That was arguably the worst half of football coaching I have ever seen

[ASH1962]

21-3 at the half

28-3 early to mid 3rd quarter

The ball on the NE 35 with a chance to seal the game just by running the ball 3 times, kicking a FG, and winning the game right there, instead, they get pass happy and wind up with 4th and 33 never sniff a scoring chance again.

2 kick off returns fielded in the EZ and for some ungodly reason brought out, and the returner runs out of bounds at the 10 yard line - TWICE. Both resulted in 3 & outs deep in ATL territory leading to NE TD's. Unreal. It looked like ATL was actually throwing the game even though they weren't - consciously anyway.

The Falcons had this game salted away and stopped playing mid 3rd quarter. It was so bad in the second half that I wondered if the Jets and Falcons had switched coaches at halftime. I recall saying to myself over and over and over watching that second half debacle - "WTF are these guys doing"? WTF is Quinn thinking? What happened to his defense who could not stop a leak from the second possession in the second half through overtime? They obviously tired, but really, they could never get off of the field in that second half and overtime and their offense did nothing to help them late in the game. Oh and why the heck did Quinn stop running the ball? They have 2 stud RB's and for some unknown reason, went pass happy and could not move the ball a lick. When you have a lead, you run the football to eat clock. Even our stupid coach knows that (I think).

Thinking about those poor Falcon fans last night, I am glad our team never comes within 100 light years of a SB because I do not know how I could ever recover from a loss like last night's where we would snatch defeat from the firm jaws of victory. There is no way in hell Atlanta should have lost that game last night.

 

[Adoni Beast]

Its rare you see a head coach go from coaching a gem of a first half in a super bowl, to one of the worst coaching performances ever in the second. Don't understand it at all.

[Jetdawgg]

How about the incredible story of a man named Brady?

[TuscanyTile2]

5 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

21-3 at the half

28-3 early to mid 3rd quarter

The ball on the NE 35 with a chance to seal the game just by running the ball 3 times, kicking a FG, and winning the game right there, instead, they get pass happy and wind up with 4th and 33 never sniff a scoring chance again.

2 kick off returns fielded in the EZ and for some ungodly reason brought out, and the returner runs out of bounds at the 10 yard line - TWICE. Both resulted in 3 & outs deep in ATL territory leading to NE TD's. Unreal. It looked like ATL was actually throwing the game even though they weren't - consciously anyway.

The Falcons had this game salted away and stopped playing mid 3rd quarter. It was so bad in the second half that I wondered if the Jets and Falcons had switched coaches at halftime. I recall saying to myself over and over and over watching that second half debacle - "WTF are these guys doing"? WTF is Quinn thinking? What happened to his defense who could not stop a leak from the second possession in the second half through overtime? They obviously tired, but really, they could never get off of the field in that second half and overtime and their offense did nothing to help them late in the game. Oh and why the heck did Quinn stop running the ball? They have 2 stud RB's and for some unknown reason, went pass happy and could not move the ball a lick. When you have a lead, you run the football to eat clock. Even our stupid coach knows that (I think).

Thinking about those poor Falcon fans last night, I am glad our team never comes within 100 light years of a SB because I do not know how I could ever recover from a loss like last night's where we would snatch defeat from the firm jaws of victory. There is no way in hell Atlanta should have lost that game last night.

 

There were snaps where they didn't even run the play clock down.  Absurdity!

[j4jets]

30 minutes ago, Jetdawgg said:

How about the incredible story of a man named Brady?

He undoubtedly played great in the second half, but this was a brain fart job by the Falcons CS. 

[ASH1962]

If anyone has had the time to go over the any of the Falcons boards, they look and sound a lot like what goes on here on a weekly basis. I would be crushed beyond all f**k if we had a 28-3 lead in a SB and lost, not only lost, but did not score a point on the last 25 minutes of the game. How do you as a fan, get over that? The closest thing I can relate to was 10-0 halftime in Denver 1998. I was devastated after that game.

[Sperm Edwards]

6 minutes ago, ASH1962 said:

If anyone has had the time to go over the any of the Falcons boards, they look and sound a lot like what goes on here on a weekly basis. I would be crushed beyond all f**k if we had a 28-3 lead in a SB and lost, not only lost, but did not score a point on the last 25 minutes of the game. How do you as a fan, get over that? The closest thing I can relate to was 10-0 halftime in Denver 1998. I was devastated after that game.

At least, if it ever happened, it wouldn't be against the Patriots.

