It has become quite clear that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are the most fortunate player and team in Super Bowl history.
Do you understand the probability of the New England Patriots winning Super Bowl LI when the fourth quarter began?Of course, you don’t. Nor do you care because, quite honestly, no number or stat could actually equate to the understanding of how improbable the Pats 34-28 overtime victory was on Sunday night.
Alright, so perhaps a graph will do some justice:
Even still, the number of things that had to occur for the spectacular to occur simply boggles the mind.
Boggling the mind more is the fact that this always seems to happen for the Patriots.
Robert Kraft’s organization — one that was destined to leave the New England area prior to Bill Parcells’s arrival — has welcomed break after break in the big game. Forget the big game, they’ve been equipped with football’s version of a guardian angel since Charles Woodson beared down on a young Tom Brady nearly two decades ago in the snow.
Obviously, nothing should be taken away from the champs. Brady and Bill Belichick are probably the only quarterback-coach duo could have taken advantage of such fortunes in Houston. This single feat is one of remarkable fashion.
Still, the luck these two have experienced over the course of 17 seasons is nothing short of sickening.
Today, we recall and breakdown these incredible fortunes that have morphed Tom Brady and the New England Patriots as the most fortunate team in Super Bowl history.
The Falcons choke job
With 4:40 to go in the fourth quarter, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots knew the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.
When Matt Ryan found Julio Jones on what could be the most skilled catch in Super Bowl history, the Falcons had gained a first down and were sitting in moderate field goal range with a chance to go up 11 points.
Instead of running it twice and kicking a field goal, Dan Quinn allows Kyle Shanahan to call a pass play on 2nd-down. The NFL MVP is sacked. On 3rd-down, a holding penalty knocks them completely out of field goal range.
This sequence is the worst playcalling job in the history of the NFL’s biggest game.
All Atlanta needed to do was run it twice and allow Matt Bryant an opportunity to ice the game.
Obviously, we know what happened.
Tom Brady and the Pats were granted a gift from the football gods and capitalized.
Even still, this wasn’t all. On the previous drive, on a 3rd-and-1, Shanahan called a pass play with no backs. This one led to the Dont’a Hightower strip sack, injecting life into the dead Pats who were down 16 at the time.
When your defense had been on the field as much as the Falcons had witnessed, you do not pass the ball in that situation. You run it and allow your two talented backs and impressive offensive line to get the job done.
87 plays to 46 plays is the reason Tom Brady was able to mount that impressive comeback. Previously, he was dominated by Quinn’s aggressive style of defense and his O-line was thrown around. Brady couldn’t complete a pass past 15-yards if his life relied on it. That’s what Quinn was doing, playing 10 along the line of scrimmage with a single-high safety and daring No. 12 to attack downfield.
Taking situation and math (including time and opportunity), the way the Falcons played the end of this game is embarrassing. It makes you wonder how they even won the NFC.
Complete luck is the reason New England was in the position that allowed its greatness to capitalize. Usually, Super Bowl teams don’t allow that to happen, under any circumstance.
The worst play call in history
Dan Quinn’s complete lack of respect for the game of football is only trumped, and barely, by what transpired two years prior.
With Quinn in the building, his buddy, Pete Carroll, allowed the worst offensive play call in Super Bowl history to take place, against these very same New England Patriots.
Instead of handing it off to the studliest running back in the land — who couldn’t be stopped if the defense threw 18 guys on the field — he allowed Russell Wilson and his Seattle Seahawks a chance to allow disaster to take place. And that’s exactly what happened when Malcolm Butler jumped the route brilliantly and won the Super Bowl for his Pats (video above).
Completely dead in the water, Brady and the Pats were granted life by the opposition.
And, oh yeah, Brady, who was terrible throwing the ball all night, continued throwing awful passes even when the Falcons defense was tired late in the game. He did throw some beauties, but, for the most part, the dink-and-dunk to James White and precise quick throws on wide receivers screens paved the way against a defense that was dead.
He was even bailed out by the anti-helmet catch, the anti-David Tyree, the amazing Julian Edelman catch that he threw into triple-coverage:
How Brady had that much time remaining is criminal on the part of the NFC champs.
Whether it was the Falcons or the Hawks, birds of a different feather granted great gifts on the biggest stage to Brady and the Pats.
The cover up job during Spygate
What was Spygate? Does anybody even know?
No, we don’t. And you know why? It comes down to the fact that the newly-minted NFL commissioner at the time, Roger Goodell, swept it up and under the rug when it happened. He destroyed the tapes and allowed the controversy to live on in our minds forever.
This is why there is so much hate towards the organization and everything Pats these days.
When a Tom Brady or Robert Kraft become defiant against Goodell for Deflategate, we, the onlookers, scratch our said and say, “Wait a minute. Wasn’t it Goodell who actually helped the Pats during Spygate?”
If you speak with Marshall Faulk, many of his St. Louis Rams teammates or some of the Carolina Panthers from the 2003 season, they’ll go their graves convinced they were cheated — that things felt strange in the sense that the Pats just knew what play was coming.
New England was penalized and life moved on. But understanding that this possibly severe controversy faded away in a favorable fashion for the organization, is just one more reason they’re the most fortunate team in Super Bowl history.
Did you already forget the tuck rule?
Don’t tell me you already forgot about the infamous tuck rule?
If the ridiculous call didn’t exist in the official rule guidelines — like it appropriately does now — Charles Woodson‘s strip-sack of Tom Brady during the 2001 division round would have cost Belichick and company their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Obviously, we know the tuck rule did exist (for some strange reason), and the Pats absurdly lucked out on a snowy day in Foxborough.
The ballsiest kicker of all-time
What’s the difference between Jim Kelly and Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl appearance?
Well, nothing’s different when it comes to each QB. In fact, both QBs actually drove the ball down the field and put their respective teams in position to win Super Bowls.
The only difference, one that’ll last a lifetime to the casual fan, is that one kicker choked while the other thrived under pressure.
Scott Norwood‘s wide-right will live in infamy, playing out on the winning side for then defensive coordinator Bill Belichick (video above).
Vinatieri, on the hand, drilled a longer field goal with ease:
He then did the same exact thing two seasons later:
Brady and the Pats were incredibly fortunate to have the most clutch kicker in the history of the game on their side.
During the first three championships, Tom Brady wasn’t a stud. He was a guy who managed the team and rode a great defense and coaching staff to glory. It wasn’t until Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts beat them in the 2006 AFC championship game that Belichick decided he needed to take his team in a new direction, an offensive direction that would suddenly jive with the free-flowing rule changes of the NFL.
If you claim Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all-time, I won’t argue. It’s almost impossible to argue.
The only thing I would say is, “Be careful.”
In today’s day and age, we’re so quick to throw out those four letters of GOAT. We feel the need to crown and gather instant gratification.
In my mind, there are four QBs who jockey for best of all-time — Brady, Joe Montana, Otto Graham and Johnny Unitas.
Montana was a perfect 4-0 and 11-0 TD-INT while Unitas put up monster stats during an age that saw the passing game not fully developed. Brady started thriving only when the rules changed in a more offensive direction.
Let’s face it: quarterbacks these days have it easy and when Bill Belichick is on your side, it’s doubly-simple.
In any event, Tom Brady is, arguably, the best who’s ever laced them up. But don’t think for one moment that he also hasn’t been the luckiest.
He and his New England Patriots have been the most fortunate team in Super Bowl history.