Twenty-five points, erased
Late in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI, the New England Patriots trailed the Atlanta Falcons 28-3. In Houston, on 5 February 2017, Tom Brady then produced the largest comeback the game had seen.
The Patriots trailed the Atlanta Falcons 28–3 before completing the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, winning 34–28 in overtime.
It was the first Super Bowl decided in overtime, and it delivered Brady a fifth championship.
The recovery came in stages, not in a single surge. Atlanta held command through the middle of the match; New England answered with methodical drives that shortened the gap point by point.
Tom Brady led one of the greatest comebacks in sports, let alone Super Bowl history, lifting New England from a 25-point hole to the Patriots' fifth title in the game's first overtime Super Bowl.
The Patriots forced the tie in regulation, then won the coin toss and marched the length of the field once more when it mattered most.
Brady's numbers matched the scale of the task.
Brady led the Pats back from down 28–3 in the middle of the third quarter to force overtime and lead the game-winning drive for the 34–28 victory.
He set marks that may stand for years.
The assured march to glory was Brady's fifth game-winning drive in five Super Bowl wins.
The Patriots legend set Super Bowl records with 466 passing yards, 43 completions and 62 attempts.
The award followed the performance.
Tom Brady was named the Super Bowl LI MVP after throwing for 466 yards and two touchdowns in the largest comeback in game history.
It was a fourth such honour, more than any player before him.
Afterwards, he spoke plainly about a night that resisted easy explanation.
Explaining the methodical comeback after the game, Brady was at a loss for words. "I wasn't thinking much," the Super Bowl MVP said. "I was thinking, We just got to score."
A step in a long line
The result belonged to a career already dense with them. Brady had won Super Bowl XXXVI as MVP in only his second season, then added titles in the seasons that followed, and in 2007 guided a 16-0 regular campaign. Super Bowl LI stood apart for the deficit it overturned. What came later confirmed the pattern: a sixth title, then a seventh with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the career passing records that closed the ledger.
For one evening in Houston, the scoreboard said 28-3, and Tom Brady wrote the rest.
