Super Bowl LI will be used as teachable tool for Patriots, Falcons this week

In New England, Super Bowl LI has been rewatched roughly a half-billion times. Viewed as a confetti-drenched nostalgia piece, it stands as a monument to the mental and physical toughness displayed by the 2016 Patriots' team, which overcame a 28-3 lead to capture a remarkable 34-28 overtime win against Atlanta.

But this week, it’ll be seen more than simply a fond memory. Instead, it’ll be a teaching tool for the 2017 team as it prepares for this week’s rematch against the Falcons. This tine, it’s not a pair of teams playing for a title, but two franchises simply angling for better position as the playoff chase begins in earnest.


A lot has changed between these two teams since that memorable night in Houston eight-plus months ago. Julian Edelman, Martellus Bennett and Chris Long aren’t in the New England lineup for this one, replaced this time around by the likes of Brandin Cooks, Rob Gronkowski and Deatrich Wise. And like the Patriots, the Falcons have taken their share of surprising lumps to open the season, and are in a divisional fight of their own in the NFC South.

But even though the personnel and stakes are different and key assistants are no longer around (ex-Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is now the head coach in San Francisco), there’s still value in rewatching that one in hopes of trying to craft a winning game plan.

“We’ll watch it. It’s our players against their players,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick told WEEI on Monday when asked about the Super Bowl game film. “There are a lot of players on both teams that played in that game that will play in this game. That being said, there are a lot of players that weren’t in that game that will be in this game.

“It’s a new year and the teams; neither one of them, I think, are where they were at that point in time a year ago,” Belichick added. “There is definitely some relevance to it. I don’t think there’s any question about that. We would always look at a team we played recently, last year or sometimes even two years ago.”

Sunday’s Patriots-Falcons game will mark just the eighth time in NFL history that the previous season's Super Bowl combatants met for a rematch the following season. The good news for New England? In those games, the Super Bowl winners are 5-2. That includes a Packers’ 28-10 win over the Patriots in Foxborough the year after Green Bay beat New England in Super Bowl XXXI. (In that one, Brett Favre had three touchdown passes, including one to running back Dorsey Levens, who also added a rushing touchdown.)

The not so good news? The Super Bowl loser has better odds if the rematch takes place before Week 9 the year after the big game — in those games, the Super Bowl losers are 2-2. Considering this is a Week 7 game, Atlanta has better odds. But it still won’t be an enjoyable trip down memory lane. In the wake of the Patriots loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, there were guys on that team who — tongue-in-cheek and otherwise — said they had no interest going back and re-watching that game. That door was closed.

However, Falcons coach Dan Quinn told me he was taking the opposite approach.

“I was one that wanted to go back and watch it,” he said this past spring. “I felt like if I didn’t learn lessons, than the pain was for nothing. So I wanted to make sure there were lessons to be gained here. How could we be more adaptable in game in terms of plays calls and game management and how to utilize the players better?

“For sure, I was of the mindset that you have to watch it. It doesn’t mean that you ever get past it. But you get past it if you know what I mean in that, OK, you have the lessons and it sucked, and now, you’re on to the next thing. But you have to make sure in my opinion that you do understand where you can grow stronger. That’s the way I went about it.”