We take a break from the analysis of the Steelers to offer some insight into what was the biggest meltdown in Super Bowl history in which the Patriots beat the Falcons on Sunday.
What was so intriguing about that meltdown was the fortification of the Falcons' lead. How they managed to confuse Tom Brady and limit the Patriots' offense for three and a half quarters, and then how that all went away when they blew what appeared to be an insurmountable lead.
THE PICK SIX
The impact of the Falcons' press man coverage was that it put pressure on the Patriots' receivers to be playmakers in tight spots. It also forced Brady to be patient in his reads and to take more time to process what he was looking at in each possession.
When you combine that with solid pressure, that can lead to mistakes like the interception return by Robert Alford:
Watch how Alford lines up with Julian Edelman (11) and shadows him pre-snap. The Falcons are giving a man coverage look here, which is what they had been frustrating the Patriots' offense with for most of the first half.
At the snap of the ball, you see they switch to a short zone scheme, which forces Brady to hesitate as he recognizes his pre-snap reads were all wrong. That forces him to miss Edelman being open in the middle for a potential first down. His second read was Danny Amendola, but Brady never recognized that Alford was watching his eyes the whole time and commits a horrible mistake.
FALCONS OFFENSE FLYING
What allowed the offense to flourish was how their offense was able to attack with speed at all positions, and Matt Ryan was exploiting the matchups in the Falcons' favor.
The Patriots know they can't shut down everything, so they put a safety over the top of Julio Jones along with a cornerback to the bottom of the play, basically telling Ryan he needs to go elsewhere.
The Falcons flood the middle of the field with the bunched up receivers to the right, which gives Tevin Coleman a one-on-one opportunity in space:
Ryan plays this perfectly by keeping his eyes to the middle of the field so that the Patriots' safeties and any defenders in zone can't assist Rob Ninkovich in his coverage of Coleman.
Ryan came into the game with the plan of doing what Ben Roethlisberger didn't, and that was to consistently target players who aren't the superstars which the Patriots will look to smother, like Jones. Doing that consistently put the Patriots' defense to the test, stressing all their players to be perfect in situations where there was a lot to lose if they misplayed their assignment.
WHERE THE DOWNFALL BEGAN
The Falcons remained aggressive in their play calls, but it was Ryan who started to break from their game plan. While one can criticize the decision to not run the ball on a third-and-one situation, the Falcons had built their lead by being aggressive, so it made sense to stick with that.
What didn't make sense was how Ryan started staring down receivers. On a deep drop-back, he never sees Donta' Hightower (54) coming off the edge:
It was the perfect recipe for disaster. Devonta Freeman missed his block, Ryan was so locked in on a receiver down the field that he never saw it coming and the Patriots got the turnover that started their three consecutive possessions that led to touchdowns.
ONE DIMENSIONAL
Ryan seemed to have lost all of the coordination and willingness to go through his reads in the fourth quarter. Even on what could've been the biggest play of the game, and arguably the greatest pass and catch in the Super Bowl, Ryan stares down Jones the whole way:
While the pass was perfect and the catch was amazing, this was about when I started to notice that Ryan wasn't doing what had gotten their offense their big lead. Tyler Gabriel, Mohammed Sanu and their other weapons were less of a threat, and the Patriots knew it.
It's part of what the Patriots did to the Steelers so well; they blanketed Antonio Brown for most of the game, forcing Roethlisberger to pass to other options he would be less comfortable with. That's what the Patriots planned to do to Ryan and Jones, and it paid off late in the game when there was more pressure on Ryan to execute and put the game away.
Even the best of players let pressure get to them, which is what the Patriots' defense looks to test in opposing quarterbacks. When that pressure mounts, it's only natural to look for the one player you rely on more than others. That's why you have to be consistent in your reads and cannot afford to try to force the game through one player.
BRADY GETS HIS MOJO BACK
Once Brady got used to the disguised looks behind the consistent four-man rush, the Falcons were in trouble. He started to dissect their secondary with the same sort of mismatches that the Falcons had done with their offense earlier in the game:
James White was just as important to this comeback as Brady was, always getting open and maximizing what he could get for the Patriots in space.
I still think the way to go for the Falcons was to keep pressing the Patriots' receivers and being physical, but at this point of the game your players are tired and breakdowns begin to happen more frequently and a breakdown in man coverage can be fatal.
So they switched to backed off zone looks, which is what Brady loves to pick apart.
THE PLAY OF THE GAME
Backtracking here a bit, but this play was ridiculous and we're going to back off from the Xs and Os here. As far as execution and scheme versus scheme, the Falcons won this play as Brady threw it right to Alford, who should have intercepted the pass:
What was amazing to me on this play was how every little thing had to happen perfectly for Edelman to catch this ball. Alford needed to not only not catch the interception, but also tip the ball up high enough for Edelman to square up and go after it. Then the ball still needed to bounce off of Alford's leg for Edelman to get there just in time to make a play.
It reminded me of the James Harrison Super Bowl interception return and how every block was needed for him to score against the Cardinals, including a referee being just enough in Larry Fitzgerald's way to slow him down before he could get to Harrison.
THE DAGGER
At this point, the game seemed all but over. The Falcons' defense was tired and lost all the swagger and confidence it carried with it for three and a half quarters of the game. The Patriots pull their tackle, Marcus Cannon (61) to be a lead-blocker as Edelman cracks down on the nickelback:
While I still think that there was enough evidence in the review to show that White was down by contact short of the goal line, I also think that it wouldn't have mattered as much, as the Patriots had just scored two touchdowns and back-to-back two point conversions in the red zone.
All in all, what was the most telling to me about the letdown was something that never even had film, scheme or execution. It was the mentality of the Falcons' organization.
All week I was reading and hearing about how the Falcons hadn't been here before and it was going to be a challenge for them to stay focused and act like they've been here before.
It seemed like that became a non-story with the way they played for most of the game; but then I saw their owner, Arthur Blank, come from out of his luxury box and onto the field to celebrate with the players, in the third quarter.
That sent the message right there to the rest of the team that they had already won and they just needed to go through the motions to finish the game as it was in the bag. Sure, you had the perfect scheme to win and even capitalized on numerous mistakes that the other team committed, amassing what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.
But it doesn't matter if you're up against Tom Brady or Mark Sanchez, you just don't do that, and especially in the biggest game of the year. Always beat the ant with the sledgehammer.
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