If you’re asking about the 2017 Super Bowl who won, you’re likely looking for more than just a name. You want to know how the impossible happened. February 5, 2017, at NRG Stadium in Houston, didn't just crown a champion; it broke the brain of every person watching. Honestly, by the middle of the third quarter, most people had already turned off their TVs. The Atlanta Falcons were up 28-3. It was a blowout. It was embarrassing.
Then, the New England Patriots did the thing they always seem to do.
They won. They didn't just win; they orchestrated the greatest comeback in NFL history. Final score: 34-28. It was the first Super Bowl ever decided in overtime, and it cemented Tom Brady as the undisputed "GOAT" for a huge chunk of the football-watching world. But the how is way more interesting than the who.
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The 28-3 Nightmare: How Atlanta Lost Control
Let's be real for a second. The Falcons didn't just "lose." They collapsed under the weight of a historic offensive machine that suddenly ran out of gas. Early on, Devonta Freeman was slicing through the New England defense. Matt Ryan, the season's MVP, looked untouchable. When Robert Alford intercepted Tom Brady and ran it back 82 yards for a touchdown, the game felt over. It looked over.
Atlanta had a 99.8% win probability. Think about that number.
The Patriots looked old. Brady looked rattled. Bill Belichick looked like he’d finally run out of magic tricks. But then, things started to shift in tiny, almost imperceptible ways. A missed extra point by Stephen Gostkowski seemed like the final nail in the coffin for New England, but it actually forced them to go for two-point conversions later—which they needed to tie the game.
Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons' offensive coordinator at the time, has taken a lot of heat over the years for his play-calling in the fourth quarter. Instead of running the ball to bleed the clock, the Falcons kept passing. They got aggressive when they should have been boring. A crucial sack on Matt Ryan pushed them out of field goal range when a simple three points would have ended the game. That’s the nuance people forget. It wasn't just Brady being great; it was Atlanta being unable to get out of their own way.
Why the 2017 Super Bowl Winner Still Matters Today
People still talk about this game because it changed the trajectory of several careers. For the Patriots, it was their fifth title, moving them past the 49ers and Cowboys at the time. For Tom Brady, it was the moment he surpassed Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. He finished with 466 passing yards—a record—and he did it by dinking and dunking his way down the field while the Falcons' defense grew exhausted.
The Falcons' defense played 93 snaps. That is an insane amount of football. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, they were gasping for air. New England’s "no-huddle" offense turned into a relentless wave.
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The Julian Edelman Catch
You can't talk about who won the 2017 Super Bowl without mentioning The Catch. It wasn't the David Tyree helmet catch, but it was just as ridiculous. A pass was tipped, fell into a cluster of three Falcons defenders, and somehow Julian Edelman trapped it against a defender's shoe millimeters above the turf. If that ball hits the ground, maybe the Patriots don't have the momentum. But it didn't.
Football is a game of inches, but this was a game of atoms.
The Overtime Rule Controversy
When the game went to overtime, the Patriots won the coin toss. This is where the debate about NFL overtime rules really caught fire. New England marched down the field, James White punched it in for a touchdown, and the Falcons never even got to touch the ball.
Matt Ryan, the league MVP, sat on the bench and watched his season end without getting a single snap in the extra period. It felt unfair to a lot of fans. James White, by the way, was the unsung hero of this game. He scored three touchdowns and a two-point conversion. While Brady got the MVP trophy, many argue White was the heartbeat of that comeback. He caught 14 passes. Fourteen! That’s a workload usually reserved for three different players.
How to Analyze the Greatness of Super Bowl LI
If you’re a student of the game, or just someone trying to settle a bar bet, here is the breakdown of the scoring sequence that defined the 2017 Super Bowl winner:
The Falcons started the scoring in the second quarter and didn't stop until they were up 21-3 at halftime. They added another touchdown in the third to make it 28-3. Then, the Patriots started the climb. A touchdown (missed XP). A field goal. Another touchdown plus a two-point conversion. Another touchdown plus another two-point conversion.
The math is dizzying. To get two successful two-point conversions in the final minutes of a Super Bowl is statistically improbable. To do it while your defense is holding a high-powered offense to zero points for the entire fourth quarter is nearly impossible.
Misconceptions About the Game
One big myth is that the Patriots dominated the whole second half. They didn't. They were actually quite sloppy for parts of it. They had penalties and drops. What they had was endurance. The Patriots’ conditioning under Alex Guerrero and the team’s training staff became a huge talking point after the win. They looked fresh in the 15th minute of the fourth quarter, while the Falcons looked like they were running through sand.
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Another misconception? That Matt Ryan played poorly. He actually had a near-perfect passer rating for most of the game. He just didn't have the ball. The time of possession was heavily skewed toward New England (over 40 minutes for the Pats vs. about 23 for Atlanta). You can't score if you're sitting on a plastic bench.
Moving Forward: Lessons from the 28-3 Era
What can we actually learn from the 2017 Super Bowl? It’s not just "never give up." That’s a cliché.
- Clock Management is King: If you have the lead, the clock is your best friend. Atlanta treated the clock like an enemy they wanted to ignore.
- Pressure Changes Everything: New England’s defensive front, led by Trey Flowers, started getting home in the fourth quarter. Pressure on the quarterback doesn't always need to be a sack; it just needs to disrupt the rhythm.
- Depth Wins Championships: When Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell are making clutch catches in the Super Bowl, you know your roster is built right. It wasn't just the stars; it was the guys at the bottom of the depth chart who stepped up when the starters were gassed.
If you are looking to revisit this game, watch the Mic'd Up versions available on the NFL's official channels. Hearing the shift in tone on the Falcons' sideline—from celebration to stunned silence—is a masterclass in sports psychology.
To truly understand the 2017 Super Bowl, you have to look at the box score and then throw it away. The stats say one thing, but the momentum said another. It remains the gold standard for "it's not over 'til it's over."
For those tracking the history of the league, this win was the pivot point that turned the Patriots from a dynasty into a legend. It was the game that arguably ended the Falcons' "window" of contention, as the franchise struggled to find that same spark in the years following the "28-3" meme era.
Keep an eye on historical win-probability charts if you want to see just how vertical the climb was for New England. It’s a literal wall of a comeback.
Next Steps for Deep Diving into Super Bowl LI:
- Watch the "Sound FX" of the fourth quarter. It reveals the specific adjustments Bill Belichick made to the defensive line that neutralized Atlanta's run game.
- Analyze the 2016-2017 Falcons roster. Notice how many of those players were in their physical prime compared to the veteran-heavy Patriots roster.
- Check the 2017 rule changes. This game directly influenced how teams approach the "prevent" defense and how the league eventually looked at overtime formats.
- Review James White’s stats. Seriously, his performance is one of the most underrated in NFL history. He was the most productive player on the field that night.