A Tough Act To Follow

A day later and Super Bowl 51 seems even more unbelievable that it seemed in real time. The numbers simply don't correlate with the emotional context. The Falcons only rushed for 104 yards? Really? It seemed like 250. I'm sure Atlanta fans wish it had been 250. Or even 125 for that matter. I heard today that Brady passed for 246 yards in the 4th quarter alone. As ridiculous as his record-setting Super Bowl line of 43/62/466 was, that 4th quarter projects to a full game of 984 yards!

Wait - What?

That can't be right.

So yeah, I Googled it. 21 or 27 for 246.

Just imagine if he hadn't gotten off to a slow start.

As if it wasn't bad enough to come this far and lose, the Falcons lost in what can best be described as tragic-comic fashion. They were supposed to be the lovable underdogs and for a while it looked like they were going to make everyone west of the Connecticut River happy. Then, well, it turned out the Falcons weren't the stars of this particular movie. It's tough when you think you're the hero only to find yourself gut-shot in the gutter, alone and bleeding out on a starless winter night. Having said that, I do take issue with the "Atlanta choked" story line. In part, for selfish reasons. It's a not so subtle attempt to diminish New England's victory. Regardless of the plays called by the Falcons, the Patriots still had to ball out to win. So, I prefer the "comeback" narrative.

Hey, I'm a positive kind of guy!

Anyway, I've got a couple of theories as to why the Falcons did what they did. Let's break it down.

The Scorpion and the Frog

You're probably familiar with the fable of the scorpion and the frog. You can't help but be what you are, even when it isn't in your own best interests. In the run up to the game, head coach Dan Quinn and his players insisted the Falcons were gonna Falcons. They knew who they were. They knew their game and they were going to play it. It's easy to criticize when you know the outcome but all offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan did was put the ball in the hands of his best player, Matt Ryan, his MVP quarterback. It had worked all year. It had worked in the first half and most of the 3rd quarter. Then it didn't. Because Dont'a Hightower made a play. Because Trey Flowers made a play. Would it have made a difference if Shanahan had dialed up the running game? Maybe. But after that OMFG catch by Julio Jones the ATL did run the ball and Devin McCourty flew in from his safety position and tackled Devonta Freeman for a loss.

Which leads me to another perspective…

You Can't Spell Football with E, G, O (You Need Two O's).

If you're a football coach in the NFL, it's easy to let your ego get the better of you when your team is playing the Patriots and Bill Belichick. He's the gold standard for coaching. He's the Fujita Scale, the J.D. Power Award, the ISO 9001 standard for quality coaching. Belichick has a game plan from his days as a defensive coordinator with the Giants in the Hall of Fame. He took down the Greatest Show on Turf with a ragtag bunch of bargain basement free agents. He's the greatest football coach of the 21st century for sure and maybe one of the greatest of all time. So...

You're Kyle Shanahan, the coordinator of the best offense in the NFL. You're going to be the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. You want more than anything to outsmart Bill Belichick and do it on the biggest stage professional football has to offer. You just saw McCourty sell out to stop the run. The Patriots know you're going to run the ball. Everyone in America knows you're going to run the ball. Everyone in Atlanta wants you to run the ball.

Sound familiar?

You're Kyle Shanahan and you're going to fool Bill Belichick. He's thinking run so you're going to pass.

Well, you think he's thinking run.

Preparation is All…

It wasn't so much that the Falcons couldn't be the Falcons, it was more that the Falcons couldn't be the Falcons for 60 minutes. Kyle Shanahan calling a pass play on 2nd and 11 wasn't as surprising to me as head coach Dan Quinn admitting that his team was gassed in the 4th quarter.

Really?

I should think any coach in the NFL would be embarrassed to admit his team wasn't ready to play 60 minutes of football. Apparently not. Has the Falcons strength and conditioning coach been fired yet? Just asking.

Consider this from Mike Reiss' essential Quick Hits post, from the day before the big game…

"...here is one thing that might have been overlooked and could be a big factor in the game: How the contrasting philosophies the Patriots and Atlanta Falcons have with full-pads practices manifests itself in the game.

"The Patriots practiced almost once a week in full pads right up through Wednesday of Super Bowl week. Meanwhile, the last time the Falcons were in full pads was more than two months ago.

"To some, that is a tell-tale sign that the Patriots will be the more fundamentally-sound tackling team, as well as the more physical squad that will ultimately pound the Falcons into submission."

Could this have been part of Belichick's strategy going into the game? Okay, sure, the Patriots did run 93 plays on offense but I doubt Belichick stood up in front of the team in a pregame meeting and said, "If we can run 90 plays on offense, we'll win this game." (Okay, I also wouldn't be surprised it if he did say that.) The Patriots ran 93 plays because they needed those 93 plays. It's hard to get behind a defense protecting a 28-3 lead. Instead you're going to take what the defense gives; a lot of throws underneath, six, seven, eight yards at a time. That's how you throw 63 passes.

The fact remains the Patriots offense was able to run those 93 plays. They weren't gassed. They were ready, mentally and physically to mount the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. They didn't just believe, they knew. 31 unanswered points in less than 30 minutes of game time.

If you don't have cheating to explain it away, video cameras or deflated footballs to explain it all away, if you simply can't accept the historical greatness of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, then I guess you need something else.

You think the Falcons choked?

Maybe you just weren't paying attention.