Shutdown Corner
Lost in the shuffle of the greatest Super
Bowl ever played, capped by the biggest comeback in the game’s history, was the
startling number of records broken throughout the course of the contest.
Some of them you already know — like the
aforementioned 25-point comeback and Tom Brady’s unprecedented seventh
appearance — but the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons combined to set
or match 31 records in the Super Bowl, including a whopping eight broken by
Brady alone.
The four-time Super Bowl MVP set single-game
Super Bowl records for completions (43), passes (62), passing yards (466)
and career marks for appearances (7), completions (207), passes (309), passing
yards (2,071) and touchdown passes (15). Brady also tying the record for Super
Bowl victories, equaling former Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco
Bill Belichick set head coaching records
for Super Bowl appearances (7) and victories (5).
Patriots running back James White, who
Brady said was deserving of the MVP trophy, set Super Bowl records for receptions
(14) and individual points scored (20), while matching the standards for most
touchdowns (3) and most successful two-point conversions (1, along with
teammate Danny Amendola).
As a team, the Pats broke Super Bowl records
for biggest comeback (25) and most appearances (9), first downs (37), first
downs passing (26), passing yards (422), offensive plays (93), passes (63),
completions (43), and — because this was the first overtime in Super Bowl
history — most points in an OT (6). They also matched records for most
two-point conversions (2) and first downs by penalty (4).
The Patriots and Falcons combined to set
Super Bowl records for first downs (54), first downs passing (39) and passing
yards (682) in addition to matching the most two-point conversions in a game
(2).
Individually, the Falcons equaled just one
record on the evening — defensive tackle Grady Jarrett’s three sacks tied the
standard previously shared by Darnell Dockett, Kony Ealy and Reggie White.
Probably the most
ridiculous of all these records is Brady’s 2,071 career passing yards —
almost a thousand more than the next-highest total (Kurt Warner’s 1,156) and
more than four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw threw for in eight of
his 14 NFL seasons. What a game. What a career.
