Super Bowl LI Breaks Records, Falcons’ Hearts

Kerrington Holland, Sports Editor
February 9, 2017

As the Sunday night lights brighten and millions of viewers crowd the NRG Stadium or their television sets, the feeling of a memorable game sets in all across America as Super Bowl LI begins.

The Super Bowl is an event that captivates Americans of all ages, ethnicities and cultures but many were not welcoming as the New England Patriots charged across the Atlanta Falcons’ turf because of their infamous rumor of cheating during Super Bowl XLIX.

This rumor has followed the Patriots, and their fans, around for the past two years but they were not going to let that discourage them from representing their home city of Boston.

Sadly for the Patriots, the first half ended with the Falcons leading in a 21-3 score, according to sbnation.com.

Falcons fans across the states were feeling very confident in their team based on their obvious success thus far in the game and the statistics of all games preceding this one.

According to SI.com, never in the history of the Super Bowl had a team come back from a 18-point deficit; the most any team had ever come back was 10 points during the Patriots’ last Super Bowl appearance against the Seattle Seahawks, ending with 28-24 win for the New England team.

But to the Falcons’ dismay, the Patriots came back after Lady Gaga’s impressive halftime performance feeling a “Million Reasons” to put on their “Poker Face” as they showed they were prepared to become winners.

And for senior and Patriot fan Alec Curran, this game was going to be one to remember.

Curran said he has been a loyal fan to the Patriots since he was 6-years-old and he said he knew by halftime that his team would make the comeback that would be remembered for years to come.

But it wasn’t until the Patriots put his words into action that he started to feel the excitement swell in his chest.

“I was absolutely ecstatic and I literally started to shake,” Curran said. “When (the Patriots) scored the touchdown and two-point conversion to put them behind by just one possession, I knew they could make the comeback happen.”

And so they did.

But not only did the Patriots’ comeback from a 25-point deficit break the record for the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, they did so in the first overtime game of Super Bowl history.

But the broken records didn’t end there.

According to espn.com, 31 records were either tied or broken by the Patriots and Falcons during Super Bowl LI, which broke a record in itself for the most records to be broken or tied during one bowl game.

As the Patriots continued to score and the Falcons were finally defeated, no one could truly go home dissatisfied because history was made that night by both great teams.

(courtesy of espn.com)

Super Bowl LI Records Broken:

Most games: 7, Tom Brady

Most games, head coach: 7, Bill Belichick

Most games won, head coach 5, Belichick

Most points, game: 20, James White

Most passes, career: 309, Brady

Most passes, game: 62, Brady

Most completions, career: 207, Brady

Most completions, game: 43, Brady

Most passing yards, career: 2,071, Brady

Most passing yards, game: 466, Brady