Falcons offense couldn’t stay on the field long enough to do its job

It had been over two months since the Atlanta Falcons were held under 30 points and the team entered Super Bowl LI with a streak of five consecutive games of more than 400 yards of total offense. But when the New England Patriots roared back from a 28-3 deficit in the final 18 minutes, the NFL’s No. 1 offense couldn’t respond.

“We had some opportunities to make plays,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “We just missed on a couple of things and just made a few mistakes, and ultimately when you’re playing a really good football team like New England, those mistakes ended up costing us.”

The 28 points scored by Atlanta and the 344 yards aren’t poor statistics, but holding the ball for just 23:27 of game clock compared to 40:31 for the Patriots sure is.

New England orchestrated a 13-play, 75-yard drive to get its first touchdown, a 12-play, 72-yard drive to add a field goal, a five-play touchdown drive that was set up by Atlanta’s only turnover of the game, a 10-play, 91-yard drive to tie the game, and finally an eight-play, 75-yard drive in overtime to win.

Meanwhile, the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense — led by the NFL MVP and a human cheat code at wide receiver — converted one third down in the entire game and was spotted seven points from the defense when Tom Brady threw an interception to Robert Alford that was returned for a touchdown.

The Falcons offense still had their highlights. Devonta Freeman ran for 37 yards on Atlanta’s first offensive play and had a 39-yard reception in the fourth quarter. Julio Jones also made some ridiculous receptions that no other person on the planet would have much of a chance at making.

And still, the Falcons couldn’t stay on the field long enough to put the Patriots away.

“We just had a couple of plays that kind of got us off schedule, and I think with the onside kick, the short-field opportunity, it felt like we should have come away with points there and didn’t,” Ryan said. “And obviously with the longer drive that we were in field goal range and got pushed back out of field goal range, so it was difficult. We knew we needed to come away with points in both of those.”

Ryan finished with 284 passing yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 144.1. Only Phil Simms, Joe Montana, and Jim Plunkett have posted a higher passer rating in the Super Bowl, and each won in a blowout. For a while, it certainly looked like it would be a comfortable victory for Atlanta.

But the explosive Falcons offense couldn’t complement its big plays with the small ones needed to move the chains. And it opened the door for Brady and the Patriots to come and steal the show.