Plus Ryan kept rushing plays when the play clock had 15 seconds left to burn, giving Brady extra valuable time to make the comeback. We were screaming at the tv to let it run—why didn’t his coaches do the same?
I have to admit, I didn’t pick up on it in real time.
I was amazed by the sequence where they moved back from the 20 to midfield on penalties and sacks, out of FG range, but I was looking at it from the viewpoint of a Pats fan who had given up on them but thought I’d watch just a bit longer to see if they could make it close.
It was only in retrospect that I realized how cosmically stupid the clock management and play calling of the Falcons was. I guess I assumed during the game that they were trying to be aggressive and run up the score one more TD—but a field goal after some time-wasting running plays would have done that. Not a mistake Belichick would have made if the positions were reversed.
Bad things happen when you panic.