With our luck, if we ever got that close, the letdown would happen against the Giants. Because Jets.

[SMC]

43 minutes ago, j4jets said:

He undoubtedly played great in the second half, but this was a brain fart job by the Falcons CS. 

Yeah, absolutely.  

That was an incredible performance by Brady.  Falcons were hitting him hard but he was still throwing.  D ran out of gas.

But Falcons had numerous opportunities to keep Brady off the field, as the OP states, but the Falcons' coaching staff completely blew up.  Ultimately it comes down to not continuing to run after Julio Jones' ridiculous sideline catch.  That drive shouldve sealed the game.

Even if they get stuffed and don't get any more yards.  They kick a short field goal and go up 11 with about 2 minutes left.  

[jack48]

1 hour ago, Adoni Beast said:

Its rare you see a head coach go from coaching a gem of a first half in a super bowl, to one of the worst coaching performances ever in the second. Don't understand it at all.

Not that rare. Remember Rex in his two AFC appearances. They always revert to the Coaching for Dummies book when they get a decent lead.

[rex-n-effect]

The biggest mistake ATL made was not taking seriously how effective NE is at halftime adjustments. It was like NE came in with a garbage game plan and came into the third quarter with a completely different game plan that had ATL's number on both sides of the ball. IMO that's probably Belichick's greatest strength as a coach. 

Not assuming NE would come into the second half better prepared for the game led both players and coaches for ATL to mentally book the game as over at 28-3. They played the entire second half like they were still up 28-3. No adjustment to what was happening. 

[ZachEY]

1 hour ago, SMC said:

Yeah, absolutely.  

That was an incredible performance by Brady.  Falcons were hitting him hard but he was still throwing.  D ran out of gas.

But Falcons had numerous opportunities to keep Brady off the field, as the OP states, but the Falcons' coaching staff completely blew up.  Ultimately it comes down to not continuing to run after Julio Jones' ridiculous sideline catch.  That drive shouldve sealed the game.

Even if they get stuffed and don't get any more yards.  They kick a short field goal and go up 11 with about 2 minutes left.  

It's really unimaginable.  You can't even say they were "going for the kill" because running the ball two more times and kicking a FG would have still be an effective "kill."  This made Herm Edwards look like a clock/game management wizard.

[RoadFan]

I thought the first half coaching was brilliant.   Go figure.

[Adoni Beast]

56 minutes ago, jack48 said:

Not that rare. Remember Rex in his two AFC appearances. They always revert to the Coaching for Dummies book when they get a decent lead.

Very good point. Repped.

[SMC]

14 minutes ago, gEYno said:

It's really unimaginable.  You can't even say they were "going for the kill" because running the ball two more times and kicking a FG would have still be an effective "kill."  This made Herm Edwards look like a clock/game management wizard.

Exactly.

This is two straight Pats SBs where right at the snap I said, "What are you doing?"  I know the Pats stuffed Freeman on 1st but I was sure he'd run again on 2nd.  

It's like Schitty-Thinking invaded NFL coaches in big games.  This is what I should do, but I'll do something else to trick them!

And all the hard work was already done on that drive with the big Freeman catch/run and Julio Jones circus catch.  The rest of the drive should've been on cruise control.

[SMC]

58 minutes ago, jack48 said:

Not that rare. Remember Rex in his two AFC appearances. They always revert to the Coaching for Dummies book when they get a decent lead.

If Quinn followed Coaching for Dummies on that second to last drive, he'd be a SB winning HC.

[j4jets]

1 hour ago, SMC said:

Yeah, absolutely.  

That was an incredible performance by Brady.  Falcons were hitting him hard but he was still throwing.  D ran out of gas.

But Falcons had numerous opportunities to keep Brady off the field, as the OP states, but the Falcons' coaching staff completely blew up.  Ultimately it comes down to not continuing to run after Julio Jones' ridiculous sideline catch.  That drive shouldve sealed the game.

Even if they get stuffed and don't get any more yards.  They kick a short field goal and go up 11 with about 2 minutes left.  

Exactly. Pats have had two gift wrapped SBs (this one and the Pete Carroll brain-fart AKA Deflategate SB). 

[Jet_Engine1]

The problem is that every other team.... EVERY other team, from Head Coach down, Is comprised of stupid jocks. Guys who have never valued "thinking" or strategy. Guys that think in the context of traditional Football thinking...."gotta give 110%.....Gotta have heart....It's just blockin' and tacklin'". Crap like that.

