Unprecedented Super Bowl Choke Leads to Patriots Win

Leading by an apparently insurmountable 28 to 3 in the third quarter of yesterday evening's National Football League Super Bowl, it looked like an unexpected rout in the making for the underdog Atlanta Falcons and their first ever league championship.  But their defense, which had an edge over the New England offense for most of the game, was tiring...and from then on, in spite of still harassing Patriot quarterback Tom Brady on a number of occasions, it was the New England offense that was the driving force in the game.  That still would have left Atlanta with a victory had they not made a number of crucial mistakes, the worst being with just a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter and their MVP quarterback Matt Ryan having guided his team into good field goal range, within the Patriots' 25-yard line.  All he had to do was then repeatedly hand the ball off and try to pick up a couple more yards...but even just staying put would have given the Falcon placekicker a highly probable field goal and would have put Atlanta up 31-20, with time running out for their opponents.  Instead, Ryan foolishly dropped way back to pass...about 15 yards...and was sacked.  The following play Atlanta was called for holding.  Eventually they had to punt and the Patriots put on their game-tying drive, eventually winning in overtime after they won the coin toss, received the kickoff, and methodically drove straight down the field for the final touchdown...

I'm not a New England fan, but I admire how they played together and how poised Tom Brady was under such pressure and adversity.  I agree with him: it was his greatest victory.  Fortunately, I'm not an Atlanta fan, either...although I wanted them to win yesterday.  Hey, maybe they'll be so demoralized after this loss that they will flub up next year and Tampa Bay will win their division.  Why not...after all, Carolina screwed up this past season after their disappointing Super Bowl result the year before...