I think this game, if nothing else, officially puts to bed the notion that "defense wins championships," at least in the modern NFL. Perhaps it should be refined to "not making mistakes wins championships." For all the incredible plays made, I'd argue nothing was bigger than the Falcons getting sacked/penalized out of field goal range. If the Patriots get the ball with 3:30 left down 11, they're not winning without an onside kick. Playcalling seemed iffy on both sides tonight, but that may have cost Atlanta more than anything.
Shows just how crazy a single game playoff system can be, and how impactful otherwise innocuous miscues can become.
So on that note, here's some random Super Bowl trivia
-The white jerseys continue to bring good luck. Dating back to 2004, the team wearing colored jerseys has won only one Super Bowl.
-On the subject of bad luck, MVPs. Since the turn of the century, regular season MVPs are 0-8 in Super Bowls. It is worth noting that MVPs did win the last two Super Bowls before the 2000s, namely Terrell Davis (Broncos) and Kurt Warner (Rams)
-The Patriots have a knack for taking years off my life. This game was the greatest margin of victory of any Super Bowl involving New England since the Brady/Belichick era...and it went into overtime. Since the turn of the century, there have been seven Super Bowls where the game winning score game inside of the last minute of the fourth quarter or overtime. Five of them have involved New England (and that doesn't even include the goalline interception in XLIX).
-When it comes to creating parity, consider the AFC an abysmal failure. The Patriots, Colts, Steelers, and Broncos have combined to represent the AFC in 13 out of the last 14 Super Bowls. All have made at least two, and lost at least one. The one exception was Baltimore in the Harbaugh Bowl.
-The NFC, meanwhile, has had its Super Bowl trips much more evenly distributed. In that same 14 year timespan, only three teams have made multiple trips: the Seahawks (3), Panthers (2), and Giants (2). All in all, 10 different teams have represented the NFC in the Super Bowl since 2003, compared with only 5 from the AFC.
-The Falcons join the Panthers, Vikings, Bills, Bengals, and Eagles as the only franchises with multiple Super Bowl trips and no championships.
-The Patriots, meanwhile, rejoin the club of teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances and a winning record in those games. That group has largely remained the same since they were knocked out of it in 2007: Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Green Bay, New York Giants, Oakland, and Washington. Since that time, Baltimore (2-0) has joined the group, while Indianapolis (2-2) fell out.
