Mistakes can’t keep Patriots from fifth ring

Associated Press

HOUSTON

The New England Patriots developed a reputation for playing nearly mistake-free football in winning four Super Bowl rings during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era.

That brand took a beating against the Atlanta Falcons, as the Patriots fell behind 28-3. But even that could not deny them a fifth Super Bowl title.

“There were a lot of plays that coach talks about, you never know which one is going to be the Super Bowl winner,” Brady said. “There were probably 30 of those plays tonight and any one of those were different, the outcome could have been different.”

New England’s 34-28 overtime win was the largest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL history, and broke the Patriots’ own record for the biggest deficit overcome in a Super Bowl.

One of the most efficient teams in the NFL this season, New England’s calling card was blitzing opposing defenses with an offense that took care of the ball and exploited vulnerability.

But early on Sunday it was a complete role reversal as turnovers, dropped passes, a missed extra-point, an inability to handle the Falcons’ pressure and poor clock management relegated New England to desperation mode for most of the second half.

It nearly was enough to wash away the Patriots’ hopes. Not quite.

The Patriots entered the night 1-5 in the Brady/Belichick era when they trailed by 14 or more points at any point in a playoff game. Their lone win was in the 2014 divisional round against the Ravens.

Trailing 28-12, linebacker Dont’a Hightower got a free hit on quarterback Matt Ryan, causing a fumble. Alan Branch recovered for the Patriots and quickly marched 25 yards to close within 28-20.

“Man, I’m just doing what my teammates expect me to do,” Hightower said.

The Falcons punted, and New England took over on its own 9. Brady did what Brady has done so many times, marching his team 91 yards in just 10 plays. Brady then connected with Danny Amendola on a 2-point conversion pass to tie it up.

The drive included several incredible catches, the biggest being an 11-yard grab by Julian Edelman in which he was able to balance the ball on the foot of Robert Alford before getting his hands under the ball.

“We’ve been on the other end of a few of those catches,” Brady said. “But tonight we came up on the other end of it. ...It was one of the greatest catches I’ve seen. I don’t know how the hell he caught it.”

Brady was 5 of 7 passing on the drive to set up a James White’s game-winning, 2-yard touchdown run.