Bellichick brings an attention to detail and demands precision and combines that with the fearlessness of not sticking with any part of conventional wisdom. Combine that with Brady, and this sh*t must seem easy to him.

Every other team recycles the same thought processes and the same guys over and over, lather-rinse-repeat..... Bellichick has a research department and a Defensive Coordinator with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. 

 

I'm done caring about any of it until they retire. They're the best team EVER. Period. Not even close. They spotted the Falcons a 25 point lead just ******* around, and still cruised to a win from the third quarter on. They are so much smarter and better than the rest of the league, it's not even competitive. The only thing that has beaten then is random luck.

It is what it is, either deal with it and accept it, or check out. Or go insane. Your choice. Hooray.

[SMC]

And there's no doubt in my mind, with roles reversed, that Belichick runs the ball in that situation.

Belichick has proven that he's willing to take the ball out of GOAT's hands and have JAG RBs get crucial yardage.  He did it last night with White.

[Jets0712]

Being a veteran MVP quarterback doesn't he have the wherewithal to call an audible on that play he got sacked on to call a running play. The game was won with a fg there.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[ASH1962]

11 minutes ago, j4jets said:

Exactly. Pats have had two gift wrapped SBs (this one and the Pete Carroll brain-fart AKA Deflategate SB). 

You make an excellent point. They won 2 SB's that they really should have lost, both with blatant, almost purposeful defeatist intent by the opponent. The SEA one was more ridiculous but yesterday, with a 28-3 deficit, it sure did look like ATL was throwing the game. I know they weren't of course, but it sure looked like it as did SEA 2 years ago.

First it was "Shoeless" Pete Carroll, and now, "Shoeless" Dan Quinn LOL.

[TuscanyTile2]

2 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

If anyone has had the time to go over the any of the Falcons boards, they look and sound a lot like what goes on here on a weekly basis. I would be crushed beyond all f**k if we had a 28-3 lead in a SB and lost, not only lost, but did not score a point on the last 25 minutes of the game. How do you as a fan, get over that? The closest thing I can relate to was 10-0 halftime in Denver 1998. I was devastated after that game.

Can you post a link to their forums?  Would make for interesting reading

[varjet]

59 minutes ago, Jet_Engine1 said:

The problem is that every other team.... EVERY other team, from Head Coach down, Is comprised of stupid jocks. Guys who have never valued "thinking" or strategy. Guys that think in the context of traditional Football thinking...."gotta give 110%.....Gotta have heart....It's just blockin' and tacklin'". Crap like that.

Bellichick brings an attention to detail and demands precision and combines that with the fearlessness of not sticking with any part of conventional wisdom. Combine that with Brady, and this sh*t must seem easy to him.

Every other team recycles the same thought processes and the same guys over and over, lather-rinse-repeat..... Bellichick has a research department and a Defensive Coordinator with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. 

 

I'm done caring about any of it until they retire. They're the best team EVER. Period. Not even close. They spotted the Falcons a 25 point lead just ******* around, and still cruised to a win from the third quarter on. They are so much smarter and better than the rest of the league, it's not even competitive. The only thing that has beaten then is random luck.

It is what it is, either deal with it and accept it, or check out. Or go insane. Your choice. Hooray.

I made the same point about in another post, but this is said much better.   Particularly when you have a Salary Cap, this is how you make a difference with a football team.  

I agree that the Falcons' coaching staff were completely outplayed in the second half yesterday.  And yes, they coached the last half of the game terribly.  They will live with this for the rest of their lives, and they will be lucky to see the SB again.

But the Jets and their band of former NFL player coaches were the worst coached team I have seen in a long time.  I would take the Falcons 2016 staff any day over who the Jets had.

[section314]

4 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

21-3 at the half

28-3 early to mid 3rd quarter

The ball on the NE 35 with a chance to seal the game just by running the ball 3 times, kicking a FG, and winning the game right there, instead, they get pass happy and wind up with 4th and 33 never sniff a scoring chance again.

2 kick off returns fielded in the EZ and for some ungodly reason brought out, and the returner runs out of bounds at the 10 yard line - TWICE. Both resulted in 3 & outs deep in ATL territory leading to NE TD's. Unreal. It looked like ATL was actually throwing the game even though they weren't - consciously anyway.

