Kyle Shanahan Play Call Error Keys Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl 51 Loss
Kyle Shanahan, Atlanta Falcons Offensive Coordinator and new San Francisco 49ers Head Coach, is to blame for the bad call that keyed the New England Patriots comeback win.
It was Falcons 28, Patriots 12 in the 3rd Quarter. Atlanta faced a 3rd down and just over one yard to go on the Falcons 35 yard line. The normal call when the offense has the ball on its own side of the field is a running play. You don’t want to risk an interception and in most instances your runners can pick up the one yard.
That was especially true for The Falcons. Devonte Freeman, the leading rusher, was averaging almost one first down every time he ran the ball to that point in the game. Plus. New England had not been able to consistently stop the off tackle run.
But with all that, the Falcons went to a five step drop pass. The Pats blitzed, Freeman (probably wondering why they did not let him run it) missed the blitzer. Ryan was slammed just before his arm moved forward, the ball came out, and New England recovered it.
The Pats got the momentum and went on to score and finish the greatest comeback in Super Bowl History.
If Kyle ran it, with Freeman, they would have had the first down. Indeed, if Shanahan had elected to make Freeman the MVP, the Falcons would have won. But he did not, and so they lost. via IFTTT