To successfully mount the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, the Patriots put a new spin on a classic game plan.
The term “ball control offense” conjures up classic football images of a run-heavy style where a team is content to produce yardage in short bursts of three yards and a cloud of dust. For Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, they ended up taking a radically different route to the same conclusion.
Brady passed a Super Bowl record 63 times as the Patriots frantically scrambled back from a 25-point second-half deficit, yet New England still dominated time of possession in comparison with the Falcons.