The greatest Super Bowl ever ended with the greatest comeback ever by the greatest quarterback ever and his name is Tom Brady.
Super Bowl 51 was full of emotions. It looked as if the Atlanta Falcons were well on its way to its first ever Super Bowl title after getting out to a 28-3 lead in the 3rd quarter but then everyone watching the game was reminded by one old rule – never bet against Tom Brady.
Entering the 4th quarter, the Patriots were down 28-9. Facing a big deficit and the league’s best offense, the Patriots had its work cut out for them. Prior to this game the largest deficit ever overcome in a Super Bowl was 10-points and the largest deficit ever overcome by a Tom Brady led team was 24 points. With his sick mother watching, Roger Goodell of course watching and millions of viewers looking on, Tom Brady led the Patriots all the way back in this game.
The Pats engineered a FG, two touchdowns and two 2-point conversations to tie the game at 28. Of course during the epic comeback Brady had some help. Most notably Dont’a Hightower’s strip fumble leading to a touchdown and then the Falcons terrible play calling down the stretch. Probably some of the worst play calling we’ve ever seen in an NFL game. Instead of electing to run it twice on the Patriots’ 23-yard line, they decided to call two passing plays resulting in negative yardage, which saved the Patriots from using its timeouts. This forced the Falcons to punt instead of attempting a field goal, which could’ve given the Dirty Birds an 11-point lead with less than 4 minutes to go. But instead, the comeback was completed when Brady led the Patriots down the field in the first ever Super Bowl Overtime game and then handed the ball off to James White who scored the championship clinching touchdown.
This unbelievable come from behind victory reassures the Patriots as the greatest dynasty in NFL history and officially cements Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback of all-time. The way he didn’t lose faith, didn’t lose belief and rallied his team back to literally make history is what the best ever entails. Throughout his career Brady was doubted, was given a small window of opportunity and made the most out of it. He went on to dethrone Peyton Manning for so many years, had to get through tough Steelers’ teams and even more challenging, he had to work with a revolving door of interchangeable parts within the organization. He and Belichick are the greatest player and coach duo in football history and the scary part is they’re not even finished. Brady anticipates he can play for another 3-5 years, which means at this point the legacy of Tom Brady will continue to grow. There’s no telling how much more this man will accomplish when it’s all said and done. You call him cheater, I call him champion. Tom Brady is a sports legend.
By Luca Rosano – Waterboy
