28-3: Tom Brady's greatest comeback tale relived
The greatest Super Bowl comeback of all-time occurred six years ago today between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The game resulted in a 34–28 victory for the Patriots after they came back from trailing 28-3, an infamous score in Falcons history.
6 years ago today - The #Falcons were up 28-3 with one quarter left in the Super Bowl.
Enter Tom Brady with the script... 🐐
https://t.co/qJ59cejQFh
Atlanta scored three first-half touchdowns and went into halftime leading the Patriots 21-3. They went up by a score of 28-3, scoring their first touchdown midway through the first quarter before the Patriots went on a tear.
With 8:31 left in the third quarter, the Patriots needed to score 25 points to at least force the game into overtime.
Running back James White scored the first touchdown with 2:06 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 28-9. The Patriots then scored a field goal on their ensuin drive and trailed 28-12.
They then scored two more touchdowns in the final six minutes of play and converted two key two-point conversions to tie the game, 28-28 with 57 seconds remaining in regulation.
With just over two minutes left in regulation of Super Bowl LI, the #Patriots' Julian Edelman makes one of the most remarkable catches in a #SuperBowl.
Four plays later, James White scores and the Pats convert the two-pointer to force Super Bowl history's only overtime period. https://t.co/L1WcO3IJh7
New England received the ball first in overtime and running back James White scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime on a two-yard touchdown run.
Tom Brady relived the 28-3 comeback against the Atlanta Falcons
Tom Brady talked about what was going through his mind during the 28-3 comeback vs. the Falcons. In Episode 7 of his “Man in the Arena” docuseries, he opened up and admitted that he had lost hope that they were going to win.
Brady said:
"28-3, man, I was like, ‘We need a lot of (expletive) to go right now.’ 28-3, man. Coach (Bill Belichick) said 21 points ain’t going to be enough to beat us. Twenty-eight points might be enough to beat us today. … You’re not thinking about winning the game at that point. You’re thinking about, ‘How do we not embarrass ourself at this point?’ It’s a different mentality. We’ve got to score, man. We’ve got to be proud of the fight.”
He added:
“We had been in situations where we’d been down. Now, we had never been down that much. Usually, if you’re down 10 in the Super Bowl, it’s tough to overcome. We were down 25 with three minutes left in the third quarter. I just kept saying — and it’s easier said than done — that we’ve just got to get one score. Like, let’s maintain our poise, maintain our execution, do our (expletive) jobs, and we’ll score.”
Brady and the Patriots secured their fifth Super Bowl with the victory. He won two more in his career and retired with a total of seven.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Tom Brady, NESN.com, Man in the Arena, and H/T Sportskeeda