The game was tied at halftime, but the team’s fans were in there dancing and hooraying, so the team went on to win.
Fans of the Atlanta Falcons don’t want to be reminded of the events of February 5, 2017.
It should go down in history as the day the Falcons won their first Super Bowl championship. The day they accomplished the unthinkable by defeating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Today, Feb. 5 should be a honored holiday in Atlanta, but instead it serves as a stinging memory of the most humiliating Super Bowl defeat in history.
And it only got funnier when Falcons coach Robert Alford revealed the team was already celebrating and preparing to pop bottles in the locker room at halftime.
In Super Bowl 51, the Falcons believed they had the Patriots beat.
After an Atlanta Falcons score against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51, Eric Weems and Devonta Freeman celebrate with Robert Alford | Getty Images/Tom Pennington
It should’ve been a rout in Super Bowl 51.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Falcons scored 21 consecutive points in the second to lead Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the Patriots 21-3 at halftime. The game seemed to be all but over when Matt Ryan connected with Tevin Coleman for a six-yard touchdown throw in the third quarter, extending the margin to 28-3.
The Falcons had no idea at the time that their 28-3 victory would become the most popular NFL meme of the past decade. And now, according to Alford’s new discovery, the joke is about to stage a return as heroic as the Patriots’ that day.
In the halftime locker room, Falcons players were “dancing” and “hooraying.”
Everyone understands that in professional sports, a game isn’t finished until the final whistle sounds.
Everyone, presumably, except the 2016-17 Falcons.
Malcolm Butler, a member of that Super Bowl-winning Patriots club, recently joined up with Alford on the Arizona Cardinals. When Alford initially approached the former Falcon to question him about the game, he shared an unpleasant tale that Atlanta fans would not be pleased to hear.
“I discussed it with him. In a recent interview with Ryan Cody of 12 News in Phoenix, Butler stated, “I asked him if he wanted his ring back.” “He told me a story,” I said. He said he was in the locker room at halftime and that he was ready to crack a bottle, among other things. It was hilarious. Then we returned and defeated them.”
Oh no.
Butler added, “I’m just picturing him at halftime.” “Robert, he’s a hilarious person, he’s got a lot of energy, he makes a lot of jokes, and he told me they were dancing and hooraying at halftime. Then we came back and defeated them, which I thought was a lot of fun.”
Butler and the Pats could have a good time. Not so much fun for the 53 men in the opposite locker room who were bidding on which bottle of champagne they would open after the game.
In sports, the first rule is that it’s never over until it’s over.
More fodder for jokes about the Patriots and their supporters.
Falcons supporters have just hoped that no NFL games ever reach a score of 28-3, which would set off a chain reaction of Super Bowl 51 jokes throughout the years. But, when more information regarding the team’s celebration in the halftime locker room emerges, the jokes will only become better.
Only by removing the monkey off their back and winning a title would the Falcons be able to avoid continuous 28-3 jabs. That won’t happen anytime soon, with Matt Ryan nearing the end of his NFL career and a team bereft of youthful talent across the board.
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