Super Bowl 51 (LI) presented by the National Football League took place on Sun. February 5, 2017. The New England Patriots battled back from a 21-3 deficit at halftime to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 Final/OT to clinch the program’s fifth set of rings.
The first record set was by quarterback Tom Brady, who in total threw for 466 yards, the most by any quarterback in a Super Bowl appearance. Brady went 43 completions on 62 attempts accompanied by two touchdowns thrown.
“We’re all gonna remember this for the rest of our life,” Brady said in a postgame interview with ESPN.
The second record was set by the game itself, being the first Super Bowl to ever go into overtime. The Patriots tied the game up in the last few minutes to bring the 28-28 ball game into extra minutes.
The night before the contest took place, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was named the MVP of the league for the 2016-17 season, as well as the league’s offensive player of the year. Ryan finished this season with 45 TD’s and an overall passer rating of 132.6.
“As players we had opportunities…at the end of the day we just didn’t make them,” Ryan said in a postgame interview with ESPN. The Falcons suffered a heartbreaking finish after going into the second half with a ton of confidence based off of their initial performance.
The Super Bowl was very important for one individual in particular. Chris Hogan, a wide receiver for the Patriots had a standout year and it came with a very interesting story.
Hogan was a standout lacrosse player for the Penn State Nittany Lions earning all-league honors. It was not until his transfer to Monmouth University, where he played football again for one year, that he gained the recognition of the New England Patriots.
In the Super Bowl, Hogan got in touch with his roots while sporting a green bracelet on his right wrist. The bracelet reads HEADstrong, which is a foundation that is well-known in the lacrosse world as a non-profit organization for cancer awareness.
Hogan will donate $15 for every catch he made during the NFL season. For the 2016-17 season, he caught the football 55 times resulting in a total of $825 donated.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to show my support than to personally make a difference through each catch this season,” Hogan said to the HEADstrong foundation. “I am extremely honored to be a part of the HEADstrong foundation.”
