KofSports Super Bowl Reaction
Final – 41-33 – The Eagles win the Super Bowl over the Patriots. I’m sure you all were awaiting my reaction last night and I was pretty silent on social media. The one tweet I released at the end of the game was, “WOW.” That really summed up my initial reaction and I didn’t want to go on a tear last night being emotionally attached to the game, of course. So after some time to cool off and think about it some more, here’s my game recap.
Eagles took the lead first and I expected that, the Patriots now have not scored a touchdown in the first quarter in all 8 of their Super Bowl appearances with Brady/Belichick. The Pats come back and tie it up with a FG. It was pretty obvious before that the Pats defense was probably going to get torched but they got TORCHED! Back to back touchdowns by Jeffery and Blount was a big momentum swing but the Pats could handle coming back from being down two scores. The Pats then got a field goal and a touchdown to make the score 15-12. Missed field goals/XP will kill you in big games, Stephen Gostkowski knew that before this game. He was reminded in this game. I really think the pressure gets to him in these big time games – not a good look. 4th and 1 on the 1 yard line with 34 second left in the half. The Eagles pull out the ol reverse pass to their Quarterback. What a play call that was. The timing and the execution was perfect.
22-12 at half time. Who had 2 and 2 for their square numbers pool?
Second half gets started with a Brady to GRONK touchdown and makes it a 3 point game. It would have been nice to have those 4 points back that Gostkowski missed (huh Stephen?) The next score by the Eagles was the touchdown pass to Corey Clement. Great throw by Foles but I don’t think this one was a catch. It was pretty clear that the ball was moving before he gained full possession and got two feet in bounds. Reviewed and upheld. Tough shit. I don’t think that one was a catch. Brady leads the Pats down to score another touchdown with a pass to Hogan to make it 29-26. On to the fourth quarter. The Eagles get a field goal to go up 32-26. Brady comes down and hits GRONK again to take the lead 33-32. At this point, I was thinking let’s see what Foles is all about, can he do it in crunch time with it all on the line. He certainly answered that and yes he can. He led the Eagles down and hit Zach Ertz on an 11 yard pass for a touchdown. Many Pats fans took to twitter to argue that this wasn’t a catch and it was the “same” play as the Steelers game. It wasn’t, he took multiple steps and became a runner before the dive to the goal line. Clean catch, touchdown and the Eagles take a 5 point lead. So here we are, 4th quarter, down 5, and the greatest quarterback of all-time at the ball. Game over right? He’s going to go down and score. Nope. Out of no where, strip sack. The Patriots defense was able to hold the Eagles to a field goal which gave Tom Brady and the Pats one more chance. They got to the point in the field where they could take a shot and with 9 seconds left, they did. Jump ball at the goal line for GRONK, tipped, incomplete. Pats lose. One miss by the refs here was when Chris Hogan got absolutely destroyed 20-30 yards down the field. The Pats would have had one more play if the refs called it, but they didn’t.
So those are my thoughts on how it went. Don’t let me come off as a salty Pats fan who thinks the refs cost the Pats the game, that’s not true. There were a few calls that could have gone differently BUT the reason the Patriots lost this game was their LACK of defense. Tom Brady threw for over 500 yards and the Patriots didn’t punt the ball one time, yet they still lost. Big time story on Malcom Butler being benched by Belichick. I’m not sure what he did to deserve a full game benching but that was a difference maker. Not that the defense would have been great with him playing but I do think that he could have made a big play or two that Rowe/Bademosi didn’t. Congratulations to the Eagles, they outplayed and out coached the Patriots in this game to secure their first ever Super Bowl Title. It’s going to be an interesting and LONG offseason. Is it September yet?