The sweetest of them all: Patriots comeback tops them all

HOUSTON (AP) — Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the New England Patriots have long been reluctant to rank their victories.

Brady led the Patriots on five straight scoring drives that equaled 31 straight points.

The last touchdown wrapped up a 34-28 victory, yet felt inevitable and anticlimactic despite coming in the first-ever overtime in the Super Bowl's 51-year history.

The catch highlighted New England's 91-yard, game-tying drive and extinguished whatever fight was left in an Atlanta defense that looked unbeatable for 2 1/2 quarters — never more than when Alford intercepted Brady and took it 82 yards for a score that made it 21-0 late in the second quarter.

Yards passing (446), pass attempts (62), completions (43), MVP awards (4), career wins (5, tied with Charles Haley, but now ahead of quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana).

"When you fall behind by a lot in a game like this, you have to make a lot of great plays and have a lot of things go right," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said.

[...] the next four snaps resulted in a minus-23 yards, including Trey Flowers' sack and a holding call that forced a punt.

Ten plays later, including Edelman's catch, White plowed in from a yard, then Brady threw a bubble screen to Danny Amendola for New England's second straight 2-point conversion.

Robert Kraft stood on the podium, smiling away while commissioner Roger Goodell shouted into the microphone so he could be heard above the raucous boos raining down on him during the trophy presentation.