Super Bowl LI Highlights and Lowlights

Now that we have had time to digest the chicken wings, meatballs and taco-dip, it is now time to fully appreciate what we just saw last night in Super Bowl LI. One has to be careful when deciding what is or is not a highlight as one team’s highlight is most definitely the other team’s lowlight.

This writer is still having trouble putting into words what he witnessed, but he will try his best. Usually in a game with this type of outcome, the touchdowns tend to be the biggest and best plays of the game, until one factors in what happened before the touchdowns occurred. The touchdowns last night were great, yet routine plays.

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Some are calling the Patriots’ overtime, championship victory the greatest Super Bowl of all time; it may or may not be but that is a discussion for another day. What makes a great game? Obviously the great and not-so-great plays become a huge factor in deciding the outcome. This game and its plays lived up to and beyond the hype.

Devonta Freeman starts his offense in the right direction by taking the first hand-off from Matt Ryan 37 yards to get them out of the shadow of their own end zone. Check out the video of Freeman’s big gain here.

Freeman then goes on to score the first touchdown of the game by cutting on a dime and leaping in untouched. Check out the video of Freeman’s touchdown run here.

With just over 14 minutes left in the first half, LeGarrette Blount’s fumble set the tone for the Falcons and their offense. The Falcons received praise from Bill Belichick earlier in the week for their propensity to take the ball away. Most of the onlookers knew Blount fumbled his way out of the coach’s heart and onto the naughty pine of the bench for the rest of the big game.

Austin Hooper’s 19-yard touchdown reception from Matt Ryan put the Falcons up 14-0 midway through the second quarter. Hooper looked as though he may have gotten away with a push off; that play will rarely get called on a tight end being mugged by Patrick Chung. Check out the video of Hooper’s touchdown reception here.

Robert Alford’s pick-six just before the two-minute-warning of the first half made it look much like the game was going the Falcons’ way. The interception returned for a touchdown put the Falcons on top, 21-0, at the time. Alford also recovered Blount’s fumble earlier in the half. Check out the video of Alford’s pick-six here.

Regardless what my spite-filled drunken buddies say, Lady Gaga’s performance was one for the ages. Lucky enough for the ladies in the room, the performance was being recorded so they were able to go back and check it out after the channel mysteriously was changed. It is worth every minute of the 13:33 and already has nearly seven million views at the time of this writing. Check out the video of Lady Gaga’s performance here.

With 8:31 left in the third quarter, Tevin Coleman catches a six-yard pass from Ryan; lifting the Falcons and their fans to a 28-3, seemingly insurmountable lead. No way Tom Brady and the Patriots could overcome that right?

Down, 28-3, on a third-and-eight play, Brady scrambles for a first down to keep the drive alive.

With 2:03 left in the third quarter, the Patriots finally blast through with a touchdown; Stephen Gostkowski misses the extra point. Many of Brady’s big Super Bowl wins were highlighted by perfect kicks, could this failure from a kicker be his undoing? Gostkowski then botched the onside kick attempt, giving Atlanta great field position as well. (We apologize for the poor quality, but it is the best available video of Gostkowski’s missed attempt.)

With 8:31 left in the game, still up 28-12, Freeman makes the biggest mistake by letting Dont’a Hightower through to hit Matt Ryan and cause the fumble the Patriots desperately needed. Patriots’ big man, Alan Branch recovered the fumble, giving hope to New England although they still need two touchdowns and two two-point conversions.

With 4:47 left in the game, Julio Jones made an incredible catch at the New England 22 yard line that looked to save their Super Bowl. A series of untimely events then causes the Falcons to punt the ball away instead of kicking a field goal to essentially ice the game away. Viking fans everywhere are rejoicing at this moment of utter calamity for the Falcons and their fans. Check out Jones’ incredible grab here.

With merely 2:28 minutes left in the game, still down eight points, Julian Edelman makes one of the best catches or most unlucky bounces Atlanta fans will be talking about forever. If that ball falls to the ground, the Patriots still have the ball and it would be second down. However, this was a terrible pass from Brady that should have been intercepted and the game would have been over. Also noteworthy of this play was the fact the Falcons used their final timeout to challenge the play. Check out Edelman’s improbable reception here.

With 57 second left to go in the game, White scores his second touchdown and Danny Amendola adds the two point conversion to tie the game at 28. The entire game-tying drive is worth a look as it is a thing of beauty, even for Brady and his storybook career. Check out the game-tying drive here.

The clock strikes zero and the NFL has their very first overtime in Super Bowl history. Although they never came into play, all viewers had to brush up on their overtime rules as to not sound stupid for wondering why the Patriots decided not to kick a field goal to win it.

With 11:02 left in overtime, James White was able to get the football across the goal line right before his knee hit the ground, forever supplanting his name into the memory of sports geeks everywhere. The touchdown was White’s third total touchdown of the game; Blount runs over to his teammate as to say “thank you, for saving my ass.” Check out White’s game-winning touchdown run here.

Some of the best and worst plays that truly defined the Super Bowl were unable to be found in usable video clips. The Falcons continually were snapping the ball with 10 seconds left on the play clock, giving Brady and the Patriots more time.

When describing this game, seriously, all that had to happen in order for it to be as epic as it was, did. Would it have been just as sweet to watch had the Patriots kept it close the entire game? Would the comeback been as sweet if they did not have to go for two points on each of their last two touchdowns?

Only time will tell how ridiculously sweet this game was when compared to Super Bowls of the past. However, it easily is the most dramatic finish we have ever seen in the big game and that will never be taken away from Super Bowl LI.

Justin Ekstrom can be followed on Twitter @thesportscrib21 and even he is having trouble thinking of a Super Bowl that was more exciting or better than this most recent one. Be sure to follow and comment on Facebook and Twitter.

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