scored 19 points in the fourth to tie the game.
- Philly scored a late TD to bring the Eagles to within 3 points.
- NYG scored 14 points including the game winner with less than a minute to go.
- NYG scored 6 points - the game winning TD in the last minute again.
But in the last two SBs, the Patriots' defense came up HUGE in the fourth quarter.
- Held Seattle to zero points and just 79 yards of offense, and came up with the game-winning turnover on the Butler interception at the goal line with 20 seconds to go.
- Held Atlanta to zero points and just 59 yards of offense, and came up with a huge game-changing turnover on the Hightower strip sack.
I wouldn't say the D let them down in the 4Q of the Eagles game. They very consciously played prevent, forcing plays to remain in-bounds and short-yardage, keeping the clock running. They were playing to the score, and it worked out (famously) well. If anything, they gave up a TD by design, after a 13-play drive. If they absolutely needed a stop you'd have seen very different defensive calls.
Likewise, any critique of the defense for the Rams or Scottish games that focuses on the 4th quarter to the exclusion of the awesome job they did in Qs 1-3 is kinda cherry-picked.
Not that your point is undermined in the slightest, of course: the D did indeed rise to the occasion in epic fashion vs the Seahawks and Falcons. I'd argue their 30+ minutes of shutout from early 3Q through OT is one of the most impressive defensive efforts in NFL history, right up there with other epic struggles BB had a hand in. But in so doing, let's not shortchange the incredible defenses from the earlier generations of the Belichick Patriots.
Likewise, any critique of the defense for the Rams or Scottish games that focuses on the 4th quarter to the exclusion of the awesome job they did in Qs 1-3 is kinda cherry-picked.
Not that your point is undermined in the slightest, of course: the D did indeed rise to the occasion in epic fashion vs the Seahawks and Falcons. I'd argue their 30+ minutes of shutout from early 3Q through OT is one of the most impressive defensive efforts in NFL history, right up there with other epic struggles BB had a hand in. But in so doing, let's not shortchange the incredible defenses from the earlier generations of the Belichick Patriots.
On the whole, of course the D played really well against the Rams in SB 36, holding a sensational offense to just 17 total points. But in the fourth quarter, they did give up 14 points.
Their D was fantastic for two quarters against Carolina, but for the other two...not so much.
On the whole the D played well against Philly, but I don't think they gave up a TD *by design*. I think they were happy that Philly took their sweet time getting in and out of the huddle and were content to let them take a lot of time moving the ball, but I don't think they WANTED Philly to score a TD there.
Good defense again in both Giants' SBs on the whole, but allowing 14 fourth quarter points in SB 42 against that offense is just unacceptable.
And yeah, I was just focusing on the 4th quarters of those games, but they did play solid D in much of those other games. Just trying to make the point that in the past 2 SBs, the fourth quarter defense was flat-out awesome.
I won't give the Pats' D any credit for their OT performance against Atlanta because, after all, they never saw the field.
Belichick somewhat famously chewed out one of the assistants on the sideline after the TD -- maybe it was Mangini?
The way it had gone since 28-3 made it total ass clench time for Atlanta, and they weren't interested in any extra ritual coin toss thing, which sending extra guys out there is. Takes only one guy to make the obvious OT call. I thought it was fine.
Re: the goofy punt return attempt, I remember thinking at several points during SB LI that it's simply unfair to let Bill Belichick coach one game as if his life depended on it. Was there any trick in the book that he didn't consider? I'm pretty sure he didn't use them all, but I'm equally sure he thought about them all. And by the time the game-tying two-point conversion attempt arrived, I knew the Patriots would score, because I knew he'd have a kitchen sink play ready to be called that the Falcons wouldn't be able to defend.
(Remember that famous Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl that featured the hook-and-ladder play and the Fumblerooski? I now have great empathy with what Sooners fans must have felt like at the end of that game.)
(Remember that famous Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl that featured the hook-and-ladder play and the Fumblerooski? I now have great empathy with what Sooners fans must have felt like at the end of that game.)
Well we discussed it before, but they tried the trick punt return (failed), the onside kick (failed), the surprise Dion Lewis run at the end of regulation (failed), the halfback pass (failed), the jump over center to block the XP (failed, but probably a bad call by the ref), and the direct snap on the 2 pt conversion (succeeded). I think that's all of the unconventional plays.
If all those trick plays had actually worked it would have been a blowout.
If all those trick plays had actually worked it would have been a blowout.
Yes, after clock killin' dinking and dunking the whole drive the TD was like a 30 yard pass which gave the Eagles enough time for a miracle which thankfully didn't happen.
I think they mishandled that play pretty badly. I don't think getting beaten over the top for 30 yards was part of the plan. It seemed that Belichick was trying to play that last series so that all they would have to do, even if the Eagles scored, was recover an onside kick and kneel down to win it. I think he would have preferred keeping them in bounds once or twice more so they had to use their time outs.
The way that it worked out, the Eagles actually had a choice. They did not have to kick the onside kick there. In fact, the better choice likely would have been to kick deep, use their last two time outs, and try to get the ball back with about 45 seconds left. Assuming a net 40 yard punt, they probably would have gotten the ball back at their 35 and a couple of plays could have given them a decent kick attempt.
By trying the onside kick, the Eagles gave away 30 yards of field position and that was effectively the end of the game once the Patriots recovered it and managed a decent punt. I think the Eagles choosing the onside kick gave the Patriots what they wanted in spite of the 30 yard TD, which was a good break.
As for the fourth quarter defense in the last two Super Bowls, the Patriots were much better than in the first five but they actually did give up two very big plays that changed win probability substantially and very well could have resulted in losses. The first was the Marshawn Lynch wheel play to start the Seahawks last drive and put them in position for a winning touchdown. They needed some heroics to cover for that. Same with the Jones catch in 51. Though that was hardly bad defense. Still, those were two plays that made things very hard.
Still one of the great referee calls of all time. Imagine if Hochuli was on the field? We'd still be here listening to him.
