Sunday night we witnessed both the best and worst of the NFL. Worst is a harsh word, because it was probably one of the most exciting Super Bowls we’ve ever seen, unless you play for, or are a fan of the Atlanta Falcons.

It was the first Super Bowl to go into overtime. The first Super Bowl where a team came back from more than 10 points down to win. And the first coach or QB to win 5 Super Bowl rings. But worst has to be how the Atlanta Falcons feel after what we all witnessed in Super Bowl LI.

In the beginning, the Falcons were steamrolling the New England Patriots. Matt Ryan a.k.a. “Marty Ice”, could do no wrong and the Falcons defensive front was thoroughly harassing Tim Brady. The Falcons took a 21-0 lead on the strength of Ryan’s arm and a pick 6 by the defense. At halftime the score was 21-3, and the game appeared to be over.

At the beginning of the 3rd quarter Atlanta seemed to pick up right where they left off scoring in a Ryan to Tevin Coleman TD. With the score at 28-3 and the Patriots seemingly in a funk, the game looked to be over. But one thing most football fans have learned is to never count out Tom Brady a.k.a. “Tom Terrific”.

At the end of the 3rd Atlanta was still up 28-9, then the unthinkable began to unfold. After forcing 2 Patriot turnovers the Falcons had taken great care of the ball. But then came the pressure on Ryan forcing a critical 4th quarter fumble, giving New England the ball in scoring position, and the swing in momentum that they desperately needed.

The sequence of events was almost mind boggling as New England scored in every possession in the 4th and tied the game forcing the Super Bowl’s first overtime game. What a comeback, and what a collapse. As we all know, New England win the toss and went down and scored the winning TD making history for Belichick and Brady.

But was this an epic collapse by the Falcons, or an epic comeback by the Pats. It’s a little bit of both. In the 2nd half Brady and company got into a groove that could not be stopped and kept the Falcon defense on the field, tiring them out. The Falcons couldn’t muster any offense and kept going 3 and out. To understand how much longer the Falcon defense was in the field, the Patriots ran 47 more plays than the Falcons. That’s a recipe for disaster. And we all witnessed that disaster.

Another issue, where was Julio when he was desperately needed? Well The Pats took that option away as Belichick teams have been known to do. They typically take away the thing you do best and force you to try and win another way. That coupled with the Tevin Coleman injury early in the 2nd half put chinks in the Atlanta armor.

Say what you want, but this latest performance by Tom Brady will go down as one of the greatest in SB history. And let’s not forget James White’s 14 catches for 114 yards, including the game winner in OT.

While Tom was terrific, the Falcons will be mentioned with the likes of the Houston Oilers and the ’99 Minnesota Vikings as the biggest choke performances of all time. Only Atlanta’s is bigger because it occurred on the biggest of all stages.