The Falcons had this game salted away and stopped playing mid 3rd quarter. It was so bad in the second half that I wondered if the Jets and Falcons had switched coaches at halftime. I recall saying to myself over and over and over watching that second half debacle - "WTF are these guys doing"? WTF is Quinn thinking? What happened to his defense who could not stop a leak from the second possession in the second half through overtime? They obviously tired, but really, they could never get off of the field in that second half and overtime and their offense did nothing to help them late in the game. Oh and why the heck did Quinn stop running the ball? They have 2 stud RB's and for some unknown reason, went pass happy and could not move the ball a lick. When you have a lead, you run the football to eat clock. Even our stupid coach knows that (I think).

Thinking about those poor Falcon fans last night, I am glad our team never comes within 100 light years of a SB because I do not know how I could ever recover from a loss like last night's where we would snatch defeat from the firm jaws of victory. There is no way in hell Atlanta should have lost that game last night.

 

I don't know about coaches, but it sure did look like they swapped players.

[joewilly12]

That was arguably the best half of football coaching I have ever seen by Bill Belechick. 

[Charlie Brown]

Based on the situation and talent level that was the WORST coaching job I've ever seen and it isn't even close!!!!

That was the SB!!!

You had the MVP of the league on your team and a dynamic passing and running game and you chose to run the ball less than a half a dozen times when you have a lead of over 20 points!!!!

A dam disgrace is what it is!!!

Even the Falcons coaching staff is saying they blew it!!!!

"Those who spoke with Kyle Shanahan last night at Falcons team hotel tell me he said "I blew it" #SB51"

[UpstateJetsGuru]

5 hours ago, Jetdawgg said:

How about the incredible story of a man named Brady?

If that had been Fitz, all the deflections would have been picks, especially the one where he was hit as he threw. And one of those last two underthrown balls would have been picked. And one of our receivers making a catch like Edelman's? Not in this lifetime.

[rangerous]

5 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

21-3 at the half

28-3 early to mid 3rd quarter

The ball on the NE 35 with a chance to seal the game just by running the ball 3 times, kicking a FG, and winning the game right there, instead, they get pass happy and wind up with 4th and 33 never sniff a scoring chance again.

2 kick off returns fielded in the EZ and for some ungodly reason brought out, and the returner runs out of bounds at the 10 yard line - TWICE. Both resulted in 3 & outs deep in ATL territory leading to NE TD's. Unreal. It looked like ATL was actually throwing the game even though they weren't - consciously anyway.

The Falcons had this game salted away and stopped playing mid 3rd quarter. It was so bad in the second half that I wondered if the Jets and Falcons had switched coaches at halftime. I recall saying to myself over and over and over watching that second half debacle - "WTF are these guys doing"? WTF is Quinn thinking? What happened to his defense who could not stop a leak from the second possession in the second half through overtime? They obviously tired, but really, they could never get off of the field in that second half and overtime and their offense did nothing to help them late in the game. Oh and why the heck did Quinn stop running the ball? They have 2 stud RB's and for some unknown reason, went pass happy and could not move the ball a lick. When you have a lead, you run the football to eat clock. Even our stupid coach knows that (I think).

Thinking about those poor Falcon fans last night, I am glad our team never comes within 100 light years of a SB because I do not know how I could ever recover from a loss like last night's where we would snatch defeat from the firm jaws of victory. There is no way in hell Atlanta should have lost that game last night.

 

the falcons got full of themselves at halftime and thought they only had to go prevent the rest of the way.  this is true especially after they scored the fourth td and went up by 25.  you can give the patsies some credit for winning and not giving up but you can also say the falcons lost their ege and couldn't get it back in time.  so much for the dan quinn band wagon. there are many in sf who are second guessing hiring shanahan.

[jack48]

2 hours ago, SMC said:

If Quinn followed Coaching for Dummies on that second to last drive, he'd be a SB winning HC.

Ha ha. You are right.  Except it is one thing to throw to keep possession. It is another to throw when there are points on the board.  They have a very good kicker.

[SOJ]

3 hours ago, rex-n-effect said:

The biggest mistake ATL made was not taking seriously how effective NE is at halftime adjustments. It was like NE came in with a garbage game plan and came into the third quarter with a completely different game plan that had ATL's number on both sides of the ball. IMO that's probably Belichick's greatest strength as a coach. 

Not assuming NE would come into the second half better prepared for the game led both players and coaches for ATL to mentally book the game as over at 28-3. They played the entire second half like they were still up 28-3. No adjustment to what was happening. 

Agree, I was telling by buddy that they have made zero adjustments and when Ryan got sacked I told him it was over because the Falcons D was gassed.