[reeftool]

I think this way of (the NFL) running the OT is unfair.

They improved it from what it was. It used to be a field goal could win it. I don't think they will change the rules to force play for a full quarter. It's a brutal game and the chance of injury increases significantly the longer the game goes on. Now, if the coin toss winning team gets a field goal, the opposing team gets the ball and a chance to score but a touchdown wins it. The Falcon's defense was tired but the Patriots offense had to be tired too. In the end, it's the team with the most stamina and player depth that wins.

[Ex Finn.]

The fact that they win so much is maddening.

The better team wins, always. No need to be mad about it.

[monochrome]

Last night I watched 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', an 80 year old movie about populists guillotine-ing the French aristocracy and an Englishman who heroically rescues some of them. Then I watched 'Captain Blood', an 80 year old movie about a professional who is cruelly imprisoned and sold into slavery by aristocratic elitists, becomes a pirate, but returns to loyally serve King and country when the evil elites are overthrown by the peoples' King and Queen, William and Mary.

Timely, I should say.

[Rupert]

I thought this pretty well sums it up.

Couldn't be better visualized than that!

Being here close to Dallas and oh so familiar with the Cowboys, it appeared to me that Atlanta took to the Cowboys "Big Game" playbook....and choked!

Regards!

[mee]

It's a rough day in Atlanta. Everybody at work is silent. I went to the court today (for a ticket) and it seemed the chatty judge couldn't stop talking about the game with his lawyer pals that were in the room.

My older boy (8) cried himself to sleep last night and nothing could stop him. Other than being born in Atlanta, he's mad that cheaters win so much. He's already finding out life isn't always fair...

Anyway, I'll confess that it's my fault. As a Brazilian living in Atlanta, I was cheering for Brazil when they lost that important game to Germany in the most humiliating defeat in soccer World Cup history. And i was of course cheering when the Falcons had the most humiliating Superbowl (or football, really) defeat ever. I think I'll stop supporting any teams, it just does them harm... lol

I didn't see the Falcons fans at work today.. none of them. There wasn't any smacktalk either.. I guess the guys understood that kind of a unheard of, comeback beating on the world stage by the hands of the most haughty team in all of football was plenty much.

Would you please move to Boston and start cheering for their teams? Maybe you can get a winter home in Dallas too?

[Rondec]

They improved it from what it was. It used to be a field goal could win it. I don't think they will change the rules to force play for a full quarter. It's a brutal game and the chance of injury increases significantly the longer the game goes on. Now, if the coin toss winning team gets a field goal, the opposing team gets the ball and a chance to score but a touchdown wins it. The Falcon's defense was tired but the Patriots offense had to be tired too. In the end, it's the team with the most stamina and player depth that wins.

I think the Patriots were deeper. Beyond which, the way to beat Tom Brady is to get pressure on him, which the Falcons did in the first half. By the second half, they were clearly a step behind.

If they really had played another full quarter, I really think the Patriots would have won by a couple of scores.

[mee]

I think the Patriots were deeper. Beyond which, the way to beat Tom Brady is to get pressure on him, which the Falcons did in the first half. By the second half, they were clearly a step behind.

If they really had played another full quarter, is really think the Patriots would have won by a couple of scores.

Brady isn't much of a first half player though... and I think he is slightly overrated. Falcons have been chokers for years now. They start out hot and then the bottom of the bag falls out.

I hope it isn't like Carolina.. hot one year, cold the next. Even though Newton acts like a prima donna.

I think Brady, as talented as he is, has been a product of the overarching system they have in place at NE. They have a knack for taking good players and turning them into stars. Even without Brady in the first 4 games, the Pats went 3-1. The backup was only hot in the 2nd game, the team still made it happen. Seems to be a good system with a lot of balance.

It will be more interesting to see what NE does when Belichick and Brady are gone. Neither are spring chickens..

[robert52]

I thought this pretty well sums it up.

We have 2 teams here in Oz in the AFL ( Aussie rules its Collingwood ( Melbourne ) and Manly ( Sydney) in the NRL ( Rugby League) that every one that dosent support them goes for the other team thats playing them .

---------- Post added 02-07-17 at 07:22 PM ----------

I started to get worried when the Falcons started to accumulate successive "hold" penalties.
Then they retired at half time ... God knows what was on their "mind" when they came back for the 2nd half ???

---------- Post added 02-06-17 at 03:08 PM ----------

BTW, about this O.T. rule:

Is it fair that, upon a coin toss win, the team decides to "receive" (or kick, whatever ...) ... then, if there is a T.D., the other doesn't have the opportunity to come back ?
Why don't they just play an additional full quarter and let them play " as usual" .... keep doing this until there is an actual winner ?
Who cares if it last all day !
It's Super Bowl ... plenty of beer and Doritos out there!

Trouble here in Oz there done that in tied Grand Finals ( think Superbowl) & they have ended in draws so they had to replay next week & trouble is 1 team turns up & other team forgets to turn up .
I give it to the Pats every thing went there way ie toss for OT that person ( I forgot his name) that made the catch after the falcon guy could have caught it. When I was playing Rugby Union in local comp I have had a couple of coaches tell me / team that great teams / players make there own luck in big games.
To this day I do believe in this

[clackers]

I have had a couple of coaches tell me / team that great teams / players make there own luck in big games.
To this day I do believe in this

Yeah, poise means the other guys are folding like a $10 banana lounge.

[Rondec]

Brady isn't much of a first half player though... and I think he is slightly overrated. Falcons have been chokers for years now. They start out hot and then the bottom of the bag falls out.

I hope it isn't like Carolina.. hot one year, cold the next. Even though Newton acts like a prima donna.

I think Brady, as talented as he is, has been a product of the overarching system they have in place at NE. They have a knack for taking good players and turning them into stars. Even without Brady in the first 4 games, the Pats went 3-1. The backup was only hot in the 2nd game, the team still made it happen. Seems to be a good system with a lot of balance.

It will be more interesting to see what NE does when Belichick and Brady are gone. Neither are spring chickens..

Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks I've seen. He is definitely up there with Montana. Looking at his receivers over the years, other than Randy Moss, they just haven't had any top shelf talent. But Brady is consistent at getting the ball to the open guy.

At 39, he can't throw the bombs downfield he used to, but there are very few quarterbacks other than Joe Montana that I would trust to engineer a come back like that -- regardless of the team they were playing.

[gaweidert]

Brady is getting right up there with the great Otto Graham. He played for the Cleveland Browns. Every year for 10 years, he took the team to the playoffs and he won 7 championships. He also played on a National Basketball League (later the NBA) championship team that won it all,

He still holds the record for yards per pass attempt and highest winning percentage of any starting quarterback. Of course only a few old timers on this forum, like myself, have ever heard of him. Not every "Greatest Player Ever" is playing today.

[robtcorl]

Maybe it's been mentioned, but give plenty of credit to very good O-lines for making good quarterbacks look great.

[normhead]

Maybe it's been mentioned, but give plenty of credit to very good O-lines for making good quarterbacks look great.

First half, O-line looks awful, Brady looks average. Second half, o-line mans up, Brady looks fantastic. That being said, with Brady, give him time to throw and he's accurate. There just aren't many quarterbacks you can say that about, but look at the play-off games. Often it's the team that misses the fewest open recievers that wins. Everyone gets their chances, capitalizing is the key.

[cupic]

They choked

[clackers]

They chocked

Well, personally, 'choked' is a term I reserve for a favourite that loses after being ahead.

The Falcons were the underdogs.