A lot of the talk around the Lone Star State leading up to the game wasn’t necessarily on the game itself. Sure, Brady gunning for his fifth ring and the Falcons going for the first title in franchise history were incredible storylines, but with no Texas teams in the Super Bowl after the Cowboys and the Texans were eliminated in the playoffs, a corner of the talks turned to hometown heroes.
On the Atlanta side of the ball, Jake Matthews and Taylor Gabriel were excellent. On the first play of the first Falcon drive, Matthews threw a huge block on the edge that sprung Devonta Freeman for a big 37 yard gain. Matthews continued to be excellent the rest of the night, routinely making excellent run blocks and protecting Matt Ryan as best as he could against a withering Patriot pass rush.
Gabriel, on the other hand, might have provided the offensive highlight of the Falcons’ night. He cooked Malcom Butler hard on this huge gain early in the third quarter.
Oh mercy. Taylor Gabriel just sat Malcolm Butler right down pic.twitter.com/ZB1akyW0jj
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) February 6, 2017
The outside deke was too much for Butler, who ended up looking like one of those guys who gets crossed over in a basketball vine. This was a picture perfect route from the kid out of Mesquite Horn.
On the Patriots’ side, we saw a couple of very familiar faces. Martellus Bennett, of Alief Taylor and Texas A&M fame, had a very solid outing in replacement of Rob Gronkowski, to the tune of 5 catches for 62 yards on 6 targets.
The hero was Tom Brady, because of course it was, but Danny Amendola of The Woodlands and Texas Tech deserves a mountain of credit for the Patriot victory as well. The speedy slot receiver had 8 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown, and snagged the two point conversion that sent the game into overtime.
Ultimately, the biggest highlights in this game had a distinct Lone Star twang to them, and it wasn’t just because the game was played in Houston. Texas talent is available and contributes on nearly every single team in the NFL, and the fireworks from some of Texas’s best made this Super Bowl one to remember for a very long time.
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